Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-10-31

ery-the milk of only two cows-my
check was $9.45. 1 only sold to the
creamery, of course, my surplus, keep
ing back all the milk and butter my
family needed. I am still doing the
same thing. Last month took to the
creamery the output of eleven cows,
less home requirements, and my check
was $57.66.
Now just what this milk has cost
me, | can't tell you. l have not un-
dertaken to keep books for the very
good reason that the COWS have been
fed entirely on home-raised feed, with
the exception of $10.70 paid out last
year for a feed they call Milk-o. 1
bought this feed because my cotton
seed had run short and it was neces-
|, sary to continue some kind of con-
centrate."
And you mean to say that you feed
whole cotton seed without exchanging
for meal and hulls?" Mr.. Smith was
asked.
II am very well aware" was the re-
ply, that the experiment stations and
| experts generally. say 1t Is better to
exchange seed for meal and huils;
| but for my own reasons / have chosen
| to do otherwise. One reason Is that
use large quantities of stover, and 1t
seems to me that the cattle eat the
stover better when mixed with whole
seed than with meal. I do not want
thority along this line, and l do not
care to undertake to argue the matter.
prefer to feed the whole seed and am
willing to leave other people to do as
they like"
Asked as to his judgment as to the
comparative value Of milk and manure,
Mr.. Smith answered the question at
considerable length.
Il think that at 25 cents a pound
for butter fat" he said, Il am getting
good deal more for my milk than
would get for butter at 35 cents a
pound. You see 1t Is like this. You
are relieved of the care and trouble of
looking after the milk, preparatory to
churning; you are relieved Of the
trouble Of churning and then you are
relieved Of the business of marketing
and keeping accounts straight. There
| Is good profit in selling butter fat at
25 cents a pound, and If we ever get
to where we can sell our butter fat
at 30 cents a pound, I will not care
whether there Is any other dividend on
my original investment in the cream
cry or not. Butter fat at 80 cents a
pound would be as good a thing as I
would want. When that time comes I
will think more of cotton as a means
| of getting seed for the cows than as
a money crop, and every other crop
on the place will be planted with a
view to producing feed for the cows
and the other stock. I won't take any
account Of anything else except bread
for the table.
But the value of the skim milk is
something that must not be lost sight
| of. / have heard different experts un-
dertake to express the equivalent of
this value in dollars and cents, and
although they may be right, they all
put the figures lower than 1t seems to
me they ought to put them. OF course
I have a separator and I use all the
skim milk I get. With the skim milk
| from my eleven cows l have been
| feeding eight heifer calves and twen-
ty-one pigs, and so far as I can see
the calves thrive as well on the skim
milk as they did on the whole milk
they got from the cows when, before
the establishment Of the creamery, I
turned the cows and calves together.
Now, as to the manure" Mr.. Smith
went on, II have not been able to take
care of 1t as well as I would like to.
or as we'll as / am going to. My herd
has been growing just little faster
than I have been able to provide for.
The situation has presented so many
possibilities that it has been difficult
to keep up with them all. But two
years ago decided to enrich two acres
of good land and put it in alfalfa.
During the past two years I have put
on those two acres between 5000 and
1000 bushels of first-class stable ma
nure, and last Friday I sowed my al
falfa. This morning noticed that the
alfalfa had begun to sprout.
Last year I got about ITO bushels
of corn off of these two acres, and
just how much have this year do
not know. You know my place was
one Of the driest of the dry last sum-
mer; but I have my corn cut and
shocked and have pretty good crop.
/ don't think It is going to run short
of so or 70 bushels to the acre, and 1t
may go up to last years figures"
Are you not taking considerable
risk in trying two acres In alfalfa?"
Mr. Smith was asked.
NO." he replied, with easy conf
dence THAT Is all bosh about our
not being able to grow alfalfa. re-
member the crop the late Capt. Grist
had in his garden, and because Of his
persuading I tried it myself. My crop
succeeded splendidly. I could not
have wanted anything better; but we
did not know the value Of 1t then like
we do now, and I finally plowed 1t up.
Maybe l am going to fail on these two
acres; but 1 have no idea that there
will be any failure. 1t is just matter
of letting it get a good hold, as 1 see
it, and it is my plan to go on making
arrangements to put in more and
more 1 don't see why we can't grow
alfalfa as we'll as anybody else and
even IL we can't, we still have good
thing in clover, peavines, stover.
- nd CO
when they came around to get me
to pledge cows to keep the creamery
going" said Mr.. Smith. Il told them
that they could put me down for eight.
did not want to promise more than
felt reasonably sure I was able to
do, but I'll tell you right now that 1
am hoping within the next year or two
to give them three times eight, and l
have no intention Of stopping even at
al,