Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1912-02-13

In making dairying pay, as much, u
not more, depends on the man a. on th.
COW. Without any question gooc
dairymsn can make money with gooo
COW, but, try as hard a. be will, he finds
it uphill business making money out Of
a poor cow. However, few good dairy
men waste time on poor cows. On the
other hand, poor dairy will not make
money with any kind of COW, unless by
some chance the business runs itself.
What is q good cow or good man?
In answering this question We must gel
down to something definite. Did the
reader ever try to answer It? 1t Is no,
so easy as it appears. If we were defin.
| ing Q good man morally we might say,
| In his favor, that che goes to church, A."
but would say that he must do more
than merely 60 to church to be good
man; and so q good dairyman must do
moro than own COWS or be with his COWS.
He must know bis cows thoroughly and
apply scientific as we'll as practical meth.
DDS in handling them. A good man will
do this and moro, and he will find 1t a
work that will pay him as well as any
work to which he can apply bis brain
and hands.
Those of US who read and who discuss
the subject with our brother dairymen
in different sections know well that the
average dairy COW produces less than
two hundred pounds of butter year
and we know that the average COW
in great many cases does not pay her
way, while in great many more cases
she only about breaks even. We also
know that the herd making an average
yearly butter production of 800 to 400
pounds Is doing exceptionally well. But
the question is, does it pay? The answer
depends on whether the receipts for the
product exceed the cost of producing it
By a good margin. Even though the
profits are! not big, the man who pays
some attention to breeding can make
good money in this line, for offspring
from a herd making such good aver
age will bring good money.
Every intelligent dairyman knows that
1t pays to make tests. Why? Because
1t tells him what his cows are doing.
But he should make the test Q complete
ONE. g., he should make balanced
test. By that / mean not only to find
out what bis COWS are producing, but
what it costs to do the producing. This
is essential before he can proceed intelli-
gently. Take our four leading dairy
breed cattle clubs, each one of which is
spending hundreds Of dollars annually
to promote the interests Of its respective
breed. Each one is reporting tests, and
many of them, but among them all how
many are "balanced" tests, according TO
the reports as published? What do they
tell the dairyman or other reader? Sim
ply that COW produced 80 many pounds
of butter fat or butter in q given length
of time-except in few cases, where Q
general summary of the feed Is given.
What does such report tellp What les
son does 1t convey to the mind OF the
average dairyman?
When you stop to think about 1t, it
really don't tell him very much. The
report may say that the COW produced
FIVE hundred pounds Of butter in year.
But IL the cost of feeding and caring for
this cow equalled the receipts OF the
product, does 1t tell much for the COW?
In one way 1t does tell much for the
breeder of the COW. It means that he
can sell the produce from that cow for
good price. But, on the other hand,
if this high production hasn't paid him
will it pay his customer who has pur-
chased the offspring from this high pro-
ducer with the intention of making 1t
pay him? In such . case somebody
would be the loser in the end. But the
facts are, of course, that the majority OF
these high records, IL not all of them,
would and do show good profit. The
only point is 1t would be profitable for
the interested reading public to know
the details of the feed given In these
records and the cost of the feed and
labor.-F. L. Austin, in Tribune Farmer.