Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1912-02-22
AN ILLINOIS INQUIRY.

A reader OF these notes VINO lives
near Edinburg. H., not far from
springfield. writes stating that he lives
on u sixty acre farm especially well
suited for dairy farm and makes in
CURRY as to the wisdom of going into
the dairy business. He states that he
knows practically nothing of the dairy
business. wants to know how many
cows Il sixty acre farm would support,
whether it would be better to sell milk
or cream and what would be a reason
able estimate of the amount of milk
COW would give per day during the
year and what per cent of 1t would be
cream. While it would be impossible
in the limits of such an article as this
to give q novice In the dairy business
as full directions as he desires, never
theless few suggestions may be made
that will prove helpful.
A suggestion which our correspondent
makes in his letter is eXcellent-name-
ly. visiting and inspecting for himself
some of the most successful dairy
farms in the section in which he lives
Here he can make inquiries as to Il
hundred and one details knowledge of
which would be helpful to him if he is
going into the dairy business, while the
visual impressions he will take away
with him from shipshape dairy farm
will be a decided advantage to him
We're We in our correspondents place
we would secure ten or a dozen tested
grade cows of the breed which seems
to be most numerous in the section in
which he lives. He might handle more.
but this would do for start. These
cows will cost all the way from $50 to
500 apiece, depending upon their abil
ity to deliver the goods. And in this
connection it is well to remember that
it is far better in the long run to pay
500 for a COW that the other fellow
would rather keep than $40 or $50 for
one that he is quite willing to sell.
The "reasonabeness' of an estimate
as to how much milk q COW would give
would depend quite largely upon the
amount paid for her and also upon the
feed and care given her. a COW that
gives 5000 pounds of 5 per cent milk
butter fat, approximately equal to 312
pounds of butter, worth at an aver
age of so cents per pound, SOB. Sub
tracing cost of feed. about $3S, leaves
a net return of 500 per year. Hol
stein to give the same return would
have to produce not far from 5000
pounds of milk containing 3 per cent
~,
more milk, her feed bill would also be
larger. If one is willing to pay the
price he can reasonably expect as good
results as these or better. While the
writer Is not acquainted with the local
conditions, 1t would be his offhand
Judgment that selling the cream would
be the better proposition, for. while he
might not get any more for it than he
would for the whole milk, he would
have the skimmilk left on the farm
for his hogs. calves and chickens
which would be natural byproducts of
his dairy operations. If there Is not
already silo on our friends farm he
should have one or two, depending
upon the number Of cows he will ulti-
mately keep. If he does not have them
already he should subscribe for cOu-
pie Of good dairy papers and by read
ing them carefully and making inquir-
les of his neighbors who are most sue
cessful in the dairy business he will
gather information which will be most
helpful to him. If he can so arrange 1t
it would give him good return on the
money invested if he would take
short course in dairying at the state
agricultural college.