The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1913-12-25
Marketing Farm
Feed As Butterfdt
BY EDGAR !. Olsen

BY Edgar !. Olsen
Dairying at the present time is con
Quoted on such a small scale in THU
country that the income after thu
home is provided for is not noticed tt
any great extent.
The Herds in the Leal-Wimbledo1
Testing Association are not OF grea'
size. The largest at the present time
contains Is head of high grade dairy
animals but probably contains more
dairy blood than any other in the as
ISOLATION, having a large per cent Of
Jersey blood.
The record for six months from
April to the last of Sept. shows o. net
profit of $214. This is not bad when
one takes into consideration tht pas
lures on this farm are very poor, II
having been necessary to start feed
Ing them corn fodder about the mid
die of July. This return was net as
the cost Of feed had been deducted
also the necessary labor.
In the Leal-Wimbledon Testing AS
ISOLATION all feed fed is charged
against the cow at marke prices. This
is another advantage in keepin live
stock of some sort. For instance our
corn possess little il any value on the
market but can be readily tranmitted
into butter fat or beef which Is In
great demand. In feeding our other
feeds we save the expense OF hauling.
A car of feed grain is worth on the
average about $3.50, a car of butter
$4,000. Why not transform that feed
to butter fat and save the freight on
Nineteen cars
To come back to the herd under dis
cussion we must bear in mind that
the profits made during the first SIX
months were made during the best
part of the year and that for the re-
mainder Of the year we can not ex'
pect more than half as much, on that
basis the net profit for the year WILL
total about $500. This returns a nice
rate of interest on IA COWS valued at
say SIS a piece.
The care required by this herd does
not necessitate any great hardship on
anyone concerned. The milking Is
done by the owner his son and one
man and in addition they farm sec.
ton Of land. .. ......
The present price Of beef does much
to make the farmer who contemplates
going into dairying more extensively,
hesitate. In summing up the results
for the individual cows in Herd MOB
for the first six months, one cow, a
shorthorn.holetein cross returned a net
profit of $24.30 this in the opinion Of
the tester was good but did not seem
to appeal very much to the owner who
stated that he could realize q return
Of thirty dollars year on raising and
feeding steers. But he like many 9TH
ers did not realize that his thirty dol
lars was gross return not net like
that Of the cow. In fact the cow re-
turned a gross income or profit OF
$4,000 this compared with the income
from the steer left her $14.00 above
and six months time yet to produce
more butter fat.
To often we don't give the dairy
COW credit for the butter, milk, and
cream that we consume ourselves
making comparisons only on the cream
checks we get and the big check we
get for the steer. ...
On a small farm where the owner
does most Of his own work the dairy
COW returns a greater profit than eth
er the beef Or dual purpose tyue pro
viding she gets care. There is no AMI
NAL so responsive to good care as
dairy COW.
On a large farm where sufficient
help Is hard to get, and then question
able in regard to quality, and where
cattle can be so extensively raised
that they can be sold in car lots, there
by getting a higher price, making
beef is profitable, more SO than 8
dairy herd that is not getting decent
care.
The writer believes that the ain
should be not to 60 into dairying ex
tensively but intensively.
Barnes county land is of such worth
that we can either raise and milk
good dairy cows or raise and feed
prime beef-let the cheaper lands Of
Montana and Canada produce the feed
ers.
At the present time the Dominion
government is leasing land for graz
ing purposes at less than five cents an
acre per year. 1t hardly seems pos
sible that we here where land Is aver
aging about fifty dollars an acre can
compete, in the raising of feeders. In