Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1913-07-08
Few Good Cows VS.. Many Poor.

HoARD's DAIRYMAN:-There is a
old adsge that says Not how much. bu
how good" Itapplies just as forcibl
to dairyiog as il does to anything else
Ii Is more important for dairy
men and farmers to improve the qualit.
of their cows than to increase the mum
Der kept. Ten real good cows will yiel'
greater production than fifteen infe
rior animals and it will be far more eco
nomical TO feed and care for the smalle
dairy.
The profit in COW consists OF th'
money the milk or butter will sell TO
over and above the cost for feed. Thi
cost will not be materially different be
tween cows kept on the average farm
Considering everything in round figures
IL will not be far from 500 year TO
| the average cow.
II milk is sold at 4c quart, it will re
quire the first 2500 quarts produced Il
pay for the cows feed. The profit in 9
COW, then, would be from the milk ovel
and above the $500 quart milk produc
ton. Ii the annual yield was 3,OOt
quarts, only 500 of this would be prof.
in other words $50 at the stated price
for milk. II the production was $500
quarts year, the profit would be l,0Ot
quarts or $40.
Although the actual difference in milk
yield between the two cows is only SOC
quarts, il means that one cow Is just
twice as profitable as the other animal.
Ten cows of the larger yielding capacity
would be just as profitable as dairy OF
twenty of the other cows. In either
case the actual profit would be in 10000
quarts OF milk having money value oil
800. 1t should need no argument to
convince any farmer or dairyman that il
would be easier to make the s40O profit
by keeping the ten cows than it would
twenty cows.
The same logic applies if instead OF
selling milk, the dairy is kept for butter
purposes. The first 333 pounds of but,
ter produced at 80 cents a pound will go
into feed. II the butter yield is 366
pounds annually, the profit will lie in 81
pounds and be about 10 dollars, while II
The butter yield is S99 pounds, GO of this
will be profit or about 20 dollars. Ten
Of the higher butter yielding cows will
be equivalent to twenty OF the lower
yielding animals.
1t is more economical for the farmer
to plau to get one COW that will produce
8, 500 quarts of milk or 400 pounds OF
butter at a given feed cost than TO keep
two cows, each of which will yield only
), 600 quarts of milk or 366 pounds oil
butter.
Some farmer says he knows none OF
his dairy cows will produce even 2,5OC
quarts of milk or 3S3 pounds OF butter,
yet that he realizes profit from them
That may be true, but the profit is not
in the milk or butter. 1t is in the farm
grown feed sold to the dairy and mar
keted in the form of milk products. A
successful dairy ought to give produc
ton that will not only pay for all pur
chased feed but also for that produced
on the farm, besides yielding net proh
OF the milk.
Thousands of cows are kept that dC
not begin to pay for their board, the val
ue of the milk or butter being less thar
/ that of the feed consumed. In many
,iairies a few bosrder cows eat up all ths
profit of the high yielding ones.
Every farmer should practice meth
cd that will enable him to get rid o
those that do not pay expenses. Thi'
can be done by weighing the milk regu
larly and by testing systematically If IL Il
sold on butterfat basis or made int
butter. Records should be kept of feet
consumed and when the value OF th'
milk or it's products does not exceed
this by reasonable margin, the cow
should be sold or sent TO the block. A
Babcock tester used in connection will
scales will give this information at sligh
cost and trouble. The dsiryman viii
get along faster il he seeks to improve
quality in his cows than il he simply in
creases its size blindly.-L. j. Haynes
10 Hoard's Dairyman.