Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1915-02-12
Cow Querries--A Paper by c. A. Burr
Read at the Recent Farmers In
stitute in Wauseon-What Pays?
Questions of Vital Interest to Dairy
men Answered by One Who has
Given the Subject Much Time and
Study.

what were good to do, Chapels had
been Churches and poor mems cottag-
es princes palaces. It is good -di-
vine that follows his own instructions
l would sooner tell twenty what were
good to be done than be one of the
twenty to follow my own instructions
This thought, it would seem to me,
spPlys most aPProprl,s;te;ly ,;'ss;;a ts,,,tl to the
ence has taught Us any thing, it has
dairyman's success or failure depends
upon individual effort and application.
There Is not q set of rules, however
carefully they might be followed. that
will develop a prize herd of dairy
cows. SO in view Of this fact, shall
not presume to attempt to tell you
this afternoon, how you shall feed
your cows or how you shall care for
your cows to get best results. More
over | should not like to advise any
one what to do and what not to do.
What seems to us to be a good prac-
tice might prove detrimental to some
one else. Cows vary in constitution,
in temperament in habits and capacity
10 such an extent, that / believe every
dairyman must work out for himself
the details of feeding and caring for
his own herd. The caretaker must
study these varying conditions and ex-
pertinent and work out his own meth
DDS.
Therefore, IL is my purpose to give
my own personal opinion regarding
some Of the questions relative to the
care Of a dairy herd. Does it pay to
do this thing or do that thing is an
ever present querry. And there is ever
a neighbor ready to decide all of these
questions for you invariably in the
negative. But we are not always will
ing to take off-hand decisions as
final. IL goes without saying that the
answer TO this querry, "Does It pay"
should be the determining factor in
the methods of the careful and
thoughtful dairyman. If thing
doesn't pay, why keep doing it? If
you are convinced that a thing will
pay why not do III It is the part of
the efficient farmer to decide these
questions in his own particular case.
In the light Of our own experience, l
wish to touch upon a few of these
common queries, all introduced by the
phrase does II pay"
Il would seem that the question of
first Importance is "Will il pay the
average farmer to buy high priced
cows r. To my mind, there is just one
reason why It will not pay, viz, in
unwillingness on his part to properly
care for them. The way some cows
in Fulton county are cared for and APP
preciated reminds me of story. A
stranger was passing along the dusty
road on hot summer day. He notic-
ed small boy hoeing in corn field
and in n friendly way inquired what
he got for hoeing weeds. The reply
was, "Nothin' II do and He'll if |
don't" The farmer who turns out
his cows in the morning to get drink
of ice water s-d then leave them out
in the wind or storm all day with q
few bundles Of corn fodder and what
straw they may dig out of a stock
and then wonders why his cows don't
give more milk, had better buy the
$50 kind. For him, worlds record
COW would be no better.
On the other hand, believe the
farmer who will take an interest In
his cows can well afford to pay S20C
or $500 or even more to get the right
kind of a start. For 5000 to $500 he
ought to buy q COW that will produce
q calf and from 10000 to $4,000 lbs
Of milk In calendar year. This
amount Of milk, at condensory prices
will yield from $3.50 TO 5000 annually
We figure that IL costs us from $8t
TO 500 per year to feed such a COW
This will leave a profit Of $75 to $10(
on the milk over cost Of feed. Th'
calf will more than pay interest oi
the investment and the labor expens'
besides there will be the, advantage
Of feeding more grain and hay on th'
farm. The average Ohio cow pro
duces 1000 lbs. per annum. The IN
come from milk will not exceed $50
A scrub calf is of little value.
costs something to keep even 400
h.. COW, however, and fail to se
where the profit comes from.
To illustrate further. We have a
year old COW that cost $400. In tn
~ months following her purchase sh
produced 81 $50 lbs. Of milk, whic
at condensory prices, would yiel
S355.68. Evidently that COW paid in
terest on the money invested.
am satisfied that barring acciden
the careful farmer who will care fo
and properly feed such cows and mil
back and in few years will be in
position to sell some Of this kind o
long prices. But please don't under
stand that reckon profits from tn
excess of income over cost of fee,
Unfortunately, there is that ever pr,
sent and indeterminate factor of Loss
es to be overcome.
The second question is, can tf
farmer afford to keep good sire
Granting that he can protitably kee
cows that produce 10000 lbs. or eve
5000 lbs. Of milk per year, there
not a doubt but that he should inve
In a bull Of equal or superior qualii
to his cows. Why? Because we al
firm believers in the merits of bu
from high producing ancestors. E
using such q sire he may increase al
improve his own herd by raising Il
heffer calves. and improve his neigl
bors herds by selling them the ma
calves to use in their herd. Our e
perience teaches US that the sire
more than half the herd. The fir
ten daughters Of our herd sire, a $.
Of Pontiac Kondyke out Of 81
dam, will average as two year ole
in official test, almost 10000 lbs.
milk In year. We credit this II
provement In large measure to the
sire.
The third important question
Does Il pay to feed your cows wei
In a way, this has already been a
swered in the affirmative. In the Ia
issue of Hoards Dairman in an q
ticle in Profit and Loss in feedil
the dairy COW, this question is We
ably discussed, still better eviden
may be found in the same issue in I
report Of COW testing association
Maine. There were 80 cows enter
that averaged $126.64 at an avera
cost Of feed Of SOLOS. But note tn
the highest producing COW (17,6
lbs.) returned a profit of $140.70
a feed cost of $114.OO. The lowe
producing cow 1884 lbs.) returned
profit of $51.57 over a feed cost
$4,000. In still another article in I
aana naner the editors comment IL