Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1919-12-02
Have We Too Many cowsP

To Judge from the statements of some
men We must answer, eyes; there 10 .
surplus Of milk In every large city, and
there must, for that reason, be more COWS
than are needed" In tho time OF the
last clash between the producers OF milk
and the dealers We heard great deal
about the quantity Of milk there was
more than could be disposed of through
the ordinary channels. Over and over
again we heard this: "Wbat shall be
done with the surplus milk"
1t seems to me, however, that there is
no real surplus of milk in this country.
How can there be as long as we know
that there are many who would like
more milk every dayp We hear of thou.
sands and tens Of thousands of children
that are pronounced undernourished,
poorly fed, and growing up weak and In
efficient. Traced to it's source this means
nothing more nor less than that these
boys and girls do not have the milk they
need.
So we may as we'll dismiss the thought
that because of surplus milk there are
too many COWS. And certainly the coun-
tries lately in the war need more COWS.
The farmers of these countries are get
ting them as fast as they can. Only .
few days ago We saw pictures Of COWS by
the carload, going across the ocean, des.
tined for the farms of the old, wsr-devas-
tsted countries.
The high price of good COWS does not
indicate that there are too many COWS.
When It costs from $4,000 to $500 90 to
buy an ordinary COW, 1t looks as II they
were not very plenty; and that Is what
holds true In the part of the country
where the writer lives. Yon cannot buy
good COW for less than $3.50 90, and
pure-bred COWS command still higher
price.
Nor is this too high price, the way
feed and labor are. It costs heavily to
raise cow from the calf up. The fig
ures named do not much more than pay
the farmer for what he has actually laid
out to get bis COWS. This is not specula.
tion, then, but good common sense on
the part of the farmer when he says, II
must have 80 much for this cow. know
what she costs me, and feel that have
q right to expect cost back, with some
margin for profit"
It Is very possible that we have too
many poor COWS. That has always been
the case Few farmers but will admit
that they have some COWS that are not
doing as we'll as they should. The cost
of feeding and caring for these inferior
COWS is just az great as 1t is for the best
grade OF COWS. Here Is the real test of
the situation. Shall we not put better
COWS In the place of the poor ones? II
not, why notP
So what we want Is not fewer COWS but
better COWS. All the poor ones ought to
60, not to take their places In the pas.
lures of new owners, but they should be
put entirely out of the way. To do this
will call for great widespread inquiry
into the qualities of all the COWS of the
country. Cow testing should be pressed
by Individual farmers and by organiza-
tions for that purpose. Nothing the
dairy farmers OF any community could
do would be more worth while than to
constitute themselves an investigating
committee of the whole, to determine
which are the COWS to keep aud which
are the ones to let 60. At q very small
expense per member farmers can find
out just what any cow of their herd is
doing. These inquiries ought to extend
over period of time long enough to
prove without doubt the real worth of
every COW; and that settled, definite ao-
ton may be taken.
No, we have not too many cows, but
We do need better cows.-E. L. Vincent
In Hoard,a Dairv man.