The Ordway new era., 1920-08-13
Danying That Pays
La Junta Farmer Makes Good
at the Game and Records
Show How He Does It-Here
Is Article Which Tells How
He Does Il.


une Joseph H. Shank goes into details
in telling about the Dickson dairy and
the article will be Of considerable in
terest to readers in this locality.
The article follows:
Mr.. G. M. Dickson, with his family,
came here five years ago from Marion
county, Missouri, and purchased a
farm of thirty acres in North La Junta
Three years ago. about the time the
cheese factory. which was tho pre-
decessor of the condensary, opened
for the reception of whole milk. Mr..
Dickson purchased bunch of cows
and began delivering their product
and receiving q monthly check for
the same. This he has continued to
do right along, the only variation
being the fact that the checks are
considerable larger now each month
than they were in the beginning.
He is at the present time milking
twelve cows. They are all high
a Jersey. The Jersey. by the way, is
fifty pound COW with a butter fat
test of five per cent. The herd is
only an ordinary grade of cattle so
far as production is concerned aver
aging around forty pounds produc-
I on per day when fresh. He says
that his ambition is to have the herd
of forty-pound cows bring in enough
to furnish the means of buying a
herd of about dozen sixty-pound
The herd is receiving good care un-
der the advice OF A. A. Eastman, the
official tester Of the Otero county
COW testing association, OF which Mr..
Dickson is a member. The official
record Of each COW and also of the
herd ms whole. is kept in book 1T
the Dickson home. and we werc
given the privilege of using any fig
ures that might appeal to us as being
af interest. Bear in mind while per-
using these figures. that while these
cows are given as good care as is pos
hlc under ordinary conditions, that
-n,y are subject to the same handi
caps as all other cows in this section
,f the valley, and that nothing out OF
the ordinary is done for them. The
'sues given are for the first six
months of the current year. The
cows were all fresh some timeduring
November last and the figures are
for eleven cows.
tpo
the milk of the entire herd was: jan
uary. sS.88: February 1857; March
1921; April, s7.9S; May. 1880
June, s6.76. These figures repre-
sent the income each day from the
herd as a whole. The income per
day above the cost of the feed was:
January, $4.31; February $2.s9;
March, SAT; April. s4.75; MAY,
s5.61; June $4S1. OF course
large proportion of the feed was
raised on the farm and the feed was
not actually purchased. but the fig
ures represent what the cost would
have been if all the feed given the
herd actually would have been pur-
chased at current prices.
We now givo the returns from
each dollar expended in feed for the
cows: January. $1.s4; February.
s1.53. March. s1.S2; April, $1.47;
May, $500. Remember that the
calves were being raised also and
that feed consumed was in largo part
roughage that could not have been
used in any other way than GO feed
for cattle. although value was plac-
ed upon it nevertheless. Mr.. Dick
son raises his calves on fresh milk
and calf meal and they are a fine
looking bunch of youngsters, He
has seven fire heifers that he has
kept for his future use that give
promise of being much better pro-
ducers than their dams, and some of
them will likely be fifty pound cows
or better as thcy are out OF pure bred
bulls from strains with good produc-
ton records.
The record of milk production per
day, reads 50 follows: The average
test of butter fat content is placed
after the figureo for milk production.
January. 26s.2 pounds OF milk per
day with an average butter fat con-
tent OF SO per cent. February.
1874 pounds, testing 3.S per cent.
March. 1903 pounds testing 3.s per
cent. April. 280.1 pounds. testing
AZ per cent. June. 272.S pounds.
testing az per cent. July. 25o.6
pounds. testing 3.6 per cent. Mr..
nickeor fuforma ue that .fhc taat