The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1946-01-14

Woulu enter the market, buy and
store the surplus. This prevented
a drop in the market, but it has
also caused dairymen to pay less
attention to herd management
practices which tend to stabilize
production throughout the year.
Every North Carolina dairyman
knows how summer surplus, be-
fore the war, affected his year. s
income. To prevent it, he would
breed his replacement heifers and
part of his cows so that they would
freshen during the fall when milk
production is lowest.
Mr.. Arey says that the cows
ability to maintain a high level Of
milk production throughout the
fall and winter depends upon her
body condition. If she is thin when
placed in the barn, it will be i'm
possible to get the best milk flow
from her during the winter months.
A sharp drop in the milk flow
occurred during the past fall due
largely to the cows being left in
the pasture too long without ad-
equate supplementary feed. Pas
ture. especially good pasture, as
was the case this past summer,
has strong stimulating effect
on milk production, although its
dry matter content is low. Heavy
milk production throughout the
summer combined with a low in
take Of dry matter resulted in
many cows entering the barn this
winter in a very thin condition.
These cows should b. provided
with all the good legume hay that
they will consume. Hay is a cheap
source of dry feed matter.
With a patriotic urge to increase
milk production to meet wartime
demands, many farmers in this
state have increased their herds
out of proportion to this roughage
production. This necessitates the
purchase of too much imported
high price feed. Mr.. Arey says
that pasture, silage and hay rep
resent the cheapest sources of
dairy feeds and an ample supply
of these feeds should be grown at
home. More good pasture is need
ed over the entire state. While
good pastures can be found In
every section of the state, the acre
age is entirely too small to meet
the needs of the present cattle
population.
According to the latest informa-
ton available, there is about IL
acres Of land under fence for each
COW in the state; however, many
of these are unproductive acres
and afford very little grazing. Good
pasture is the cheapest source of
dairy feed and it is through the
expansion of this crop that North
Carolina dairymen have the great
est opportunity Of lowering their
feed cost.
Because of the present urgent
need for milk, some inefficient
cows are being retained in prac-
tically every dairy herd in the
state. Mr.. Arey believes that by
culling out these cows now and
applying the time, feed and labor
which they have received to the
remainder Of the herd, a more
profitable production can be Sc
cured without any material drop in
total production.
In view of the pres ant dairy out
look, therefore, North Carolina
dairymen can improve their po-
sition by stabilizing production
through controlled breeding and
the practice of other good herd
management practices; by lower
ing feed cost through adequate
production of good quality rough
age and constant culling of the
cows; by gradually
building up herd production
the use OF good herd sires;
and, by insuring their future mar
kets through the production of only
high quality milk.