Evening star., 1946-03-10
10 Dairy Counties
Produce Milk for
Washington Area
Bv L. B. Dietrick.
~ II II DTt'TCHs
Director. Virginia Extension Service.

Director. Virginia Extension Service.
In this brief article, wish to dis
euss dairying. StreSsing particularly
It's Importance to the area and to the
city Of Washington, which absorbs
tremendous volume of its produc-
ton. Residents of Washington prob
ably do not appreciate, from the
standpoint of production, all that
is involved in daily milk deliveries
to their doorsteps.
Nineteen nearby counties contain
approximately 35 per cent of the
milk cow population of Virginia
Some authorities estimate that the
population of Washington will in
crease to 100000 people by 1865.
This increase should stimulate ex-
pansion of dairy production. With
this population increase, the number
OF milk COWS should increase grad
ually from the present 1876, 900 to
around 165 900 to supply the city of
Washington and towns and villages
In Northern Virginia with fluid milk.
Also located in the area are several
creamerieS or creamery companies
purchasing cream and several large
dairy processing plants that are
making ice cream mix and process
ing sweet cream.
Washington is Main Outlet.
Milk delivered to Washington by
local producers in the Maryland
Virginia area from January through
October, 1945, totaled 327 277,000
pounds, 24,000,000 pounds above the
same period in 1914. In the same
period, 51,769,000 pounds of milk
were received in Washington from
outside the normal producing area.
According to Dairy Herd Improve
ment Association records, the pro-
duction per cow on DHIA farms
ranges from 7100 to more than 5000
pounds. The gross value of milk
produced per cow on these farms
would range from s289 to Sab.
If we apply the standard formula
for calculating the feed require
ments OF the average cow, we find
that the $4,000 cows for the 19
counties in Northern Virginia would
provide a good market for 100000
tons of hay, 405, 900 tons of silage,
$4,000 tons of grain feed, $4,000
tons of fodder and roughage, $4,000
tons OF straw and other bedding,
and 24,300,000 days of pasture
grazing
In addition, if half of the calves
dropped from the $4,000 milk COWS
were bull calves, there would be ap-
proximately $4,000 calves for sale as
veal and about the same number of
heifers to be used for herd replace
ments or sale. This humber of cows
would require the employment of
approximately 5000 men just to
milk, feed and maange the COWS.
Labor Shortage is Felt.
Producers in this area face seri-
Gus labor shortage in 1916. AS al
ready indicated, tremendous
amount of labor is required for this
dairy production. Possibly no other
group has been harder hit from the
standpoint of labor than the dairy
farmers. The labor situation is even
more critical than during the war
years. Calls to the armed forces
during the war depleted the labor
supply. Some workers are still being
called by draft boards With lifting
OF the war manpower restrictions
many others are seeking more lucra-
tive employment in cities. Thus the
already meager supply of farm
wo2kers is being still further re-
d--Cud
Crops in this area were saved in
ls45 through the use of prisoners of
war, convicts and local farm labor
1t now appears that prisoners of war
probably still will not be available in
1916. In view of the poor conditions
OF Virginia roads, it may be impos-
sible to secure the services of con-
victs for harvesting the 1916 crops.
Returning veterans are not seeking
farm work generally and those that
have made inquiries do not particu-
arly desire to work on farms.
Therefore, the farmers in North
ern Virginia will have to depend
more and more on local labor. They
will be seriously handicapped by la
Dor shortages unless this local labor
can be more generally recruited or
a larger number of veterans and dis
charged war workers can be induced
to return to the farm