The farm dairy

Preface

The author dedfcates this little book to the boys, hoping that it will help them to see the opportunities in the field of agriculture, and especially ,in dairying, the most profitable branch of agriculture when its possibilities are developed.

The young man who fits himself by education and training to master the details of farm work is sure to succeed. I fully believe there is no field open to the young man that offers as great opportunities for the development of character, and for the -acquisition of good health and a competency as does agTiculture.

We have just commenced to open our eyes to the opportunities. Keep in touch with the agricultural colleges and experiment stations where experts are working out problems in their special lines, and remember that the educated practical farmer is in the future to be looked up to by all classes. He is to be the only lord in this country.

Chapter I. The Dairyman

The successful dairyman must be a gentleman (gentle man). If lie is rough and brutal with his cows he cannot secure the best results from them, as they will not do their best for the man who is unkind to them. In case a man cannot control his temper when milking, cannot resist the temptation to pound the cows with the milking stool, he should liaA^e a milking stool made so long and heavy that it cannot be used as a club. When I lived on my farm I used a stool with a low part for the i>ail to rest upon and another part of sufficient height for the seat. This kept the pail off the floor and clean on the bottom, and is easier and better than holding the pail betw^een the knees or allowing it to sit on the floor.

It would, I am sure, be appreciated by the cows if we should secure women milkers, as they are always kind to the cowsi. I never saw a woman abuse a cow, but I have seen men abuse them shamefully.

Ill Effect of Abuse. — I suppose abuse affects the cow the same as it does the human being.

There are very few of us who turn the other cheek when one is smitten. It seems to be a natural law or instinct to pay' back, to get even; and the cow does it right then and there at that milking. No animal can more forcibly demonstrate to its owner the poor policy of abuse than can the dairy cow. It pays to be familiar with every cow in the herd and every calf that is being raised to become a cow. When I go to my farm and into the pasture or yard the cows immediately gather about me and seem to wish to be petted ; and when I go into the calf pasture the calves gather about me and I have to be on my guard to prevent being butted by them. This proves to me that they have been kindly treated by those- who care for them. It is a sure indication that they have been treated as they should be treated.

Dairying Everyday Work. — ^The dairymai:! must be a persistent worker. A spasmodical worker will not make a successful dairyman, as dairying is every day work and twice a day, and the work must be done at a uniform time in the day to secure the best results. The cow knows when milking time comes and she does her best at that time. She also knows just as well when she should have feed and water and any neglect along these lines may easily turn the balance , sheet against the owner at the end of the year.

THE DAIRY MAX. 9

Study Is Necessary. — The observing dairyman will notice any shortage of milk at milking time and if he is built to succeed he will immediately commence an investigation to learn the cause of the shortage. The businesslike dairyman will not guess at the cause or fail to try to remove it. If he is an intelligent man he will study at all times the conditions he has to meet. He will wish to know the most economical ration to feed his cows. He will be figuring out the feeding value of his home-grown foods to know whether it is economy to feed what he has grown or sell a part of it and buy some food that when added to his home-grown will giv^ him a better balanced ration, such as will help him to produce milk at the lowest cost. He will study to learn whether to have his cows freshen in the spring or in the fall to make him the best profit. He will try to infonn himself as to the most 131'ofitable breed for his purpose. He will consider his location and markets and will wish to visit his brother dairyman to exchange ideas and experiences. He knows that life is too short to learn very much from one ^s own experience. He will subscribe for several of the best dair\^ and stock papers, knowing that he can learn many times the cost of subscription ever\^ year from them. This kind of a dairyman will learn to respect his business and himself and will feel there is an opening for him all along the whole line of agriculture.

Increasing Fertility. — He will uot only be studying liow to feed liis cOws, calves and pigs, but lie will be studying how to feed his land. He will cease to be a soil robber, as he will realize that the fanner who reduces the fertility of his land is a robber without reason, as he is robbing himself. He will, if he has not already done so, get himself out of the rut which was made by the pioneers and has been worn deeper every succeeding generation. No one will hear him saying that his farm does not need fertilizing. He will learn that by continuous cropping and selling corn in the cornbelt of Illinois the yield is decreasing annually one bushel per acre. He will know when nothing but butter-fat or butter is removed from the farm there is practically no fertility removed and that his farm with a sensible system of rotations and growing legumes will increase in fertility from year to year. He will make a persistent and continued effort tO' grow alfalfa,, having learned that it is the most profitable forage crop we have when we take into account its feeding value for stock and its marvelous work as a soil renewer.

Improved Milk Supply. — The dairyman of the future is sure to find that the consumers of milk will require a constant improvement in the milk supply from a sanitary standpoint. The

THE DAIRYMAN. H

public is awake to the fact that it has not been securing milk as clean as other foods and it will demand that it gets it, and the dairyman who is ready to meet this demand will reap his reward. When before did the president of the United States interest himself in the milk supply of his city, as President Roosevelt has recently done? This is right and proper. Milk and its products are sure to advance in price to a point where dairying will pay better than any other line of farming. Tliis must be so or the fanners will not confine themselves to this business.

Observant Farmers. — The farmers who will read this little book have been watching the development of our agricultural colleges and of the work they are doing to interest the boys in farming, by showing them the opportunities to use trained minds and hands in agricultural work, showing them that there are plenty of opportunities to discipline the mind in studying agricultural problems and as many opportunities to make a profit in farming as in other pursuits.

Keep Only Paying Cows. — A dairyman will not spend his time with cows which do not make a profit. He will know the capacity of each cow and keep none which is not profitable. He will realize there is a wonderful opportunity to improve and increase the profits in this way. When we keep a cow per acre (which is a possibility) and she makes 400 lbs. of butter worth $100, and $20 worth of skim-milk at a feed cost of $50 and a labor cost of $20, we have a net income of $50 which is five per cent interest on $1,000. It requires a great effort to reach this mark but when one is year by year approaching this standard, he is successful and happy, and should be making every one about him happy.

Future Profits Certain. — The dairyman will see tha,t there are greater opportunities for his boy on the farm than elsewhere and will educate the son to fill the opening that is here already for him. Many are not appreciating the chances for farmers' boys on the farm. Many city boys are seeing these opportunities before the farmers' boys or the farmers themselves see them.

The dairyman will learn that the cow produces human food at less cost than any other of the domestic animals and she will be doing business when our lands reach a price that will force the owners to quit producing beef, mutton and pork.

Chapter II. The Daiey Faem

For fifty years we have heard talk of the dairy belt of the United States. This supposed belt has been increasing from year to year nntil dairying is successfully conducted in a greater part of this countr}\ It has at least been demonstrated that dairying can be profitably conducted in most states of the Union and in most states where it does not flourish it is for the reason that the farmers can get a good living without being confined to dairying. This does not prove that dairying intelligently conducted would not be more profitable than any other line of stock fanning. In parts of Europe the cow is holding possession of the land when the price has reached such a point that the steer, the sheep and the pig have been driven from the farm. The cow is the cheapest producer of human food of our domestic animals. The other animals following in this order: the pig, the sheep and then the steer. AYe do not expect to see the steer crowded off the earth, but we do expect to see the dairy cow more fully recognized as the years pass. Tlie rapid advance in price of lands all over the United States; the unprecedented number of immigrants; the awakening' of the public to the value of milk as a human food are among the causes that are at work to bring more fanners to think about dairying.

Dairying Most Profitable. — TLie dairy farm may be located in the Northeast, it may be located in the cotton section, it may be on the Pacific Coast, it may be in the British possessions or it may be in the cornbelt, but wherever it is when properly managed it is paying better than any other line of farming for a term of years. The dairy farmer is not a soil robber as is the farmer who sells his soil fertility by the load in his corn, oats, wheat, hay and other bulky products. The majority of farmers are the most senseless lot of robbers on the face of the earth; they are robbing themselves of their soil fertility which is of as much importance as their bank account. They realize that they cannot continue checking out of their bank without making deposits, but they act as though they expected to continue checking against their soil fertility for all time without returning a fair equivalent.

Losing Fertility. — Some Illinois lands have grown corn for forty or fifty years in succession and some lands in the cotton belt have

THE DAIRY FARM. 15

grown cotton for seventy consecutive years and Jiave never been fertilized. If the cotton grower would return the cotton seed or its value in soma fertilizer, he would not be a bad soil robber, as the lint cotton would take but little from the soil fertility. Statistics show that the wonderful corn lands in the cornbelt of Illinois are .showing a decreased yield from year to year of one bushel per acre.

Restoring Fertility With Manure ajid Alfalfa.— The dairy fanner who sells only butter or cream is taking next to nothing from his farm in the way of fertility, if he saves the manure and applies it to his land and practices a sensible system of rotation, growing such leguminous crops as will grow successfully on his farm. Alfalfa leads the list in the legumes where it will thrive and it will succeed in many sections where it is feared that it will not. Every farmer should make an effort to grow it; he should make many etforts, if it is necessary to succeed. It is doubtless our greatest forage plant on soils that are adapted to its growth. It is our gTcatest soil renewer. We can grow greater crops after it than after any other forage plant. AVe have abundant proof of this statement.

The author has clearly demonstrated the fact that a womouf grain farm can be brought up to a state of fei'tility and of profit by dairying, having bought forty years ago a prairie fann in Illinois that had been robbed for years by growing wheat until it would not produce a profitable crop of anything. The dairy cow has brought the productive capacity of this farm from a yield of corn of 30 to 35 bushels per acre to where we now secure from 60 to 100 bushels. When we compare the profits then and now the difference is greater than the comparison of yields, as there was no profit when we produced 30 bushels of com. I discovered that I might as well go to work for my neighbor by the month as to farm on lands that would not produce more than 30 bushels per acre. I was forced to do some thinking and I discovered that the most prosperous sections of the United States were the dairy sections. This fact decided me to take up daiiying and now after forty years I am sure I made a wise decision, that I could not have made a better one. If I could have had alfalfa to aid in the building up of the farm I could' have accomplished the work in olie-third of the time.

Water and Drainage. — It is nice to have a supply of spring water on a dairy farm, but it is not necessary, as water can be secured from bored wells at a reasonable depth in most localities and with windmill or the gasoline engine we can have water whenever we want it. Stagnant pools or muddy streams are objection-

THE DAIRY FARM. 17

able as a supply of water for a dairy. Tlie cows should be fenced away from such water.

The farm should have good drainage, either natural or artificial. A flat or wet farm may be tiled, taking the water line down in the soil so as to make an excellent dairy farm, and the low tiled lands are very productive and are the lands that are selling for the top prices. I also think it best to have shade which the cows can utilize when they wish.

The Breed Should Fit the Farm.— I think the character of the farm should be taken into account when selecting the breed of cows to place upon it. To illustrate, I would not put a large breed of cows on a. hilly farm where much traveling about is necessar\^ to enable the animals to secure the necessary food, but would select for such a farm one of the smaller and more active breeds.

Chapter III

THE. DAIRY HEED.

According to the census of 1900 the total number of cows in the United States, kept for milk production, was 18,112,707, and the total number of gallons of milk produced was 7,728,- 583,350. This reduced to pounds makes the average per cow of 3,672 lbs. of milk per year. To get at the work these cows are doing as butter producers, we will suppose this milk to average four per cent fat (which is doubtless a little high), and we have each cow producing 146 lbs. of butter-fat, to which we will add fifteen per cent to estimate the butter, and we get 168 lbs. of butter as the average annual production per cow in the United States.

Comparing these figures with the census report of 1890, we find an improvement, as at that time the cows were estimated as producing 130 lbs. of butter per annum. It is encouraging to feel that we are progressing in our business, yet where can we get any satisfaction out of the present condition, when we are thirty-two pounds of butter per cow short of what is necessary to make the business as a whole profitable? Tliere is no doubt that the average cost of keeping and caring for the cows of the countr}^ will require an average production of 2U() lbs. of butter to pay for feed, labor and interest on the investment.

Co&t of Keeping a Cow. — I believe that the average annual cost of feeding a cow in the United States for a term of years is not less than $35, and where the milk is taken to a creamery the patron will not receive an average above twenty-two cents per pound for the butter, and when the cow produces 168 lbs. we have $36.96 to her credit, or $1.96 above cost of feeding her, which with the skim-milk is our pay for labor, interest, taxes and insurance. It is apparent that there is something wrong with the dairymen when they are content to be doing this quality of work.

If it costs on an average for a tenn of years $35 per annum to feed a. cow and to this we add $12.50 for labor and $2.50 for interest, we have $50 charged up against each cow annually. Xow what shall we put on the other side of the account? We will allow $10 per cow for the feeding value of the skim-milk, which would be 281/2 cents per 100 lbs. for the skim-milk of the average cow, and we still have $40 against the cow, wliich must be met by the butter prodiiced. We have ascertained that this averages 168 lbs., and it must sell for twenty-four cents per pound to bring the cow and her owner out even. Few of us can secure this average price for our butter.

Some may think that I have charged the cow too much for lahor, but I think not. If the dairyman has boys, girls or a wife who milks it is his good fortune, but that is no reason why the labor account should not be charged against the cow. Other dairymen would be glad to pay for such work if you do not have to pay for yours.

Profitable Butter Production. — A cow that makes less than 200 lbs. of butter per year should not be kept in the herd, and the 200-lJb. cow should only be retained such a time as is necessary to secure a better one. No one will become rich milking 200-]b. cows. Where is the business sense in keeping such cows in the herd?

We would not keep a horse year after year that could only do sufficient work to pay for its keeping, neither would we keep permanently a hired man who was not profitable, yet at the same time many farmers keep cows that get in debt to them every year.

Way of Valuing a Cow. — The following statement shows the comparative value of cows that produce 200 lbs. of butter per year and those making 250 lbs., 300 lbs., 350 lbs.", and 400 lbs. The COW that will make only 200 lbs. annually is worth what she will sell for in the market, which is about $30.

The 250-lb. cow gives us 50 lbs. for profit, which we will say is worth 20 cents per lb. or $10, which will pay 10^/ interest on $100. Therefore if the 200-lb. cow is worth $30, the 250-lb. cow is worth $130. In other words you can as well a,fford to pay $130 for a cow that will make 250 lbs. of butter yearly as to pay $30 for a cow that will only- produce butter-fat to make 200 lbs. of butter. No one would think of paying $130 for the 250-lb. cow, but she is just as good an investment as the 200-lb. cow is when both are to be kept for a term of years on the farm. If any improvement is made on the 200-lb. cow by raising her calves, the credit must be given the dairy sire to which she is bred. By the use of a proper sire the heifer calves from the 250-lb. cow may also be improved over their dam.

On the above basis the 300-lb. cow would give 100 lbs. of butter for profit which would be worth $20, or 10^ interest on $200. Therefore the 300-lb. cow is as good an investment at $230 as the 200-lb. cow is at $30. And when we have a 350-lb. cow, as we frequently do, we have another $10 of profit which means that the cow is worth another $100, and the 400-lb. cow gives us still another $10 of profit to figure as interest on another $100, wliicli makes her worth $430, and each additional fifty pound?' of butter that a cow will produce annually makes her worth another $100, as an investment.

This rule would not hold good if a dairyman buys his cows for one milking period and then sells them for beef; but I believe it is fair and true when a dair^anan selects a bull from some dairy herd and raises the heifer calves from his cows to keep up his dairy.

Investment Good in Big Producing Cows. — I believe it is unfair to the cow to' require her to pay 10^ interest, as she will, if bred intelligently, reproduce herself in her heifer calf so as to perpetuate the family. In fact, she will as a rule leave you more than one offspring that will be her equal as a butter i^roducer, which makes you practically safe in calculating on keeping your investment good that you have in the 300- ib., 350-lb. and 400-lb. cows.

Dairies Running Owners in Debt. — What I have said in regard to individual cows will ap- ])ly with equal force to dairies, as there are thousands of dairies in the United States which are, when considered on a business basis, putting their owners in debt every year. I cannot understand why dairymen will persist in working with unprofitable cows when it is entirely practical for tliem to have dairies that will make them $30 or $40 per cow annually after paying for all their feed at market price and $12 to $15 for the labor of caring for them.

Improving the Herd. — I do not advise all daiiymen to secure registered herds of any breed. This is all right when one can see his way clear to do so. What every dairpnan can do to improve his herd is to test his individual cows and dispose of those that do not come up to a profitable standard. This standard will vary in different localities, depending upon the cost of feed, labor and the value of the products.

I shall not undertake to tell you what breed to select for dairy purposjes, but I would advise selecting some one of the dairy breeds. Study the subject thoroughly and then select the breed that you think is best suited to your wants.

In case you have no cows and are intending to buy, get the privilege of testing them before buying. See them milked, weigh the milk, take a sample and test it or have it tested, and you can figure out what the cow is doing in the line of producing butter-fat, to which you may add fifteen per cent to learn how much butter she will produce. This work will require a little time, but will pay in the end. If you have a dairy, test every cow to know what she is doing. Do not go guessing along with this work.

Eaise all the heifer calves fi^om the cows that test well enough to be retained in the herd and have been bred to the right bull. These heifers will do more profitable work for you their first season when only two years old than will the average cows that you will be able to buy. This is my experience. I have a demonstration of the truth every year and I now have seventy-five such heifers on my farm, some of which will drop their calves soon and some of them are not yet weaned. It is becoming more difficult every year to buy good cows. When we grow our heifer calves for a few generations, we have h longer line of heredity to aid us in selecting the calves which w^e will raise and will learn to look back along the line to the butter and milk record of their ancestors.

Study the Cows. — AVe should know the good and bad qualities of our individual cows just as well as we know those of the men we employ. It is of just as much importance and is much easier to control, as we can do as we please with our cows, but I find there are times when I cannot do as I would like to do with some of the men in my employ. We do not keep a man permanently when we know where we can secure a better one, and yet we go sliding along with a large percentage of our herds unprofitable. Why do we do this? Wliy can we not appreciate our business and apply business sense -to our work? Why not get ourselves up to the business standards of our merchants and manufacturers? They are studying all the time how to lessen the cost of doing business and they are succeeding. There is as much room to apply intelligent thought to dairying as to any business in our country. In one sense we are doing a higher grade of work than any mechanical manufacturer, for we are dealing with machines that have life like ourselves — machines that appreciate kind treatment and respond to it always with an increased profit to the owner. I wish I could make the dairyman see the subject as I see it — see the opportunities that might and should be improved.

Begin Study at Home. — AVe need to commence at home to study the cause of such a condition. Do not go to the farther end of the line and kick everyone except yourself because you are not making a profit in your business of dairying, but commence with yourself. The probabilities are that you are the weakest link in the chain. Comparatively few of us have the moral courage to admit that we are in the wrong when we know it to be true. It is necessary that we should reach this condition before we shall develop as we should. There are in most communities dairy herds that produce l>er cow from 300 to 400 lbs. of butter annually. These herds should be object lessons, as what one dairyman has done another can do. AVe should not take figures of another when estimating tlie cost of feeding our cows, but should learn from our own work what it costs. This is not a difficult matter; the most difficult part is to bring ourselves to realize that it will pay us to do it.

Trying to Do too Much. — The most of us are trying to do too much, just a little more than is profitable, more than we can do as it should be done. I do not know when we acquire this habit, but we have it and knowing the fact we should try to break ourselves of it, as it is as unprofitable as to grow w^eeds in our cornfields. It is worse, as the weeds in the cornfields may not damage more than one year while the faults in the management of our farms will remain for all time if we do not eradicate them. Success depends upon their being eradicated and it is as necessary as to remove the weeds from our cornfields, if we are to produce 100 bushels of corn to the acre. That yield of corn to the acre is to be much more common in the future than it has been in the past. The breeders of corn are sure to put the breeders of cows to shame in the near future if they do not get wide-awake soon.

Test the Cows. — Many dairymen have so much to look after that they do not (or think they do not) have time to look after the testing; of their cows. In such cases get the boys, the girls or the wife to look after it, and I will guarantee that after it is followed a year you will become interested in it, as you will see that it pays better than any other work that has beenvdone on the farm. The whole family will become interested in it and it will help them to see the business side of farm work. This work will cause you to think better of your business and will cause the boys to think better of the farm and some of them will 1)egin to see the matter as an attorney did who visited my farm in the summer of 1901. This gentleman had a son whom he had educated for the bar, but the young man did not like that profession and was determined to go on a farm which his father owned. He took a course in an agricultural college to fit him for farming. His father came to my farm to obtain ideas on barn building and the last remark he made as he drove out of my yard was that there were greater opportunities on the farm than in any other profession. Think of this, boys, and remember that it was a professional man who was talking.