FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81905, 18 December 1906, Page 4

FARM AND DAIRY.

MILK PROFITABLE COWS. Dairymen are frequently told that they should weed out all cows that do not pay a certain profit above the value of their keep. No cow should l>e kept that docs not n-tuni a profit after deduetiij. iiie value of food consumed and the labour expended. Circumstance* must, hov.v., r, be taken into consideration when determining wliat the margin of prolit 'mist be to qualify a cow's retention iu a Jierd. Toe struggling dairyman may lurve just made a start, and the inferior milker was probably purchased at a faiitly high figure before she calved, and has not turned out up to expectations. All the owner's capital may be sunk in his stock and plant; therefore to sell the cow at a reduced price Which would only return a small profit might not prove advantageous. If the cow is so bad as to produce no profit, the sooner she is disposed of the better. Some may assert that the same rule applies to every owner, but the man with uo surplus capital must crawl before he walks, lie may therefore find it advisable to keep some cows in the herd that odly return small profits until he breeds better ones, or is in a position to purchase them, '-thereis always some risk in purchasing and the man with small capital has to go cautiously. Providing he is getting the best possible out of his cows, and they are all returning a profit, he will gradually get into a position to cull more closely. It is most essential to success that a dairyman should know the returns given by individual animals in the Herd. Without this knowledge cows I are liable to be milked that should not find a place in the bails.