THE L.S.D. OF DAIRY FARMING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 219, 23 February 1915, Page 5

THE L.S.D. OF DAIRY FARMING.

llovv ninny farmers realise ti'uat wher« loroii labour (liand rai.Jiera) are tipi. ( ployed on a dairy farm it jeoats at least ill) per. cow foj- labour and gracing every year, and the larmier rucervea no p.icfifc. until the cow has produced' flu>'■" worth of butter-fat? If a farm coating iSO per acre will carry one cow to every '2y, acres, the value of land required for (aeu cow is £7O, and for 15 cows thj ' Tabic is £1125. T>!ie average milker n.ilks 15 cows, and in wages and food, etc., ho costs £2 per week. Tlia anmif.l tost of keeping 15 cowa is: Wages: £2, per week for 52 weeks, £104; (i per cent, > interest on £1126, £O7 10a; total, £l7l 10a. This is Equal to' nearly £ll lo«j' per cow, Lqt us call it £lO .per cow. Of couraa almost, every farmer receivesy money fc'r liis calves and pigs, tat this " ■(money ; 3 not sufficient to wiy for the necessary manure, horse-feed! fencing, cropping, rates, etc. j but if wc say that one sets oiT the other it leaves the main items of wages and interest on one side and buttsr-fat on the other. £li> per cow! That is wlhat every farmer is up against, If a herd averages £ls per cow there will surely be some cowa ■ r -aking only £7, ,£B, or* £9 each. Each one of tliese cows eats aa much and lakes 15 lon« to milk as tilie better cow. making mttfe money. Therefore they. ' are an annual loss. Cow-testing associations are finding theso cows out—they either are fattened and killed or arc bought by the greenhorn farmer who won't test. Here 13 a matter for a far-hi-r to work out. If a cow producing £ll makes £1 of .profit for Mm, another -producing £l2 makca £2 profit, and a third producing 1 £l3 makes £3 profit, what are the respective value 3 of these three cows? 1b not the second, worth twice ai much as the first, and the third worth three thnps as much as the first'; Surely it must so! How many fanners realise that these are hard* and fast facts! There''is no getting away from them.- : * Instead of talking of the £lO cow, lot us speak of her in pounds of butter-fat, snd for easy working calculate each ' pound of fat at Is. On this basis a "f' w producing 2001bs fat is. earning £lO, and 6ha thre» cows above mentioned i earning £ll, £l2 and £l3 will produce respectively 220. .240 and SftCilbs fat. ( What is the first cow worth? Shall wo fay £5? She will then be earning 20 !<r cent, interest, or frofit to the' farmer, for voi 1 will remember sHe earned a profit of £l' (ile., 20 per cent, on £5), the second co.v will "be worth £lO, and the ihii d £ls. Continue this on. and we fln.l the values are as follows: fat tow is worth £2O 300 „ „ 05 *» „ „ 30 340 „ „ ~ 35 3fio , . i, 40 380 „ „ „ 45 4W > :> „ „ BO' 600"..- „• „ 75 WO ~ „ „ 100 And so 011. . iVow, with good farming 'and good cows .there is no reason why the average farmer in Taranaki shoulil not average 40011)8 fat per cow. Some ; herds are doing better than Uii# and their owners realise that there is still loom for improvement. A simple calculation shoiwa that a cow 'producing 4Uolbs fat at Is ia grossing £2O and making a clear net profit of ! £lO, anl a man liaving £0 sudi cows, after providing fi per cent, interest au the value of his land, and paying wages, clear net profit of £3W.' Some may look upon on average of 4001hs. as a misty and unattainable* ideal. But if it i 3 being done by some why not by all! Htere we come to the dividing line where the successful farmer is separated from his less thoughtful brother. A 4001b herd can only be had by breeding it—it' would take a' bank to purchase one. Lot every farmer, by ' weighing and testing the milk of his herd for 2 days in each monlh throughout the season find out his best cows anil .breed thorn to a Jersey bull from a high butter-fat ancestry (tihey are to be found now) and he is at once v« „ie royal load to success and fortune. Many farmers who in the past have used "any eld rnmmy," think they have done a grant "stroke""by paying 15 or 20gs for a pedigree bull. They are often doomed to disappointment. It is a rare stroke of, fortune to get a first-class bull at sueh a .figure. ITow can a farmer expect to buy for 20gS'. a sire which will beget daughters worth £SO. A 4001b. cow is worth £SO. What is a sire worth if ' he produces annually from 10 to 20 daughters, each worth £SO? Say 15 at £SO equals £750. It will pav th> l nary dairy farmer well to invest £l5O to £2OO in buying the verr ned!firee Jersey bull obtainable; it is a wonderfully good investment. "But tbs man who is content with a bull that is 'medium to bad. w' l ' silw">~3 b» and never pay o(T his mortgage.—Con-, trilmted.