THE BUTTER INDUSTRY

Waikato Argus, Volume III, Issue 202, 28 October 1897, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE BUTTER INDUSTRY

WHAT THE FARMER OF TODAY MUST DO TO SECURE MORE rROFIT IN DAIRYING. By Hon. W. IK Hoard. I. H E M U S T C H A N G E II [ S METHODS IF NECESSARY. It is the easiest thing in the world for men to go along for years with bad, wasteful methods. Somehow, we would rather stay by a method we arc used to, be it ever so bad, than adopt one we are unacquainted with, even if it is a great deal better. But this sort of mutual inertia or lazy contentment is the worst foe to true progress. It is every man's bounden duty to stop waste ; it is equally his duty to make all the business forces under him do their full share of work. The farmer is a general. Acres, machinery, cows, hired men, are his infantry, artillery, cavalry, and engineer corps. He must train himself in the art of agricultural warfaro. He must not let any of these forces go to waste ; and he must keep them up to their best effort, if he expects to win a victory in the shape of good profit. All successful generals are quick to learn from their mistakes ; they are great students of the methods of other generals. This is a great help to success. If they find their methods are wrong, they do not blindly adhere to them. They have learned that true rule for human guidance, " Never compare things that differ." That means that every difficulty, every situation, is governed by its own law. This applies wonderfully to the problems of cow farming Now one great source of waste and fruitless effort is a refusal to change methods. The farmer was brought up with cows, and thinks ho knows all about them. Pie measures every new truth by an old error. Illustration : A man had heard that Jerseys were good butter cows. He bought one that was fresh in milk. lie took her from a kind master and a comfortable barn to a cold, uncomfortable stable, and turned her out to drink ice water on a very cold day. When she came into the stable she shivered, I and in a week had shrunk her milkflow one-/n/f. [ lie recounted to me all these circumstances, and said lie did not think Jerseys were hardy. That man would have measured a diamond by what he knew of limestone. When I undertook to show him that a highly organised dairy cow, one that would yield twice as much butter as any cow in his herd, should be treated according to the law of her own being, not according to his bad and ignorant methods, he replied by asking if I thought he was going to "change himself over to suit a cow." Another : Two men in my county have been dairymen for twenty years. Each started with IGO acres of land, and they live only about a mile apart. One we will call A. and the other B. When they started with cows, A. was in debt for nearly the price of his farm. I». was out of debt. A. early saw that Ik; needed the best cow he could get. He was a good judge, and he would pay a large price for a good animal. lie became interested as a student in the physiology of the cow, and read everything he could find that would givo him more light. B said it was all nonsense to read so much humbug. A. bought the best registered Jersey sire he could find, and almost paralyzed the neighbourhood by paying loOOdol for him. Twelve years ago he built a silo. That enabled him to nearly double the size of his herd on the same land. Then he took up the study of the feeding problem. B. calls A. a crank. A. is now worth ten times what B. is. A. has changed his methods for better ones, and is to day wealthy, intelligent and widely respected. B. is worse oil than he was twenty years ago. He knows but little, if any, more than he did then ; bis cows are j

of the s;imc poor sort ; lie " don't believe in all this blamed humbug about breeding, feeding, silos and such." His family have grown older and his expenses hive increased, but his revenue has remained tha same, and now he is in debt. lie has rolled the spirit of non-progression undivr his tongue like " a sweet morsel," until he is ugly and sour at everybody. What is the cause 1

This —he would not change his methods. He would not imbi'ie knowledge enough to have a good judgment of methods. He would not use his intellect, train it, guide it, and refine it. He did not realise how deep this problem of successful dairy farming i?, and that a man with a shallow, unfurnshel mind cannot fathom it. If. HE MI'ST GET THE COST PRICE OF HIS MILK DOWN. To do this depends on the cow and the way she is fed and in inaged. Here is a bit of practical experience for you : A large milk producer in Ulster County, New York, writing on the subject says : " The poorest cow I ever owned gave 1000 ouarts a year, at a cost of over live cents a quart, while another cow produced over 7000 quarts, at a cost of less than threefourths of a cent a quart. " A year ago my food-cost per day was 26 15-100 cents. Of this the farm furnished Scents and IS 15-100 cents was purchased. On this expense the herd averaged fourteen quarts a day, at a cost of 1 Sfi--100 cents per quart. The ration was : Twelve pounds hay, eight pounds corn fodder, ten pounds wheat bran, six pounds hominy, and three pounds cotton-seed meal. An effort was made to reduce the cost by a better study of the feeding question, and the following lation was adopted : 201 b hay, ."51b oat straw, .'jib oats, Gib wheat bran, -lib buckwheat middlings, and 2lb cotton seed meal. This ration cost 21} cents a day. Of this 10 cents was raised on the farm and 11} cents purchased. The milk yield increased to 1G 11-100 quarts a day, making the cost per quart I 410 cents —a saving of nearly one-half of a cent. pet- quart per day. " Jn 1888 my cows averaged 1000 cyaavts nev cow, and U\e milk cost. nic 2 8-10 cents per quart. Lust year the yield was 3751 cuvarts per cow, and the cost per quart was only 1 1-1(1 cents, or a reduction of exactly one half." This result was brought about by weeding out the poor cow.'j and putting good ones in their places. To know the good from the bad the milk of each cow was weighed and tested at regular intervals. " I guess so" was discharged, and " 1 know so" put in her place. " Now, think these facts over, and tell me candidly, if it is not best to abandon our old wasteful ways of managing cows, and ulopt souk; of these new ways '. Let us always remember that cows cannot yield milk solids without suitable materials from which to make them ; and that the cows capable ot producing these solids in profitable quantities cannot do so or. the coarse fare that is suitable, to the lower grades of stock. Neither can they stand the. exposure which common stock will endure without serious discomfort and injury. ill. HE MUSI' AVOID WASTE. The Experimental Farm of Ontario reports the amount of food consumed, bedding used, manure produced, by a calf during the first three years of its life. The total weight, including six tons and thirty eight one hundredths of a ton of st,raw used, was 2!) - G I tons. The manure produced was analysed and its value determined on the basis used for valuing commercial fertilizers. On this basis the value of tin; manure produced by the calf during his first three years was 5,H5.:,7. This shows the enormous waste on when the farmer dors not ook after the manure. 'J he fer.ility or producing power of your

land is your capital. Did you ever notice how much loss a rich soil feels a bad drought than a poor one 1 The vicissitudes of fanning are very much lessened by keeping the land rich. One of the chief reasons why I have been so persist- ' ent in advocating the use of land 1 plaster in the stables is to save the ! waste of nitrogen. j IV. HE MUST STUDY THE FEED QUESTION. Here is a fact clearly demonstrating this : Dr. Babcock found that the use of ensilage greatly increased the churnability of cream. It seemed to produce the same effect that is seen in the cream when the cows feed on June grass. Every fanner's wife knotvs how much more easily and thoroughly the cream comes at that time than later when the feed becomes drier and more woody. The same effect is produced by the feeding of roots. Dr. Sturtevant at the Geneva .Station found that milk' from early mown hay, cornmeal, and bran yielded up SI per cent, of its fat, while that from late-cut hay and gluten meal yielded up toonly 0 1-per cent. Here was a loss of 20 per cent, because of the kind and condition of the food. Can farmers afford to shut their eyes to better study and knowledge on this question .' There is money in it. There are 800 patrons of the Hoard creameries. Among them, at each one of the ten creameries, are men who produee milk at 30 to 75 per cent, less cost than others. Every penny of reduced cost means that much of increased profit. Yet it is very hard to get those unsuccessful ones to study. In these times of low prices they are groaning with financial colic. Yet no man can get them to see whore the waste is. Are there any such farmers in Canada ? V. HE MUST DEVELOP HIS HEIFEKS PROPERLY. In the development of the heifer to be a profitable dairy cow, a great deal depends on the sort of man that handles her from calfhood to her second or milking form. She must start with good dairy ancestry. That is the foundation, but not the superstructure. We have iy.vi.so/) to believe, that a large pro-yy-wvion ot y>cvm" eows eouUl Wave been made good ouch if they )in<l {alien into the bands of men who know how to develop them rightly. lb-re are the ways : (\) Prevent the growth of fat and the develop-I nient of beefy tendencies. (2) Use constant gentleness and frequently handle the udder. ('■'>) Breed at fifteen months so as to start the development of the maternal functions while the body is easily moulded. (I) Peed liberally of milk-producing food so as to develop the growth of the udder all that is ■ possible. An Arkansas man asked my neighbour, C. !'. Goodrich, the questions : ,: J low are milk vessels developed in heifers? How is the milk How stimulated 1 " Mr Goodrich has been a very successful producer of line cows, and his answer was : " ' lliii'g them up is the way they should go, and when they are old they will not. depart from it;" that is to say, if they are well-bred dairy heifers. By this I mean bring up the heifers to consume large quantities of milk-producing food. There are some- kin is of food that will induce growth, but not fat. Use such foods. Professor Roberts aptly .'■ays ; If you ask such a heifer to turn all her food into milk she will say, "I '"'" t do it : you taught me to make tallow/' There are lot- of spoiled, wasted cows. Rood cows are too scarce for even one to be spoiled in the making. VI. HE MUST RUSK I'ROTKIN CHEAPLY. Science and experience both igrec that if we expect to produce milk cheaply and abundantly, not jnly must we have a good dairy .osv—one that is lifted for the busi-

ness— but we must also fit the food to suit the cow. She produces milk ; and milk is the 'nest balanced food in the world. Bahnced how ? By having, in tho best proportions the three ruling food elements—carbohydrates, fat and protein. The cow cannot change her nature nor her milk. | She depends upon her master for ; knowing enough to do the right thing by her. Poor cow, how fear- ; fully and frequently she is deceived ! Said an old la ly to nic once; " Women and cows know how ■ terribly lacking men are." No cow | yields a balanced milk abundantly— I mind you, abundant!;/ —she must have j the right food to make it of. In 1 every pound of milk she is obliged by a law she cannot escape, to put a certain per cent, of casein or curd. Chat is almost pure protein. Where will she get it? Prom her fool, flow can she get it from the food if the farmer does not furnish it? All tin protein foods arc somewhat

expensive : more so at some tunes than ?.t others. The best among tlicm is cotton-seed meal, That <s the richest in protein. We must buy that; iliea comes the oil meal, bran, gluten feed, ami gluten meal, all oil which we must buy. Can we help ourselves, and produce this food cheaper than to buy it 1 V This is an intensely important

question. For years I having been striving to make our dairymen understand this matter. .My object is to keep up the yield of milk, and at tlio same time to leave more of the resulting money with the farm.

Professor [{oberlson conceived the i lea of the putting in the silo a balanced food that does away with the necessity of buying it in another form. His plan was to «ro\v com, horsebeans, an ! sunflower heads, and eitsiol them together in a balanced ratio,

The corn for the carbohydrates or starch, the beans for Hie protein, and the sunflowers, for the fat. The same object is striven for by those farmers who grow peas or vetches abundantly with corn or barley. Thousands of farmers have been prevailed upon to include peas in their dairy farm management, They succeed or fail just in proportion, barring adverse seasons, as they understand how to grow peas.

The old Indian said, " lvnovv-a-heap i.s a h)« thing whan you )iuni otter.'' " Know-a-hean " will nay here, too. Some experiments in iho way of glowing flax with millet and oals, for hay, liavo been made, notably by Ite.v. Mr Currie, of Euclid, .Minnesota. IU; speaks very highly of this combination as a milk food, and says : •• My theory is that during the growth of the plant it has mora protein without the excess of oil, so I sowed millet, llax, and oals together, and I cut it at a certain staire, and it is the best food I ever had." The combination was cut when the millet was fairly headed out, and the flaxseed, say, half grown. Concerning this combination, Professor Snyder, of the .Minnesota Experiment Station, says : " .M r Carrie's conclusion in regard to the use of flax at a certain stage is borne out by the conditions of the plant during»its period of growth. As the plant- matures, the starch is used in the formation of the fats and oils, and he has cut, the plant, at the proper time when the . nitrogenous (protein) property of j the plant is most developed." i Now these are hints Take ad- ' vantage of them, and see what you I can do to solve this reduction of ' cost, and still keep up quality and j quantity of product. CONCLUSION". Lei me emphasize the ma 1 ler once more, The, first factor in the problem of a cheaper production of milk is the cow—a dairy cow, a good cow. Take the first step first, and make :i determined efi'ort to do business only with ;i true dairybrcd cow. To this end the dairy farmer must he ne more of a breeder. This is ;

The next is the right sort of food, dairy food, food that will bring dairy results ; the next, understanding and skill in feeding the right food ; next,, the production of the right food (not some other food) on our own farms, as far as possible ; next, the right care and handling of the cow. The nearer we conic to perfection in all these- points, the greater will be our profit. We must make milk for a less cost per 1001 b. There is no help for it. The inevitable growth of the business must bring that result. We must produce butter an 1 cheese for less money. We no longer control the output. Other countries arc reaching for our marketr. Our own production is increasing. Every line of human effort is in the same g°>7We must make milk "by the acre," "by the cow," and "by the hundred pounds." It is stupid for us to persist in using double the number of acres ami cows (o produce what, one-half of these forces might just as wed produce. We must learn to make just as much profit with milk at Go cents a hundred as we once did with milk at Idol, a hundred. We can do it if we will address ourselves to a reformat on of our cows and our ideas and methods. Farming.