I08 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



HOW BEST TO CHEAPEN MILK PRODUCTION. 



By F. A. Converse, Buffalo, N. Y. 



I suppose, in the treatment of this subject, what we want to 

 do is to get at something that is absolutely practicable, that is 

 within the reach of every man today, on his farm, as he is situ- 

 ated, under the conditions with which he has to deal. It seems 

 to me the first question to discuss, in cheapening the cost of 

 milk production, is the character of the cows with which the 

 man is working. I do not know the character of the, cows that 

 predominate in Maine, but I know the kind kept in New York 

 and some other states, and I assume that your conditions are 

 very like those in other states. I assume that you have cows 

 of all kinds, colors, weights, sizes and conditions. In a way, 

 that is all right. I believe that a man, in the choice of his cow, 

 should, in the first place, select the market that he shall put his 

 milk into, and then get the kind of cow that will produce the 

 milk that the market w^ants, at the lowest possible expense. A 

 man cannot conduct a dairy business successfully unless he 

 knows something about the cost of production. Every man who 

 is keeping cows should know what it costs him to produce a 

 pound of butter or a quart of milk for the entire year. I do 

 not think it is necessary for a man to weigh and test the milk 

 at each and every milking, but he should do it often enough 

 so that he will know something of the character of the cows. 

 He should know whether this cow or the other is paying the 

 best, and it is only the man who keeps records that can know 

 definitely these things. And it is only the man who can do this 

 who is in a position to cheapen the cost of production. The 

 essential thing is to know just what your herd is doing. You 

 farmers who are not keeping tab on your cows would be sur- 

 prised to know the actual production of each one of them. A 

 man who has a cow that gives a large flow when the conditions 

 are. ideal for milk production, a pail and a half in June, is apt 

 to think that she is his best cow. But did you ever stop to 

 think that then the conditions are all perfectly natural and ideal 

 for milk production? I go on the theory that a man ought to 



