DAIRY MEETING. II9 



lows that the lower the cost of generous feeding the wider the 

 margin of profit on the milk produced. This leads directly to 

 the question of cost of the feed consumed. It makes a wide 

 difiference in the balance at the end of the month whether the 

 feed cost is high or low. I maintain that in a broad application 

 the way to provide the feed for the cows at low cost is to grow 

 it on the farm where the cows are kept. Even a good cow has 

 no superior value to her owner unless she can be fed at a profit, 

 and any one can readily see that the margin of that profit is no 

 more measured by the amount of product furnished in the year 

 than by the limit of cost of feed that produced it. 



Before proceeding further on this point, it is important that 

 we have a common understanding of the term " cost " as applied 

 to fodder products on the farm. Many times there is a wide 

 distinction between cost and value, and in some cases this dififer- 

 ence has led to erroneous figuring, and therefore to unsound 

 conclusions. The cost of fodder products to a farmer on his 

 farm is the outlay in money or its equivalent involved in plac- 

 ing them there, whether purchased from outside or grown on 

 the farm. In so far as the productions of the farm are con- 

 cerned, the cost has no relation whatever to the market value. 

 In the case of purchased grain brought to a farm, the market 

 value, with something added for handling, becomes the cost to 

 the farm. 



I maintain that the clovers and the grasses are the lowest cost 

 fodder material that can be supplied to our cows. To the 

 extent, therefore, that the grass crop, green or dry, can be 

 utilized for the feed of the cows, to that extent will the result- 

 ing milk product be cheapened. The fact is, we have been over- 

 looking, in the past ruling low prices of the grain feeds, both 

 the feeding value and the possibilities of production of the grass 

 crop. The day of low priced bran and gluten is gone with the 

 past, while recent experiments in grass production are opening 

 our eyes to the feed value of the grass crop as compared with 

 other fodder crops. On the strong soils of nearly all our Maine 

 farms I make the claim, without fear of successful proof to the 

 contrary, that valuable, digestible, nutritious material, suited for 

 cow feeding, can be produ.ced and laid before the stock at less 

 cost in the form of clover and the grasses than with any other 

 crop suited to our climate. Then, these mixed grasses as usually 



