292 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE 



corn; plenty of clover hay and, better still, alfalfa hay, and 

 some soiling crops to supplement the pastures in the hot months, 

 only rich concentrates need be purchased to balance up. 



Why should not the dairyman grow also most of his grain 

 feeds on his own farm ? They have to be grown on some farm, 

 and when he grows them he does not have to feed either the 

 railroads or the middlemen. Oats and peas make an excellent 

 dairy feed and work well in any good rotation. Some very fine 

 crops of wheat are also grown in Maine. 



Branch to be Followed. Whether we sell whole milk, make 

 butter, sell cream or make cheese wall depend much upon the 

 market. However, a few things aside from market should be 

 considered. The Kansas Experiment Station tells us that when 

 we sell whole imilk we are taking from our farm's $6.67 per 

 cow per year, in fertility ; when we sell cheese and feed the 

 whey it amounts to $3.32 per year; when we sell cream, $i.ii 

 and butter, $.049. If these are facts, and there is no reason to 

 question them, then ,we should carefully consider them before 

 deciding what to do with our product. If we are to have profit- 

 able cows we will have to raise them. If the other fellow raises 

 them he keeps them, as we do. This is becoming more and 

 more a fact as cow testing associations become more prevalent. 

 If we raise good calves we must have skim-milk as at least a 

 part of their ration. At the present price of butter it would 

 seem to hold out the greatest inducements to the dairy farmer. 

 Whether he should have his home creamery and make up his 

 own product will depend upon the size of his family and the 

 hired help question. If he sells cream to a creamery and gets 

 skim-milk back he is very apt also to bring back bovine tuber- 

 culosis with it and had much better have a cream separator and 

 have his milk at home to feed while it is warm ; this method 

 much decreases the load to be hauled and the number of times 

 per week that he has to go to the factory. 



To summarize, then, imy idea of profitable dairying, it will 

 combine the up-to-date man who has selected the best breed 

 for his conditions ; treats the cow and not the herd as the unit ; 

 studies each cow and' her needs, weighs each mess of milk, 

 keeping a record of it, studying it carefully and feeding ac- 

 cordingly, the last (possible pound of which food has been pro- 

 duced at home; selHng in a retail market where possible, and 

 one who is happy and contented with his lot. 



