Fundamentals in Dairying 63 



these estimates all manner of costs are piled up on the old cow, 

 while, in reality, it is impossible to set her on a pinnacle inde- 

 pendent of the rest of the farm. She is part of the farm equip- 

 ment; in many cases without her the farm could not possibly be 

 run. 



I shall divide what I have to say under four heads : 



1. Profit from the farm crops marketed through the cow. 



2. Increased value from the farm because of manure returned 

 to the land. 



3. Direct money profit. 



4. The effect on the man. 



PROFIT FROM CROPS 



In many cases this is the only profit from the dairy, and, while 

 it is too small, it is not to be ignored. One of the most prominent 

 and successful of i^ew Hampshire's dairymen told the speaker 

 that when' his hundred-cow dairy paid the interest and depreci- 

 ation on the capital invested in them, paid for the labor, pur- 

 chased feed, and returned for the large amount of farm products 

 that they consumed a price sufficient to allow a fair income from 

 the land, he was doing as well as the average business man. Many 

 New York State dairymen are doing the same thing, but do not 

 appreciate it. 



Take the item of pasture. On many farms such land would 

 be utterly valueless without stock- — we shall not stop to consider 

 the question of whether in some cases animals other than dairy 

 cows could not be profitably substituted, for we are now dealing 

 only with the dairy- — -yet this pasture is charged against the 

 cow, and no credit is given the farm ; yet, without the channel of 

 the dairv to turn it into cash, there would be no income whatever 

 from this source. 



To a degree, the same is true of hay and forage. True, the 

 man who sells his hay to his dairy at a less price than he 

 could obtain for it at the station after expenses are paid, is not 

 a good business man nor a good dairyman, and he needs a cow- 

 testing association to help him weed out unprofitable cows. On 

 the other hand, to charge such hay to the cow at the gross market 

 price and then charge against her the labor of feeding it — which 

 is less than it would be to put it on the wagon for market — is 



