50 VERMONT DAIRYMEN'S REPORT. 



times with other materials, and at the prices asked are relat- 

 ively expensive. Much the same may be said of many of the 

 mixed feeds and provenders. Touching condimental foods, it 

 may be said that they seldom if ever increase production or ma- 

 terially better the condition of healthy animals. Of course, in 

 selecting fodders and feeds and in making up the ration, one 

 needs to consider not only the digestible dry matter, the digest- 

 ible nutrients, but likewise the effect which the various materi- 

 als may have upon the health of the animal, upon the quality 

 of product, upon the quality of manure, the relation of cost to 

 value and the dairy character of the herd. This latter point in 

 particular is worth considering. It is folly to feed high grade 

 feed to low grade cows. 



(c) Economy in methods. Shall New England dairying be 

 private or associate? Is the old-time idea of a farmer's inde- 

 pendence to be emphasized or minimized? Rightfully or 

 wrongfully, wisely or unwisely, the tendency of all modern 

 business operations is in the direction of aggregation. The de- 

 partment stores, the trusts, combines, and the like, are familiar 

 instances. The same trend is evident in dairy operations. 

 Co-operative or proprietary creameries and cheese factories and 

 the like, are thickly dotted all over the map of New England 

 outside of the section devoted to supplying whole milk to the 

 metropolitan district. Dairy butter, as such, even though of 

 first quality, ranks below creamery butter of even grade. The 

 question answers itself. New England dairying, outside of 

 isolated cases, must of necessity become more and more associ- 

 ate in its methods in order to compete with any degree of sue 

 cess with the products of similar methods made elsewhere. 



(d) Nature of products, i. e., milk, butter, cheese, cream, 

 by-products, etc. Thus far Western competition has been felt 

 in butter and in cheese alone. New England dairymen have only 

 had to compete with each other and to wrestle with the con- 

 tractors in the matter of milk supply, while the cream business 

 is still profitable. The consumer now takes dairy products in 

 several forms, milk, butter, cheese of a dozen kinds, cream, 

 condensed milk, by products, certified milk, modified milk, ice 

 cream and the like, while the by-products, skim milk, butter 

 milk and cheese are made into a considerable number of mate- 

 rials of dietetic or industrial use. Did time permit, I would 

 like to call attention to the considerable income which 

 New England dairymen may yet obtain through a more 

 reasonable and economical use of by-products. This, however, 

 is of the future rather than of the present. Milk, butter and 

 cheese must always be made the main dairy products. Many 

 individuals may solve for themselves the problem of competi- 

 tion, both Western and of home origin, by entering into, alone 



