TENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART X 533 



the returns for hogs are not much greater than where the farm is run 

 in a similar way without hogs, all the corn is fed on the place. This 

 practic3, together with the practice of sowing cowpeas, rape and rj^e in 

 the corn and pasturing it off, will tend rapidly to build up the farm, so 

 that in time even larger yields of crops than here assumed would be 

 easily possible. 



It will also be noticed that each field has a leguminous crop on it 

 three out of the four years over which the rotation runs, and that the field 

 of corn that was hogged off has practically everything that was grown on 

 the land left on it. The fertilizer bill may be reduced materially and 

 at the same time the yields largely increased. The labor of gathering 

 the corn is saved, and the experience of some of the most successful 

 hog raisers demonstrates that there is not enough waste of grain in this 

 method of harvesting to offset the wages for the necessary labor to gather 

 the corn. Most of the labor on this farm can be performed by one man. The 

 necessary extra equipment for hog raising on the farm is comparatively in- 

 expensive. This type of farming is very attractive to a great many farm- 

 ers because usually the hog requires less attention than most other farm 

 animals. 



For a detailed account of a successful eighty-acre hog farm in Illinois on 

 which the annual income available for general expenses, family income, 

 etc., was $2,284, see Farmers' Bulletin 272. 



PLAN 6.— A DAIRY FARM. 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS OX DAIRY FARMING. 



With good cows and good management dairy farming is one of the 

 most profitable types of stock farming; but with poor cows and ordinary 

 management there is no money in dairying. 



It is not profitable to pasture cows on high-priced land and sell butter 

 for 25 cents a pound; it requires too much land for pasture, about two 

 acres for each cow kept. 



Feeding silage to dairy cows the year around has been found to be 

 as satisfactory as regards milk yield and butter production as soiling 

 in summer and silage in winter, and more convenient. By either of these 

 methods many more cows can be kept on a farm of given size and more 

 profit made than by the pasture system. 



The most frequent sources of loss in the dairy business are poor 

 cows, low crop 3'ield, and inadequate rations. Home-grown feeds usually 

 need to be supplemented with such feeds as cotton-seed meal, gluten 

 feed, or oil meal in compounding rations for dairy cows which shall 

 result in maximum milk and butter production. 



With purchased feeds and the manure handled properly and put back 

 on the land, dairy farming is one of the most certain methods known 

 for building up a farm to a high state of productivity. 



CONDITIONS ASSUMED, 



It is assumed that if a man is going into dairying he will read up the 

 business and make a thorough study of all the details of gbod cows, 

 effective rations, proper herd management, suitable cropping systems. 



