458 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



his profits with the producer there are millions of farmers ready to raise 

 beef, and their services, though valuable in that direction, are worth little 

 in the dairy world. It is not for the dairyman, who also sees a shortage 

 in dairy cattle and dairy products, to leave his chosen field to compete in 

 this class producing 8 cent beef instead of 30 cent butter in response to 

 the plea to feed the world juicy steaks, and thereby swell the millions 

 of a few. If it is profitable to produce beef, grant the profits to the 

 man whose business it is to raise beef. Your conditions are such that 

 you cannot afford to do so. You are located close to markets, where dairy 

 products are always high. Your lands are high-priced, and your farms 

 not extensive. To make real tangible profits, your methods of farming 

 must be intensive. Therefore, you want cows that will return the great- 

 est amount of human food for the least amount of feed. Analyze the 

 dairy and dual purpose cow for the purpose. It's a common dairy cow 

 that will return 300 pounds at 30 cents per pound, or $90 worth of butter- 

 fat in a year. She eats no more than the dual purpose cow and requires 

 no more labor. Veal the calf, if you please, and allow the manure and 

 skim-milk to pay for labor. Grant that it costs $50 a year to feed her. 

 She gives you a profit of $40. A million dual purpose cows in the state 

 of Iowa are averaging only 140 pounds of butter-fat a year, which, at 30 

 cents per pound, brings $42. Give the calf credit of being worth $10 the 

 day it is born. Add this to $42, the value of the butter-fat, and charge 

 the $50 worth of feed to the cow. It leaves a net profit of $2 for milking 

 the cow some 700 times, as compared with $40 in case of the special 

 dairy cow. You have labored in the interest of a commendable cause — 

 that of producing rib roasts for a hungry people, and great profits for 

 a rich but thankless middleman. Does it pay? In the above comparison, 

 taxes, interest, insurance and depreciation have been considered as equal 

 in each case. 



PRICES HIGH FOR DAIRY CATTLE. 



It is necessary to allow a value for the dairy calf, because, as you are 

 aware, there is a tremendous and growing demand for good dairy cattle 

 all over the world, and prices rule higher for them than for any other 

 class of cattle. It is being demonstrated that nowhere in the world can 

 more productive and more typical dairy cattle be raised than along the 

 western coast of America. This fact, together with your excellent 

 present facilities for exporting and the added facilities which will come 

 with the opening of the Panama canal, provides you with opportunities 

 of bringing the world to your doors whenever you have pure bred live 

 stock of a special purpose for sale. But you say, "there is a value for 

 the dual purpose cow that has been omitted. At the end of her milking 

 life there is a canning value of 5 cents per pound for 1,200 pounds, or 

 $60." Likewise, there is a lesser value for the dairy cow, but she has 

 served you well. During her ten years' milking period, she has yielded 

 you $380 more than the dual purpose cow that you have milked at 

 almost a loss, looking forward to the day you could cash ir. her bones 

 and hide. Sell the dual purpose cow to the canner for $60, if you please, 

 but in honor to the cow that has swelled your bank account, brought you 

 profit, removed the mortgage from your farm, builded your home, educated 



