78 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



contract disease, to which they are very susceptible, or the market price 

 of either or both hogs and cattle drops, — when profits are quickly changed 

 to losses. 



Second: If it is sheep that are to be fed there is a chance for the 

 market price of both wool and mutton to drop; and as for feeding horses, 

 few indeed are those who care to accept the hazards which present 

 themselves. 



Third: During the fattening period of these animals the percentage 

 of concentrated foods necessary for feeding is very great in comparison 

 to the roughage, while on even a small farm in Iowa or the corn belt a 

 large amount of roughage Is necessarily raised. For instance, the dally 

 ration of a fattening steer would be something like 20 pounds of con- 

 centrates and 10 pounds of roughage, while for a dairy cow the con- 

 centrates would be about 6 to 10 pounds, while the roughage would be 

 from 20 to 25 pounds. 



Leaving out of consideration these hazards, however, it must be con- 

 ceded that raising grain and feeding it to meat producing animals has a 

 distinct advantage in that the owner of an 80-acre farm can do all his 

 own work except during harvest, bj- farming the land in the summer and 

 feeding the grains and hays — the results of his summer's efforts — during 

 the winter; and little need he be concerned about the scarcity of farm 

 help. 



On the other hand, he who wants to be assured of a regular and sure 

 profits from day to day and from year to year, dairy farming is to be 

 recommended, for it has been truly said by one man that the dairyman 

 tears off a coupon from each cow each day. Another says that the cow 

 is the only farm animal a portion of which can be sold each day; and 

 still another that the dairy farmer's harvest comes every day in the year. 

 All these sayings are quite true as well as suggestive. 



The true earning capacity of a dairy farm, however, is governed 

 by many condition: 



1. Location. 



2. Character of cows milked. 



3. Care and feed received by the cows. 



Upon the location of the farm depends the price received for the 

 produce and this in itself has much to do with the profits, for the farmer 

 who sells his cream to the creamery cannot expect nearly so much for his 

 milk as the one who sells direct to the consumer of milk and cream, 

 and he who is located close to a large city, by putting out a fancy product 

 in the form of either milk, cream or butter has an even great advantage. 



Equally as great a difference is brought about by the comparative 

 producing ability of cows, for often there may be found in a herd one 

 cow producing 500 pounds of butter in a year and another producing 

 200 pounds, — the former making for her owner a large profit and the 

 latter losing him money daily — the same as would a scrub hog or steer, 

 put in the feed lot at a high price. The care and feed the cows receive is 

 another feature of the business which in itself may determine whether 

 or not the earning capacity of the dairy farm is to be large, small or below 

 the expense of operating. Cows must be abundantly fed on foods contain- 

 ing the required constituents for milk production if they in turn are to 



