84 WE FARM FOR A HOBBY 



than fussing with rising pans and more efficient; 

 it will soon pay for itself in the extra cream it 

 extracts from a quart of milk compared to hand- 

 skimming. 



The quantities of food a cow can consume are 

 almost terrifying. She is a bottomless pit. It is not 

 hard to understand how an animal that does what 

 she does should need lots of food; as Abe Potash 

 said to his partner, "a feller what gets no exercise 

 but sits in an office all day like you, he should 

 eat plenty." But a cow's idea of plenty would make 

 Abe gasp. She will yaffle off enough high-protein 

 material to last a strong man a month, top- it with 

 fifty pounds of hay which is quite a pottle of hay 

 and tamp it down with a bushel or so of beets. 

 If she is of the dairy temperament and feels up to 

 her game she will do this twice a day. From time 

 to time she will drink ten or twelve gallons of 

 water. Have you ever seen a cow drink a three- 

 gallon bucket of water? It is something to make 

 the unskillful laugh: one s-s-s-sip and it is down 

 the hatch. 



Yet the aforementioned Hunterdon County re- 

 search indicates even the less efficient animal will 

 produce milk at a feed cost of $.0286 a quart. Dur- 

 ing the year just ended my own cows produced 

 milk at a cost for store-bough ten feed of $.036 a 

 quart. This was using the best grade of mill feed 

 bought at retail and not much else, for there was 



