10 



HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



Kkk IjHyiniz Contest 



Continued from page I', culumii 3 

 the average price received for eggs was 

 69f per dozen. This is an increase in 

 production of .3 of an egg per bird and 

 a drop of 6 cents per dozen from Decem- 

 ber. The following is the state sum- 

 mary: — 



This table shows that hens have not 

 caught up to pullets in production during 

 -January. When eggs are real cheap, 

 hens will be laying well. We have re- 

 peatedly called attention to the fact that 

 the only excuse for keeping hens is for 

 breeders. Death rate of females is a new 

 heading. Many flocks are not reporting 

 this accurately. The figures seem to in- 

 dicate that the death rate is highest in 

 large flocks. 



these facts increase the cost of grain to 

 every farmer in the community. The 

 problem then is "How can dairy farmers 

 reduce their grain purchases to the point 

 where they can pay their bills promptly 

 and make a profit?" 



Why those burdensome grain bills? 



One of the main reasons that grain 

 bills are so high on dairy farms is that 

 cows are not given nearly as much hay 

 and silage as they can profitably con- 

 sume. All farms suff'er from having 

 poor quality homegrown feeds. With 

 this foundation, dairy farmers are 

 doomed to face huge grain bills. Here 

 are rations that are balanced for cows 

 weighing 1,000 lbs. and giving 30 lbs. of 

 49r milk per day. 



Roiighaffc Grain 



prices they can be changed without chang- 

 ing the results materially. 



Table II— Cost of Rations. 



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 I. 



II. 

 III. 

 IV. 



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14 



2.5 



GRAIN THE PANACEA 



Have You Paid Your Grain Bill ? 



If cows are thin, if production drops, 

 if hay is poor or the amount is limited, 

 if pastures are short, if the weather is 

 cold— FEED MORE GRAIN. It reme- 

 dies all of these troubles. It has another 

 advantage — it makes business for the 

 grain farmer of the central west, for the 

 millers, the feed manufacturers, the 

 wholesalers, the jobbers, the railroads, 

 the local co-operative and the local grain 

 dealer. Business implies profit, other- 

 wise it would not be carried on for any 

 length of time. If grain will do all 

 these things for the farmer and for the 

 others, why isn't it good business? 



Ask grain dealers how much dairy 

 farmers owe them. They will not tell you 

 in dollars and cents, but all of the an- 

 swers will boil down to this — "Too much." 

 Ask dairymen why they are not making 

 money and ninety-nine times out of a 

 hundred one or both of the following 

 answers will be given: "Grain is too high, 

 or milk is too low." 



When the farmers of Hampshire Coun- 

 ty, who purchased about one and a half 

 million dollars worth of feed in 1919, and 

 the local grain dealers who handled the 

 larger pai't of this business are both far 

 from satisfied, there must be a fly in this 

 big business. The main trouble is that 

 dairy farmers are buying more grain than 

 they can afford. This in turn, means that 

 local dealers are called upon to extend 

 longer credit than is good business prac- 

 tice. Then there are bad bills. Both of 



I. 18 lbs. nii.xed hay 12 

 II. 10 lbs. mixed hay 



25 lbs. silage ' 12 16 2.5 



III. 15 lbs. mixed hay 



35 lbs. silage 6i 21 4.6 



IV. 13 lbs. alfalfa 



35 lbs. silage 5 8.4 6.0 



*Digestible Crude Pi-otein, Not Total 

 Protein. 



The above table brings out the fact that 

 as the hay and silage fed per cow daily 

 increases in amount and quality, the num- 

 ber of pounds of grain needed for milk 

 pi'oduction decreases. Rations I and II 

 are typical of most dairy feeding in this 

 county. Only 2i lbs. of milk are returned 

 for every pound of grain fed. This type 

 of feeding can only show a profit on test 

 cows and where a very high price is re- 

 ceived for milk. It is also the way race 

 horses ai'e fed! We have a few herds 

 that are being fed rations similar to III 

 and they are getting over 4 lbs. of milk 

 per pound of grain. Ration IV .shows 

 what can be done when a real dairy ration 

 is fed. Only five pounds of provender 

 (corn and oats) is needed per day. We 

 have records in the office which prove that 

 the above table except IV is correct. Next 

 year we hope to have a few men who can 

 swear to this, too. Usually, however, 

 dairymen use a higher protein grain with 

 Rations I and II. This causes the cows 

 to grow thin or to get off feed, especially 

 if more than 30 lbs. of milk per day is 

 being given. 



Grain bills can be reduced profitably 



While the above table shows what 

 can be done to cut the grain bill, it does 

 not give the cost. In the following table, 

 we have used the following values per 

 ton: Mixed hay, $30; Silage, $8; 14% 

 Grain, $50; 16% Grain, $52; 21% Grain, 

 $56; Provender, $50; Alfalfa hay, $38. 

 If these prices are out of line with local 



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57^ 27f 30f $1.00 



ae^* 25e 3i^ 1.03 



55(' 37^ 18C .60 

 56<' 42(1: H^ .40 

 Glancing in the first column we see 

 that the total cost of the four rations is 

 practically the same. Most dairymen stop 

 figuring at this point and are misled by 

 this conclusion. The second column shows 

 that the roughage cost increases as larger 

 amounts and as better quality roughages 

 are fed. While this cost increases the 

 grain cost decreases as rapidly, making 

 the total cost practically the same. The 

 grain costs per 100 lbs. of milk produced 

 decreases as more roughage is fed. The 

 question then arises, "Who gets the 

 money for grain?" Every dairy farmer 

 knows. 



The second question is "Who gets the 

 money for the roughage? The answer is 

 not so simple. The farmer gets it first 

 but from this he has to pay for the lime, 

 fertilizer, seed, labor, etc., which are 

 necessary to produce larger roughage 

 crops. It is by no means all profit, yet 

 there are hundreds of farmers who could 

 profitably invest in the extra cost of lime, 

 fertilizer and seed and make a profit on 

 every hour of his own, as well as any ex- 

 tra labor, it takes to grow these crops. On 

 many farms it would be found that by 

 planning work and by using up-to-date 

 production methods that the increased 

 roughage crops could be cared for with 

 little or no extra labor. In other words, 

 with Rations I and II, the farmer only 

 has a chance of making a profit, by good 

 farming, on the 27 cents per cow per day 

 that stays on the farm to pay for home- 

 grown feed, overhead and depreciation on 

 cows. With this type of feeding, unless the 

 feeder is more skillful than the average, 

 the depreciation on cows is bound to be 

 high. With Rations III and IV the 

 farmer has 37 and 42 cents respectively 

 to cover these charges. If he is a good 

 crop man, he can make a handsome profit 

 on every ton of hay, silage and alfalfa 

 he grows. 



How Have You Built? 



All dairymen have heard the parable 

 of the houses, one built on sand, the other 

 on rock. Few have applied it to dairy 

 farming. The men whose dairy opera- 

 tions are founded on low roughage and 

 high gi-ain feeding have built on sand. 

 When milk prices are high, they make a 

 fair profit. When grain prices go up and 

 milk comes down, they lose. The dairy 

 farmers that have built their business on 

 the rock of good farming make a profit 



