HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



a 



Milk I*rodiip(lon 



Continued from page 1. column 1 

 Co-operative marketing has been an- 

 other means used to increase the margin 

 of profit. Here we have a story that can 

 be painted either in glowing colors or in 

 drab, according to the examples we chose. 

 The Holyoke Producers' Dairy Company 

 furnishes an example of what a well 

 managed co-operative can do. It differs 

 from many co-operatives in that no effort 

 was made to control the whole milk sup- 

 ply of the city of Holyoke. About 74 

 members control this co-operative. Their 

 noteable successes have been: (1) Supply 

 has been limited to demand by means of 

 a rating plan; (2) Economies in collect- 

 ing and handling of milk have been se- 

 cured; (.3) Members have received the 

 N. E. M. P. A. price for fluid milk ever 

 since the plant started; (4) Consumers 

 have secured a uniform product at a 

 reasonable price; (5) The plant has in- 

 creased in size and efficiency. 



It cost this group of farmers over 

 $70,000 to secure the benefits of a steady 

 market. For the first three years, com- 

 mon stock held by the producer members 

 did not pay any interest. During this 

 time however additions and improve- 

 ments were made on the plant and to 

 equipment. This year the company paid 

 a bonus of two tenths of a cent a quart 

 on all milk delivered during the preceding 

 ten months. This amounts to about six 

 per cent on the common stock. 



From the experience of this company 

 it is reasonable to conclude that while the 

 spread between the price the producer 

 gets and that which the consumer pays 

 for milk is large, only a relatively small 

 part of this is net profit. Money, appar- 

 ently, is made in milk distribution, not 

 through a large margin of profit but 

 through a large volume of business. 



Co-operation Not a Cure all 



Much has been gained by both co- 

 operative buying and selling. The prece- 

 ding paragraphs show that co-operative 

 efforts have slightly increased the margin 

 of profit but they are by no means a 

 panacea for all the dairy farmers trou- 

 bles. Co-operative effort must be econo- 

 mically sound. It must be efficient if it 

 is to stand competition. It can never 

 overcome inefficient production, yet that 

 is the snag on which too many dairy far- 

 mers are stuck at the present time. This 

 belief is based on facts brought out by 

 census reports. Cow Testing Association 

 records and results of the Dairy Record 

 Service that has been carried on in this 

 county the past 12 months. 



Poor Producing Cows 



The 1919 census figures show that the 

 average yearly production of milk per 

 cow in this county is 1804 quarts or 3878 

 lbs. This figure is undoubtedly low, yet 

 it points out the fact that dairy faiTners 

 keep too many poor cows. A cow testing 



association summaiy shows that the cost 



of milk production for cows giving .3000 



lbs. per year exceeds the value of the 



milk. The cost of production decreases 



rapidly till about 7000 lbs. of milk per 



I cow is reached and continues to decrease 



] slightly to about 12,000 lbs. production 



per year. Then it increases slightly. 



; For the dairy farmer who has cows 



j giving less than 7000 lbs. of milk per year 



the fundamental problem is to get better 



cows. Many dairymen in .sections where 



whole milk is sold have found that it is 



practically impossible to buy the kind of 



cows they should have. The only other 



way out is to raise heifer calves from the 



■ best cows using a registered bull that has 



production behind him. That such bulls 



can be bought for little money as calves 



is shown by the fact that a Holstein bull 



calf sired by a bull with good records on 



all of his nearest dams and out of a heifer 



that gave 13,000 Ibs.'of milk with her first 



j calf was offered for $2.5.00. But good 



! cows will not produce profitably unless 



they are well fed. 



Clover and Alfalfa Scarce 



Turning again to census figures, we 



' find that this county produced 92,630 tons 



; of hay and forage. Twenty-five per cent 



[ of this was silage. Less than four tenths 



of one cent was alfalfa and clover! A 



little over 2.5 per cent was mixed timothy 



and clover. This figure is undoubtedly 



too complimentary as probably half of 



this amount would only contain a trace 



of clover. The remaining 50 per cent of 



the hay and forage tonnage is made up 



' largely of other tame and cultivated 



grasses. This means that less than one 



' third of the hay on farms is adapted to 



, economical milk production. Here, too is 



a place where dairy farmers can do some- 



I thing to greatly decrease the cost of milk 



production. 



Every dairy farmer has noticed that 

 cows shrink in milk production when they 

 go from good to poor hay. The general 

 remedy, and about the only one to keep 

 cows up in production, is to increase the 

 grain. This in turn increases the cost of 

 production. Our Dairy Record Service 

 has brought out some interesting informa- 

 tion on this point in recent months. 

 Where small amounts of hay and silage, 

 or where poor quality roughage is fed, 

 grain has to be given at the rate of 1 lb. 

 to 2i or 3 lbs. of milk Where liberal a- 

 mounts of good quality roughage are fed, 

 cows will produce 4 or more lbs. of milk 

 per pound of grain. Where grain costs 

 $2.80 per hundred and one lb. is fed for 

 every 2 J lbs. of milk, the grain cost per 

 cwt. of milk is $1.12. Where 1 lb. of 

 grain is fed for every 4 lbs. of milk the 

 grain cost is 70 cents, a difference of 42 , 

 cents per hundred. In other words more 

 liberal feeding of good quality roughage 

 reduced the grain costs of producing milk i 

 9/10 of a cent per quart. 



Better Roughage Campaign to be 

 Conducted 



We believe that every farmer has the 

 opportunity to widen the margin of profit 

 in milk production. No great organiza- 

 tion is needed to do this. It can be done 

 on every farm in this county. The first 

 step is to pay more attention to crops of 

 high feeding value .such as alfalfa, clover 

 and corn for silage. Many of the cows 

 that are just getting by now would make 

 a real profit for their owners if given a 

 more liberal ration of clover or alfalfa 

 hay combined with more and better silage. 

 This in turn would make possible a de- 

 cidedly worth-while reduction in the grain 

 bill. This year we are starting a cam- 

 paign on this proposition. Instead of 

 having 90 acres of alfalfa in the county 

 we should like to see at least 500. We 

 should like to see the 17,000 acres of 

 mixed timothy and clover show a larger 

 percentage of clover. 



LIME FOR LEGUMES 



Liming sour soils on daily farms is 

 highly important because home-grown 

 legume hay and pasture are the founda- 

 tion of economic milk production. Le- 

 gumes contain a high proportion of pro- 

 tein, calcium, and phosphorous, all of 

 which are used in large quantities by the 

 cow during the lactation period. During 

 her dry period the cow is in just as gi-eat 

 need of calcium to replenish the store in 

 her body, in preparation for the next pe- 

 riod of lactation. A cow eating an abun- 

 dance of good, well-cured leguminous hay 

 will require less of expensive high-protein 

 feed in order to give her maximum flow 

 of milk than when she is fed timothy. 

 Thus, liming to grow clover enables a 

 farmer to produce milk with the lowest 

 cash outlay for feed. The very cheapest 

 milk is produced on legume pasture and 

 on dry feed the cheapest is made with 

 good legume hay. Young stock, also, 

 need legumes to furnish the protein, cal- 

 cium and phosphorous required to produce 

 healthy, rugged, well-boned matured ani- 

 mals. 



Liming makes the growing of legumes 

 possible on very sour soils, and increases 

 the yield on moderately sour ones. Pro- 

 perly inoculated legumes fix nitrogen 

 from the air by means of the bacteria in 

 the nodules on their roots as is well 

 known. The following table gives the 

 composition of clover, alfalfa and timothy. 



Comparison of the Composition of 



Clover and Alfalfa With that of 



Timothy Hay 



Ditjes?i>>!e 



