No. 4.] DAIRY ECONOMICS. 175 



Raising More Calves, Pigs and Poultry. 



The raising of young animals is one of the most natural 

 adjuncts of dairy farming. In my observation there has 

 been a decided falling ofl* in this respect in the Atlantic 

 States during the last twenty-five years. The cows have in- 

 creased, but the raising of }*oung cows, and the pork crop, 

 have decreased. This constitutes one of the distinctive 

 differences between butter dairying in Wisconsin and dairy- 

 ing for milk in the east. More than twice the number of 

 3'oung heifers are matured to cowhood, and four times as 

 many pigs are raised in proportion to the number of cows 

 kept, in my opinion, as is the case in Massachusetts. 



The feeding value of skim milk with us varies from 

 twenty-seven cents per 100 pounds when fed to young pigs, 

 at present prices of pork, live Aveight, to 35 cents when fed 

 to likely young grade Jersey, Guernsey or Holstein heifer 

 calves. This makes a handsome addition to the revenue 

 per cow. Many of the eastern farmers seem to have almost 

 lost the art of raising young stock. It is time it was taken 

 up again, and in creamery districts, and where private butter 

 making is carried on, it is just as practicable to do this east 

 as west. 



With plenty of fresh skim milk, separated on the farm by 

 the aid of the farm separator, and middlings, barley or corn 

 meal, it is comparatively easy to make a good profit on 

 raising young calves to Csvo-year-old cows, and young pigs 

 to 150-pound porkers, and poultry galore. The fresh skim 

 milk unlocks all these possibilities. The highest profit is 

 found in turning all these to the market when young. The 

 pigs especially should not exceed 150 pounds weight, for 

 after that the food of daily support decreases the ratio of 

 profit very rapidly. Then there remains the importing of 

 increased fertility to the farm. The old cheese-makinsr dis- 

 tricts of New York show what it means to send all the milk 

 away from the farm. The farms there do not raise half the 

 cow food they once did. 



