238 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



ment, and made the cost of making the butter very high. 

 Now, the question has come to us in our agricultural meet- 

 ings : Can you produce a sufficient amount of milk or cream 

 to make a pound of butter for twenty-two and one-half 

 cents ? We all know that the real object in farming is to 

 get the market price for our hay and for our grass and for 

 the grain which we feed. Now, during the present year, I 

 have experimented in a little way on a herd of grade Jersey 

 cows on a farm at East Andover, and I have kept an accu- 

 rate account of hay, grain, and cost of pasturage, to see if I 

 could produce a sufficient quantity of cream or milk to make 

 a pound of butter for twenty-two and one-half cents. The 

 year is not quite out, but it is near enough so I can draw 

 pretty correct conclusions in this case. 



Question. How many cows? 



Mr. Bachelder. I have twenty grade Jersey cows. 

 They will eat during the year not far from two tons of hay 

 each. This hay, in our market, is worth $12 per ton at the 

 barn. I presume it is worth more here in your State. 

 They will eat about eighteen hundred pounds of grain each, 

 which will cost me about $21. This will make the cost of 

 the hay and grain $45. I then allow $7 per cow for pastur- 

 age and taxes, making the cost of keeping each cow per 

 year $52. Now, for the result. I shall be able to produce 

 from each of those cows 225 pounds of butter, which, at 

 twenty-two and one-half cents per pound, would come to 

 $50.62. I shall be able to get from the skim milk from each 

 of those cows $10, making $60.62 from the product of each 

 cow, leaving a profit of $8.62. By careful experiments that 

 I have made this year, and made in previous years, I find 

 that I can get about four cents for the skim milk left after 

 making a pound of butter. I do this in feeding to pigs, and 

 killing them before they are eight months old. 



Question. Is the calf of any account in that matter? 



Mr. Bachelder. The calf, so far as my experience has 

 been, is of no account. I dispose of the calves in any way 

 that I can, as soon as the milk is good. 



Question. Is there any difference between the interest 

 on the money invested and what you would be obliged to 

 pay, provided you hired those cows? 



