CARE AND FEEDING OF DAIRY CATTLE. 



INTRODUCTION. 



GREAT INCREASE in urban population over rural has made British 

 Columbia a large importer of dairy products. In the last few years 

 our farmers have gone in for dairying more extensively, and the supply 

 of dairy products is beginning to overtake the demand. It will, how- 

 ever, be many years before the home market is fully supplied. The 

 opportunities for the dairy-farmer are many. Dairying is and should 

 be the backbone of our agriculture. The most prosperous agricultural communities 

 of the world, where intelligent farming reaches its highest level, depend chiefly on 

 dairying. Denmark, Holland, and the Island of Jersey are examples. 



There are many reasons why dairy-fanning is practised on the highest-priced 

 lands and pays good returns. The dairy cow is the most economical producer of 

 food of all farm animals. A good COAV giving about 7,500 Ib. of average milk in 

 a year will produce four times as much solid food as a well-fed steer during the 

 same time. The hog comes next in order to the cow as a profit-maker, and hogs 

 are generally raised on a dairy-farm to consume the skim-milk or buttermilk, thus 

 enhancing the profits. 



Intelligent dairy-farming tends to conserve and increase the fertility of the 

 farm, unlike exclusive grain or fruit growing, which reduces fertility. The selling 

 of dairy products takes away very little from the land, most of the fertility con- 

 tained in the crops being returned to the soil in the barnyard manure. The manure 

 from a well-fed cow is worth $25 a year. Much of this fertility is taken from the 

 air during the growth of the crops, the clovers grown being especially beneficial in 

 adding nitrogen to the soil. Any foodstuff purchased by the dairy-farmer also adds 

 fertility to the farm. 



The foregoing explains why the average yield of wheat per acre in Denmark is 

 42 bushels, England 32, and on this continent less than 20. 



An important item is the low cost of freight on concentrated products like butter 

 and cheese having much value in small bulk. Labour is distributed evenly through- 

 out the year, winter as well as summer. 



Another advantage connected with dairy-farming is the steady market available 

 and the certainty of returns. Market prices for dairy products vary but little from 

 year to year. Dairy products are food necessities, while some farm products are 

 more or less luxuries. Moreover, the market is close at hand. " There is no market 

 like the home market," and that is very far from being supplied by home production. 

 Although returns at any one time are not large, they are coming in the whole year 

 through. Thus intelligent dairy-farming is not at all speculative, but is essentially 

 " safe " farming. 



DAIRYING DISTRICTS. 



The Coast districts of British Columbia are most favourable to dairying. In 

 these sections the industry is most developed, especially in the Lower Fraser Valley 

 and on Vancouver Island. A mild, moist climate with a long growing season, 

 together with proximity to large markets, make these the premier dairy districts 

 of the Province. A large amount of fresh milk is required by Vancouver, Victoria, 

 and other centres of population. In addition, twenty creameries are in operation in 

 the Coast sections. Seven of these are farmers' co-operative creameries, and the rest 

 are owned by city milk companies. Three condensed-milk factories are operated, two 

 on the Mainland and one on Vancouver Island. A list of the co-operative creameries 

 at present operated follows : 



