CHAPTER IV 



THE ECONOMIC FACTORS 



Economic Value of Milk Production 



The economic value of milk as a food has already 

 been made clear in preceding pages, and a glance at 

 statistics presented elsewhere (Appendix A) will indi- 

 cate the importance of milk production and distribu- 

 tion as an industry of the very first magnitude. 



Quite aside from dairy specialization, milk produc- 

 tion may be called an essential function of the ordinary 

 farm. Dairying is an integral part of general farming. 

 The dairy cow makes economical use of roughage and 

 pasturage, and returns to the farmer milk for his own 

 use as well as for sale. Furthermore the wastes of the 

 cow stable have a large value as fertilizer. Dairying is 

 often said to be the " backbone" of agriculture. 



Again, the relative economy in milk production is 

 much greater than in beef production. Good dairy 

 cows produce human food in the form of milk far more 

 economically than food products can be obtained in 

 the form of beef, pork, or mutton. This is a fortunate 

 fact for densely populated regions where intensive use 

 must be made of agricultural resources. 



Decline of Dairying in Certain Regions 



But, in spite of this relative economy in milk produc- 

 tion, there are regions where dairy farming is in turn 



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