85 



all the year, besides hiring men to devote all their time to caring for the 

 herd, cannot be profitable unless a good price is secured for the milk. 

 Many dairies are over-capitalized. It should not be expected that cows 

 worth $100 should return a profit when kept in a barn worth from $400 

 to $800 per head. 



The feed cost of producing milk is rapidly increasing. Bran that a 

 few years ago was dumped into the Mississippi River by the carload is 

 now almost too expensive to feed, while cottonseed meal, which, not many 

 years ago, could be had for about the cost of transportation now sells for 

 more than $30 per ton and at that price furnishes protein cheaper than 

 any other grain feed. Careful feeding and a study of the feeds available 

 are necessary. 



The dairy cow is a machine and a marvelous one. In nature she was 

 intended to furnish enough milk to supply her calf, but by careful breed- 

 ing, feeding and selection man has developed a machine that can produce 

 enough milk to feed ten calves. A cow must be fed a balanced ration. 

 She must be given a sufficient amount of the necessary elements to main- 

 tain her body and produce milk. A certain amount of protein and energy 

 is necessary to maintain the animal and a definite additional amount for 

 milk in proportion to the amount produced. A wheel maker with enough 

 steel for ten wheels and enough wood for fifteen could make only ten 

 wheels. In the same way a cow with enough protein for ten pounds of 

 milk and enough carbohydrates and fat for twenty would only produce 

 ten pounds of milk. She does not make milk deficient in protein, but is 

 actually limited in production by the lack of sufficient protein. An 

 excess of this constituent, however, would be used. Protein should be 

 fed in suflficient quantities, but not much in excess, for it is more expen- 

 sive than the other constituents. Recently a dairyman noticed an 

 excessive feed cost, and when his ration was studied it was found that he 

 was feeding enough protein for a cow producing four to five thousand 

 pounds of milk more than his cows were producing. 



A dairyman can no more feed a cow intelligently without a scale than 

 a fireman can a boiler without a steam gauge. As a cow goes up in produc- 

 tion she should be increased in feed allowance, and as she goes down 

 she should be decreased. The more milk that a cow will produce the 

 less will be its cost. The maintenance required is the same for cows of 

 the same size. 



The fewer cows necessary to produce a given amount of milk, the 

 less will be its cost. Table I shows that the feed cost of 295 cows in 

 Pennsylvania was 92 cents per hundred, or 2 cents per quart. These 

 cows averaged 6,000 pounds per year. The cost of feed here was figured 

 at $1.50 per month for pasture, $10 to $14 per ton for hay, grain at about 

 $30 per ton and silage $5. The hay item is a bit lower than market price 

 for many parts of Pennsylvania, although much of the hay was only 

 worth $10 to $14 in the mow. Had they been 9,000 pound producers, the 



