NEW YORK MILK COMMITTEE 27 



large measure, for reasons previously stated, compelled to make 

 butter, he becomes tempted to sell miilk when the growth of a city 

 has created a demand for milk sufficient to pay a premium to meet 

 the loss of fertility imposed by the sale of milk instead of butter. 

 This stage soon gives way to the period when it becomes more in- 

 viting to raise vegetables, fruit, etc., or even sell the fodder, hay, 

 etc., as such instead of converting them into milk. The final de- 

 velopment of this evolutionary process is attained whenever the 

 market prices of farm products other than milk provides a premium 

 sufficient to offset the increased loss in fertility of the soil brought 

 about by the growth and sale of such products. 



The hay crop affords a concrete illustration of the foregoing. 

 The current market price of hay is $22.00 per ton. A ton of hay 

 carries about $6.50 of fertility, consequently a dairyman within 

 close distance of a city should obtain about $17-00 per ton for hay 

 fed to produce milk. To meet this requirement would raise the 

 current price of milk about 25 %. It may be and frequently is 

 argued that farmers should seek to overcome the economic situa- 

 tion just detailed by growth of cheaper crops than hay. While 

 such action is undertaken, to a certain extent, it is nevertheless 

 transitory and not enduring inasmuch as the controlling factor is 

 that of maximum revenue for energy expended. That is, under 

 such circumstances, farmers are concerned, not so much with les- 

 sening the cost of milk production through the use of cheaper food 

 products, as they are in the increase in the price of milk adequate 

 to meet the term offered by the less and infinitely simpler hazard- 

 ous task of growing and selling hay or whatever other crop it may 

 be. Rather than meet the required premium, milk contractors ex- 

 tend the zone of milk supply and draw on localities where butter 

 still determines the price of milk. On the other hand, the farmer 

 owing to habit and the difficulty of changing money invested in his 

 existing dairy equipment, is loath to abandon his work. Unable 

 to obtain a price for his milk commensurate with the market price 

 of hay, he naturally seeks to produce the former at a lower price 

 which he can do by producing milk of lower food value. This is 

 accomplished through the use of large milk producing types of 

 cattle, principally represented by the Holland breeds. Generally 

 speaking and broadly stated it is well known that the food constitu- 

 ents of milk decrease with the increase of yield of milk. Much 

 of the favor accorded Holstein cows rests upon the foregoing facts ; 

 they are economical producers of milk when measured by the stand- 

 ard of quantity only. Their ability as economic producers meas- 

 ured by food value of milk has not yet been demonstrated. 



