DAIRYING. 29 



greater importance to the owner of cows than the cost of producing 

 the milk. This question will give better returns for time and. study 

 devoted to its consideration than nearly any other part of the dairy- 

 man's work. It is difficult to determine just what should be 

 included in the cost of producing milk, as this will vary from nearly 

 nothing on farms where cows are kept and allowed to wander over 

 waste, rocky land, timber land, swampy land, etc., for nearly six 

 months in the year, and then given little or no shelter during the 

 winter, to the expensive farms where cows are kept on high priced 

 land in expensive stables and where the feed as well as the labor 

 must all be obtained at the highest market price. 



83. In considering the question of the cost of producing milk, 

 the cow owners of the country can be divided into three classes: 

 First, those engaged in what is termed general farming, where 

 the cows are kept as a part of the farm stock only ; and in addition 

 to milking the cows and selling either milk or cream from them, 'die 

 farmer produces and sells hay, grain, potatoes, pork, poultry, mutton, 

 and some vegetables and fruit. Such farmers buy very little feed for 

 their cows; they keep no record of the milk production, and give 

 the cows no special attention. This class includes by far the great 

 majority of cow owners in the country. 



84. The second class of so-called dairy farmers make the dairy 

 cows the important part of their farm operations,. The cows 

 are selected by keeping careful records of their milk production, 

 feeds for milk production, and the entire attention of the owner 

 is given to the production of milk in the most economical way> 



85. The third class of farmers, which is an exceedingly small 

 one, devote their time to intensive milk production; and their work 

 may be compared with that of the owner of trotting horses, as 

 they are interested in developing some one or a few of the cows in 

 their herd so that they may have the honor of owning a cow which 

 has broken all previous records in the total amount of milk and 

 butter fat produced in a given time. This line of intensive milk pro- 

 duction has also been carried on in the dairy tests conducted at the 

 Chicago Columbian Exposition and the Louisiana Purchase Exposi- 

 tion held at St. Louis in 1904. 



86. Attention has been directed to the cows kept on the farm 



