34 DAIRYING. 



in the annual expense of keeping cows. Among these various items 

 are included the milk pails and other tinware, hay forks, shovels, 

 brushes, medicine, etc. A fair figure for these expenses, per cow 

 is $5. In addition to the value of the milk there are two items of 

 the cow's production which should be taken into consideration. 



95. First, the value of the calf. This varies all the way from $1 

 to $100, or more. In some cases the calves are considered of very, 

 little or no value, while in others, especially the calves from pure 

 bred stock, may be sold for high prices. An average value of a 

 calf, however, may be placed at $5. 



96. The second items with which the cow should be credited is 

 the value of her manure. It has been estimated that an average 

 cow produces 75 pounds of solid and liquid manure per day. From 

 the composition of this manure the fertilizing value of its various 

 constituents can be calculated. Such an estimate places the value of 

 this manure at about 8 cents per day which amounts to $30 per 

 year. 



97. The importance of saving the solid and liquid manure of 

 cows is not appreciated in this country to the extent that it is in 

 the older dairy sections of Europe, where in some places, it would 

 be impossible for the owners of cows to make a living if they were 

 so wasteful of the manure as we are in this country. This unneces- 

 sary waste is avoided by building cement vaults just outside of the 

 cow stable for the purpose of storing the liquid manure which runs 

 from the cement gutters behind the cows into this vault. A large 

 proportion of the solid manure is also stored in these vaults. The 

 mixture is pumped into wagons and sprinkled over the fields, 

 mostly where grass used for feeding the cows has recently been 

 cut. This makes it possible to retain on the farm a large share of 

 the fertilizing constituents of the feed the cows consume. The only 

 part of it that is lost is that contained in the milk or cream sold 

 from the farm. It is only under such conditions as this that the 

 manure of the cow can be considered as worth $30 a year. Under 

 our wasteful methods of farming in this country, fully two-thirds 

 of this value of the manure is lost, and it is assumed that the 

 value of the manure per cow is $10. It is doubtful if even this much 

 is realized from the manure per cow in many cases. But a good 

 opportunity is here offered for the dairy farmer to increase his 



