36 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



or five kinds of grain mixed together give the best results, and, 

 for convenience and safety, mix so that a quart weighs a 

 pound. Give a cow three ounces of good dairy salt daily, — 

 not bitter hay salt ; or, to save time in feeding, mix two pounds 

 of salt with every hundred pounds of grain. Union grains 

 and Unicorn are both safe and good feed. Possibly the same 

 analysis can be made by home-mixing large quantities, — one 

 to three dollars a ton cheaper ; but it is questionable if the 

 small dairyman, or he who intrusts the mixing and feeding 

 to hired help, can do better than to use them. A cow will not 

 eat enough of either to hurt her. 



Market. — The last and perhaps the most important part 

 of my subject, from a financial point of view, deals with the 

 milk after it has been produced. The exjiert stockman, with 

 his highly developed dairy herd and the best of feeds, does not 

 always make a profit. Sad, but true, it is too often the case. 

 The first step necessary is to know the cost of the product. 

 Pigure insurance, interest, depreciation, taxes, your own time, 

 etc. ; and, if your market conditions are such that you cannot 

 make a profit, stop before you have lost that which you have, 

 and sold yourself into slavery. Milk, safeguarded as it must 

 be in certified j^lants, cannot be put on the market for less than 

 15 cents a quart, and many have lost money at that figure. 

 Since writing the above I have received notice from the pro- 

 prietor of Fairlea farm, announcing that his price after De- 

 cend^er 1 is 18 cents per quart. Business men of such courage 

 in the dairy business are having a tremendous influence on the 

 price of all milk, and we should do all in our power to support 

 their position. The actual cost of j^roduction may not be more 

 than 1 cent a quart more than that of ordinary milk, but the 

 interest on the plant and the cost of selling is enormous. Cer- 

 tified milk routes are scattered. People of wealth will buy 

 certified milk when their babies are sick, and change to 

 cheaper milk of unknown history as soon as the baby is better. 

 There is a great agitation for clean milk, and the large cities 

 will take a good many quarts a day at 15 cents to 20 cents a 

 quart ; but the great volume of milk must continue to be sold 

 at a price close to the cost of production. 



As dairymen, we are not sneaking criminals, trying to evade 



