May, 1925] 



FARM PRODUCTION IN CHESHIRE COUNTY 



27 



Those farmers, however, who have the liiiikling space and can keep 

 additional cows without any extra cost other than for feed should be -able 

 to increase their total income by increasing their number of cows. 



In those sections where there is at present a convenient market for 

 whole milk and cream, the question of encouraging or discouraging the 

 dairy industry is more important. The best indication of its profitable- 

 ness is the percentage which feed cost is of the price received. 



Forty farms, keeping a total of 441 cows with no herd of less than 5 

 cows, reported the following quantity and cost of feed during the year 

 ending September 30, 1924: 



Table VI. — -Feed cost of milk -produced by forty herds of five or more cows each. 



Timothy and Glover . . . 



Alfalfa 



Native hay 



Com silage 



Corn 



Oats 



Cottonseed meal 



Linseed meal 



Prepared dairy feed . . . . 

 Miscellaneous mill feeds 



Bran 



Pasture 



Cost per 

 unit. 



$16.00 



16.00 



16.00 



5.05 



2.58 

 1.86 

 2.72 

 2.80 

 2.34 

 2.24 

 1.86 

 8.00 



Total cost. 



$10,240 

 144 



272 

 4,765 



974 

 1,282 



365 



146 



16,089 



1,370 



218 

 3,528 



$39,393 



Milk produced 2,646,000 lbs. 



Feed cost per cwt : $1  49* 



Feed cost per gallon 12 . 8ff 



Average feed cost per cow ^ $89 . 55 



Average milk produced per cow 6,000 lbs. 



Average value of milk produced per cow at average yearly price paid 

 for 3.6% milk by the Bellows Falls Co-operative Creamery @ 



$2.47 per hundred pounds $148.20 



The average milk production per cow in these forty herds is consider- 

 ably above the average of 5,250 pounds for the county, but should be 

 equaled by anyone keeping five or njore cows. The dairymen, especially 

 in Districts II and III where most of the larger dairies are located, are 

 paying considerable attention to improving the quality of their herds. 

 Quite a number of purebred dairy cattle are found in these sections, and 

 throughout the county the number of cows per purebred bull is 51 and 

 for each registered bull 124 cows. This compared with 52 per purebred 

 bull in Wisconsin and 50 in Pennsylvania. 



♦Original figures for production costs were taken entirely from estimates of dairymen, 

 and showed $1.27 feed cost per cwt. These figures have been revised on the basis of 

 actual records of cow-test association members secured in the county over a 12-months 

 period. 



