SYSTEMS OF FARMING ON DAIRY FARMS 223 



to SI per ton. On this basis silage usually costs $3 to $4 

 per ton. 



195. Soiling Crops. Sometimes dairy cattle are kept in 

 the barn, and green feed is brought to them* rat her than 

 pro dde pasture for them. This system is practiced in some 

 pla< es in Europe and occasionally in America. The system 

 will keep more cows on a given area of land, and it is 

 therefore frequently advocated by persons who do not un- 

 deivtand American farming. When land is very high in 

 price, or labor very cheap, it is a good system. On the edge 

 of < ities it sometimes pays because land for pasture would 

 be 1 oo expensive. The high price received for the milk may 

 make it possible to follow this expensive method and yet 

 make a profit. The large amount of labor involved is shown 

 by results at the New Jersey Experiment Station. The 

 equivalent of 50 cows was kept for 6 months on various 

 soiling crops. During that time 278 tons of green crops 

 were hauled to the barn. The cost of the labor to haul these 

 crops to the barn, to say nothing of the cost of growing 

 them, would be more than the entire cost of pasture in 

 many dairy regions. It often pays to cut some corn-stalks 

 or to give some other feed at times when the pasture is short, 

 as discussed on page 128, but this is very different from fol- 

 lowing a soiling system. Such feeding is supplementing 

 pasture, not trying to do without it. Even when land be- 

 comes high in price and labor cheap, it is not probable that 

 a soiling system will be generally used in America, because 

 corn silage is cheaper and is as good. Any system of barn 

 feeding during the pasture season means that milk is being 

 produced on the winter basis of cost, whereas the product 

 must be sold at the summer price, which is much lower. 



196. Roots. Mangels, sugar beets, or other root crops 



