270 DAIRY FARMING 



dairy products, or may be due to selling the wrong kind 

 of product ; for instance, making butter in a region where 

 there is a good demand for market milk at much better 

 prices. Low returns may be due to keeping the wrong 

 kind of cattle for the region or for the kind of product sold, 

 or to poor production because of poor care or feed, or to 

 having cows that are naturally not good ones. Before 

 one can intelligently change his practice, he must find out 

 to which of these causes his poor returns are due. The 

 preceding chapters have given attention to feeding and 

 to determining which are the cows that are naturally 

 poor, so that nothing more need be said on these most 

 vital points. 



Even in regions unfavorable for dairying there are usually 

 some persons who make more money by combining dairying 

 with their other farm work than they would make if they 

 did not keep cows. Everywhere there must be cows enough 

 to supply the fresh milk even if butter is shipped in. 

 But in some regions the prices of products are low com- 

 pared with feed prices and other costs. In such regions, a 

 farmer who is only a fair dairyman may find that it pays 

 best to keep only a few cows or possibly to keep only enough 

 to supply products for home use. 



In some regions milk is sold by the quart at the same 

 price regardless of the percentage of butter-fat. In such a 

 region, herds that give a high test are at so great a disad- 

 vantage that they cannot often be made to pay. 



Those who keep pure-bred cattle sometimes fail to make 

 a profit because they select a breed that is not desired in the 

 region. The best market for the surplus stock of the small 

 breeder is nearly always in his neighborhood. He should 

 raise the kind that is wanted. 



