470 



FARMER'S CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK 



these different forms. Thus, if hutter 

 is made at home, account must be taken 

 of the expense of a churn and other 

 butter-making apparatus, as well as cans 

 and proper conditions under which to 

 ripen the cream. Again, it should be 

 remembered that creameries buy milk 

 on the basis of its fat content, while the 

 city dealers and customers pay for the 

 milk by the quart or gallon without re- 

 gard to its fat content, provided it is 

 high enough to satisfy the standard. It 

 is, therefore, obvious that, with city deal- 

 ers, milk testing 6 per cent fat will 

 bring no more than 4 per cent milk. 

 Essentially the same point is true also 



ter and 70 cents a gallon for cream. 

 When, however, cream brings 70 cents 

 a gallon, butter fat should bring 40 cents 

 a pound at the creamery, and butter 

 must sell at least at 33 cents a pound 

 to realize the same amount from the 

 milk as would have been obtained by 

 selling the cream outright. It is well 

 known that country butter seldom brings 

 as high a price as 33 cents, and cream- 

 eries do not pay 40 cents a pound for 

 butter fat. It would appear from this 

 comparison, therefore, that the most 

 profit is to be made from selling the 

 milk or cream as such. 



Profits from dairy cows — I n order to 



Fig. 299 — INTERIOR OF A SANITARY DAIRY STABLE 



with regard to cream, for even where 

 a 20 per cent standard for cream is 

 maintained, 15 per cent cream is fre- 

 quently sold without objection. 



In the vicinity of the District of Co- 

 lumbia, the milk producer obtains from 

 14 to 20 cents a gallon for his milk in 

 winter and from 13 to 16 cents in sum- 

 mer; while for cream he receives from 

 70 to 85 cents a gallon in winter and 

 from 55 to 75 cents in summer. The 

 creameries in the neighborhood of Balti- 

 more give from I6V2 to 30 cents a pound 

 for butter fat and return the skim milk 

 to the producer. Doane calls attention 

 to the fact that it is easy to obtain from 

 17 to 19 cents a gallon for milk in win- 



estimate the profits from dairying, it is 

 necessary to determine accurately the 

 total cost and production of average 

 cows under average conditions. Thus, 

 in Missouri, the average returns a cow 

 from milk sold to creameries was found 

 to vary from $37.14 to $61.23 with dif- 

 ferent dairymen. On a basis of these 

 average figures, it is estimated that the 

 income from each cow, when the milk is 

 sold to a creamery, should be from $50 

 to $60 for the butter fat, $10 as the 

 value of the skim milk and $4 for the 

 value of the calf at birth. The annual 

 production of individual cows varies 

 enormously, as might be expected from 

 the great variation in the productive 



