44 BULLETIN 341; tf. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 



market milk has been the standard type of dairy farming in Chester 

 County. It is by far the most important enterprise found in this 

 survey. The number of farms deriving various percentages of in- 

 come from dairy products is fairly evenly distributed from about 

 20 per cent to about 60 per cent of income from this source. Above 

 and below this the farms are less numerous. 



The income from cattle is in the main a mere incident to the selling 

 of dairy products, and represents usually the selling of a few 

 calves and discarded cows. There are only nine of these farms 

 which derive more than 20 per cent of their income from the sale 

 of dairy cattle. Six of these are farms on which the income was 

 so small that the few dollars received from the sale of a few calves 

 and a cow or two was the principal income. But the other three 

 are farms which make a business of raising well-bred stock for sale 

 for breeding purposes. These three farms made very good profits. 

 It would appear that there is room here for a much greater develop- 

 ment of the pure-bred stock business. In a region so distinctly de- 

 voted to a type of live-stock farming as this is, there should be good 

 business for more than 3 out of 378 farms devoted to producing 

 high-class breeding stock for their neighbors. Perhaps the fact 

 that until recently it has been possible here to buy fairly good cows 

 more cheaply than they could be raised in a region of high-priced 

 market milk is largely responsible for the very general absence of 

 the breeding business. More recently the price of cows has advanced. 

 During the year of this survey (1911) the average price paid for 

 cows was $63.84. At this price farmers can afford to raise them 

 even with the high local prices of milk and feed. Since the survey 

 records were taken there has been an increase in the percentage of 

 calves saved. 



In order to keep up a herd of dairy cows, both in numbers and in 

 quality, it is necessary to replace an average of about 25 per cent 

 of them annually. Of these 378 farms an average of 23 per cent 

 were actually replaced, 8.2 per cent by cows raised on the farm, the 

 remainder by purchase. Thus, about one-third of the cows neces- 

 sary to maintain the herds are raised. It is to be presumed that as 

 the proportion of cows raised increases, which seems likely to be the 

 case with the high prices now prevailing, the number of pure-bred 

 herds will increase in number. Partly because of the general depend- 

 ence on purchased cows, there is less uniformity of breeds on individ- 

 ual farms in this region than might be expected where more of 

 the cows are raised. 



It has been shown in the foregoing pages that in the case of most 

 of the enterprises found on these farms there appears to be a particu- 

 lar status which each enterprise should occupy for best results. 



