UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



SLfir^uu 



% BULLETIN No. 548 



Office of the Secretary 



Contribution from the Office of Farm Management 



W. J. SPILLMAN, Chief 



Washington, D. C. 



May 24, 1917 



THE BUSINESS OF TEN DAIRY FARMS IN THE 

 BLUEGRASS REGION OF KENTUCKY. 



By J. H. Arnold, Agriculturist. 



CONTENTS. 



General description of the region from the 



point of view of dairying 1 



Receipts from dairy products, together with 



labor incomes, on each of 10 farms 2 



Other sources of income 3 



Cost o/ feed 4 



To what extent dairying may be developed 

 in the bluegrass region 4 



Seven successful dairy farms analyzed and 



compared 6 



The farms that failed 10 



Comparison of the 7 more successful dairy 

 farms with the average of 10. . 11 



The purpose of this bulletin is to present a brief analysis of the 

 business of 10 dairy farms which were found among 187 farms * 

 selected and studied during 1914 in Mason, Scott, and Madison 

 Counties, in the bluegrass region of Kentucky. This analysis will 

 show how these farms were organized and will point out the factors 

 which made some of them profitable. From so few records it would 

 not be possible to analyze thoroughly the economic situation relative 

 to dairying in this locality, but the analysis should be of some prac- 

 tical interest to the bluegrass farmer who already is running a dairy 

 farm or who is about to organize one. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE REGION FROM THE POINT OF VIEW 



OF DAIRYING. 



The fact that this locality is famous for bluegrass would suggest a 

 favorable locality for dairying. The adaptation of the soil to blue- 

 grass pasture is the distinctive natural advantage which this locality 

 has for this type of farming. The climatic factors, however, partly 



1 An analysis of these farms, including the 10 dairy farms, is given in U. S. Department of Agriculture 

 Bulletin No. 482, Farming in the Bluegrass Region. 

 86323°— Bull. 548—17 



