﻿16 



BULLETIN 1144, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



lator's judgment regarding the probable price of the stored prod- 

 ucts later in the year. 



The distribution of the production of the 48 farms reporting is 

 shown in Figure 3. Over half the milk was produced in five months, 

 March to July, inclusive. August, September, and October were the 

 months of lowest production. Pasture stimulates the milk flow of 

 cows freshening in the early winter, and there is further increase in 

 the spring owing to the large numbers of cows freshening at that 

 time. One reason for the spring freshening is to avoid the neces- 

 sity for the heavier feeding required to sustain the milk flow in 

 winter. August is a trying month for cows, chiefly on account of 

 failing pastures, and once they are allowed to fall off in yield they 

 can not often economically be brought back in the fall. Grass pas- 

 ture, so far as milk cows are concerned, is about exhausted by the- 



JAN FEB. MAR. APR. MAY JUNE JULY AUG. SEPT OCT. 



KXXXX Percentage distribution of production, 1920, on 4Q rarms 



Relative monthly price Milwaukee 1920 (ave<=100) 



Relative monthly price Chicago (ave oP 190 7-1916) 



Ft e l a Ti ve monthly condensery base price, Sheboygan Co., 1920 



Fig. 3. — Spring was the season of maximum production on these farms in 1920. Fail- 

 ure of milk prices to follow the normal course in the autumn was marked and had a 

 depressing influence on production. 



middle of July, and supplementary feed is necessary unless fresh 

 pasture is available, or the aftermath of the fields 5 is sufficient. 

 Grain feeding was not resumed as promptly in 1920 as usual on 

 account of the high price of feed and discouraging outlook for milk 

 prices. 



The average price of milk for 1920 for the Sheboygan County 

 group was $2.33 per 100 pounds, the range being from $1.81 to $3.13; 

 for the Marathon Count}- group from $2.11 to $2.91, average $2.67; 

 for the Columbia County group $2.30, with a range from $2.12 to 

 $2.46, while the Milwaukee producers averaged $3.15 net at the 

 farm. The range in price in any locality is caused not so much by 

 difference in schedule prices paid by the factories as by the distri- 

 bution of the production and the butter-fat test of the milk. 



As between the Milwaukee price and prices outside Milwaukee, the 

 higher price paid is due in no small measure to the activities of the 



c Aftermath is secured from grain and crop fields as well as from hay fields. 



