l8 THE BUSINESS OF DAIRYING 



amount of fertility elements in the finished product. 

 For example, experiments have shown that the out- 

 go of fertilizing value in different dairy products 

 from one cow in one year amounts, where butter is 

 sold to .059, where cream is sold to $1.11; whe.re 

 cheese is sold to $4.34; and where milk is sold to 

 $6.68. This does not mean that it is always more 

 profitable from a fertility standpoint for a dairyman 

 to sell butter than milk — the price received for these 

 products must determine which is the most profit- 

 able. But where milk is sold, the dairyman should 

 see to it that the fertilizing elements removed from 

 the farm through this channel are restored either by 

 the purchase of commercial feeding stuffs to bal- 

 ance the rations or by direct purchase of manures 

 or commercial fertilizers. The former method will 

 usually prove the more profitable, as it serves the 

 double purpose of feeding the stock and eventually 

 restoring fertility to the soil. 



It has been estimated that the fertility in 100 acres 

 of virgin soil is worth $10,000; that the wheat crop 

 would remove from 100 acres in twenty years, $10,- 

 000 worth of fertility ; and that a herd of eighteen 

 cows in twenty years would restore $10,000 worth 

 of fertility to 100 acres. This herd of cows would 

 not only support the crops grown to feed them- 

 selves, but additional fields of twenty acres of corn, 

 and 14 acres of wheat where milk is sold ; 24 acres 

 of corn and 18 acres of wheat where cheese is sold ; 

 33 acres of corn and 23 acres of wheat where cream 

 is sold, and 35 acres of corn and 24 acres of wheat 

 where butter is sold, 



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