XIII 

 THE DAIEY FARMSTEAD 



In the business of dairying three principal fac- 

 tors and items of investment are to be considered, 

 — the land, the barns and the herd. 



So far as the land is concerned, it has already 

 been noted that dairying is commonly a hill- 

 country business. Of course this does not mean 

 that cow-keeping is restricted to this type of 

 country or that the very best land may not be 

 employed profitably in dairying. It indicates that 

 much land too rough and hilly to be well adapted 

 to the production of staple cash crops may be very 

 well utilized in dairying and hence that industry 

 has largely gone to the rougher and cheaper areas. 

 On the other hand, one must not make the mistake 

 of concluding that the cow is adapted to very poor 

 land. She can make good use of steep and rocky 

 pastures if they are reasonably fertile and clothed 

 with grass, but light, poor, sandy soils, if they are 

 worth trying to utilize at all, had better be given 

 over to sheep. Experience in the range country of 

 the West with a very scanty rainfall shows that 

 on these lands the beef steer rather than the dairy 



124 



