62 PROFITABLE DAIRYING 



about one-sixth. This is because the water, 

 curd, and salt, which are normal constituents 

 of butter, added to the fat, increase its weight. 

 Three hundred pounds of fat, then, will make 

 one-sixth more butter, or 350 pounds of butter. 

 During the past five years good creamery but- 

 ter has averaged about twenty-seven cents per 

 pound the year round.* The cow that has returned 

 to the farmer 350 pounds of good butter has 

 brought him $95, a pretty neat sum. And here, 

 too, many let the calculation stop. Herein lies 

 the error. Though the cow has returned to the 

 farmer this amount, he must not forget that she 

 has cost him something in feed and care. Dur- 

 ing this same period this cost has not been far 

 from $50 per year in the north central states. 

 Deducting this from the amount received for 

 the butter leaves a profit of $45. Neither must 

 it be forgotten that in addition to this there is 

 the skim-milk which has been fed to the pigs 

 and calves, from which additional profit has 

 been secured. Nor should we forget that she 

 has eaten hay and grain raised on the farm, 

 and the fertility in the manure has probably 

 found its way back to the soil. 



Profit in 200 pounds of butter production per 

 cow. Let us suppose another case. Instead of 

 producing fat for 350 pounds of butter, let us 



*The five years preceding the world war. 



