28 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



cropping system is not properly diversified. Knowing just 

 what crops are to be grown next year, the farmer can tell 

 what work can be done to prepare for them during the slack 

 seasons of the year, while in the spring one task follows 

 another in orderly fashion. 



By diversifying his cropping system, the farmer great- 

 ly increases his financial stability. The old saying, "Don't 

 put all your eggs in one basket," still holds good and by 

 growing a number of crops as well as the more certain crops 

 such as alfalfa, a man can insure the regularity of his in- 

 come. 



The rotation must be planned with a long time view as 

 to what combinations of crops and what size dairy will be 

 most profitable over a series of years. Each farmer knows 

 about how much labor he has available and about the num- 

 ber of animals he wishes to keep. Besides the cows, the 

 young stock, the work horses, and other kinds of stock must 

 be considered in laying out the farm. In order to be suc- 

 cessful a rotation should be planned for a definite number 

 of animals so that they will at all times be assured plenty 

 of feed, for production comes after the animal is maintained 

 and to keep producing at top pitch, the cow must have all 

 the feed she needs. An abundance of feed insures dairy 

 profits. 



The fields should be laid out so as to be of about equal 

 size in order that nearly the same amount of feed will be 

 available each year. Plenty of good roughage is the guide 

 in laying out the farm plan. On 45 bushel corn land, ex- 

 perience has shown that it takes about: 



1/^ acre of alfalfa per cow. 



1/2 acre of corn for silage per cow. 



% acre of sweet clover pasture per cow. 

 The larger breeds may need a little more but the smaller 

 ones can hardly utilize the full amount. These amounts 

 may vary depending on the section of the country and 

 the fertility of the soil. 



The rotation must usually be planned around the pas- 

 ture. On tillable land, the pasture acreage is so much larg- 

 er than the alfalfa acreage required that the best plan is 



