24 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12th 



FEED PRODUCTION AND CROP ROTATION 

 ON THE DAIRY FARM 



Prof. Wilbur J. Eraser, University of Illinois 



Dairy farming is really a business of two departments 

 — the dairy cattle and the farm crops. A dairyman must be 

 as good a farmer as he is a dairyman, for it does him no 

 good to have good cows and know the proper feeds to give 

 them unless he has an economical supply of these feeds in 

 sufficient quantity to allow him to produce milk at a profit. 

 Many good dairymen do not lay enough stress upon the 

 matter of feed production and crop rotation, and as a re- 

 sult, spend the portion of their receipts which should be 

 profit, for feed, thus getting nowhere. 



A dairy rotation must be planned with certain definite 

 things in mind, and the dairyman must realize that his 

 problem in cropping is to properly feed his cows. Too 

 many dairymen at present grow practically the same crops 

 that their grain farmer neighbors do, and as a result their 

 cows either suffer from lack of feed or must be fed pur- 

 chased feed to make up the deficiency, whether it be a 

 lack of protein, short pasture, or what not. 



The good dairy rotation must do three things: 



One — Supply the proper quantity and quality of feeds 

 to keep the dairy cows producing at their maximum 

 throughout the year, which means that the dairy is then 

 making its maximum profit. 



Two — Provide for the most profitable utilization of the 

 land by growing the most profitable crops and at the same 

 time maintaining and increasing soil humus and nitrogen. 



Three — Provide for the distribution of labor so that the 



