160 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



SOME FACTS INFLUENCING THE PROFITS IN MILK PRODUCTION. 



By 



Prof. W. J. Fraser, University of Illinois. 



The amount of milk and butter fat produced per acre is, 

 generally speaking, the final test of profitable dairying where all 

 feed is raised on the farm. This depends not only on efficient 

 cows, but also on raising crops that contain a maximum amount 

 of digestible nutrients, and especially protein, which is so es- 

 sential for dairy cows. This address explains and compares 

 four different systems of croping for dairy farms. By the first 

 two, 160 acres of land will support the equivalent of 38 and 51 

 cows, respectively. The first will make 991 pounds, the second, 

 1,475 pounds, the third, 2,025 pounds, and the fourth, 3,150 

 pounds of milk per acre. The poorest system of cropping re- 

 turns $15.16 per acre in milk, and the best system returns $48.20 

 per acre. The first system will give an annual return of $2,627 

 from the farm, and the last, $8,246 or more than three times 

 the first. 



But this is not all. The net result as to nitrogen in the soil 

 is to lose 1,900 pounds annually in the first system, to gain no 

 pounds in the second, 2,280 pounds in the third, and 5,830 

 pounds in the last. These differences are due entirely to the 

 kind of crops raised and their adaptability to the feeding of 

 dairy cows, for the cows are figured as the same natural effi- 

 ciency and the soil equally productive, in each of the four sys- 

 tems. It is certainly worth while to consider crop plans that 

 make such differences in the returns and in the maintenance of 



the soil. 



Several Reasons for Poor Results. 



The investigations of the Department of Dairy Husbandry 

 during the past dozen years show plainly that the dairy farmers 



