506 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



Four Systems of Dairy Farming, 



By 



Wilber J. Fraser, Chief in Dairy Husbandry and Royden E. Brand, Assist- 

 ant in Dairy Husbandry, 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. The final resultant depends not only 

 on efficient cows but also on raising crops that contain a maxi- 

 mum amount of digestible nutrients, and especially protein, 

 which is so essential for dairy cows. This circular explains and 

 compares four different systems of cropping for dairy farms. 

 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 returns $15.20 per acre 

 in milk, and the best system returns $48.30 per acre. The first 

 system will give an annual return of $2,632 from a 160-acre 

 farm, and the last, $8,263, or more than three times the first. 



But this is not all. The fertility of the farm is diminished 

 by the first system, as there is an annual loss of 1,900 pounds of 

 nitrogen. The second system shows no pounds, the third, 

 2,280 pounds, and the fourth, 5,830 pounds increase of nitrogen 

 in the soil. 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 of the same natural efficiency and the 

 soil equally productive, in each of the four systems. It is cer- 

 tainly worth while to consider crop plans that make such differ- 

 ences in the returns and in the maintenance of the soil. 



