FIFTY-FIRST ANNUAL CONVENTION 51 



THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 10 A. M. 



ECONOMICAL MILK PRODUCTION 



Chas. Foss. 



Ladies and Gentlemen: Anyone engaged in milking 

 cows on a commercial scale does so with the intention of 

 making money at the dairy business. No one wants to keep 

 cows at a loss or for pleasure. It is true, however, that not 

 every one engaged in dairying is making money at it. 



There are two ways in which the farmer can market 

 the crops he grows on his farm. One way is to sell them for 

 cash and the other way is to feed them to livestock. To the 

 man who is engaged in dairying, the cow is the market to 

 which he sells his crops. 



The price he will receive for the crops he grows on his 

 farm will depend on the price he will receive for his milk 

 or butter fat and upon the ability of the cow to convert the 

 feed he growls on his farm into milk and butter fat econom- 

 ically. The efficient cow is an important factor in econom- 

 ical milk production. There are two ways to increase the 

 profits in the dairy business. One is to get an increased 

 production. Generally speaking, dairymen do not control 

 the price they get for their milk and butter fat, but they 

 can control the cost of production so far as feed and care 

 and efficiency of the dairy cow is concerned. 



The Department of Dairy Husbandry of the University 

 of Illinois has found from data secured from cost accounting 

 records kept on farms in the Chicago milk district that 44 

 pounds of grain, 188 pounds of silage, 50 pounds of hay, 

 39 pounds of bedding and 2.42 hours man labor enter in the 

 average cost of producing 100 pounds of milk. The cost 

 accounting records from which this data was secured repre- 

 sented approximately 1,000 cows and is the average cost of 

 producing 100 pounds of milk by these cows. If this, was 



