^20 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



This daily routine of feeding and milking is continued usually until 

 ^bout the middle of May, varying a little with the seasons. As we al- 

 ways reduce the dairy, it can now be done to good advantage, and we 

 usually reduce it a third, sometimes nearly a half. The cows being in 

 .good flesh are sold for beef, usually bringing as much as they cost and 

 ^sometimes more. 



Some years when short on pasture we have made a practice of putting 

 in a few acres of rye, thickly sown on rich land, to feed the following 

 spring. A person who has never tried it would be surprised at the 

 number of cans of milk it will produce to the acre, after which the land 

 is plowed and planted to fodder corn. After the rye, clover, or oats and 

 peas are fed, after which, if the season is favorable, a crop of Hungarian 

 <can be grown — then fodder corn is fed. This takes us back to where we 

 started from. I want to say, we never stable the cows without some grain 

 in the manger. They expect^ it and always find it, and will be on hand. 

 Consequently, we have no use for a dog 



At the end of the year we find the average number of cows kept on 

 fh.e. farm twelve months, if there is anything made on the shift of the cow, 

 it is added to the milk account; if any loss, it is taken out before the 

 average income per cow is made ■ 



The cost of keeping a cow per year, varies somewhat according to 

 the price of grain. We raise all of the corn, selling the oats, and usually 

 same hay and buying bran. I am well aware that this is not considered 

 :ap-to-date dairy ing,_ but is is. the method we have folio wed, for a. number 

 af years and find it fairly satisfactory. We do not aim to produce the 

 greatest quantity of milk, regardless of cost or quality, but we do aim to 

 tealize a fair profit above interest on capital invested and labor expend- 

 •ed. To have avjfarm heavily stocked, to keep up the, fertility of the soil 

 and thorough cultivation which raises an abundance of feed; liberal and 

 Judicious feeding which is essential to produce milk; regularity in feed- 

 ing and milking; kind and gentle treatment at all times of the stock, are 

 .a part of what go to make dairy farming profitable. 



To be sure there is a vast amount of work connected with the dairy. 



