FORTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONVENTION 15 



ECONOMIC PRODUCTION OF MILK. 



By Charles Foss, Cedarville 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : 



There are three essentials to the economic production of 

 milk. The first essential is good cows, cows that can take the 

 crops we raise on our farms and convert them into milk and 

 butterfat economically. 



The cow is the market to which we sell our crops. The 

 amount of money we will realize from our crops, which we feed 

 to our cows, will depend upon the price we get for our milk and 

 butterfat, and the ability of the cow to produce milk economic- 

 ally. 



There are two ways in which we can increase the profits 

 in the dairy business. One way is to get an increased price for 

 our product and the other is to decrease the cost of production. 



The dairyman has very little to say as to what he is to re- 

 ceive for his product. He generally gets what the market af- 

 fords and no more. But it is entirely in his control to decrease 

 the cost of production b}^ having efficient cows. 



The second essential is to feed the good cow a balanced 

 ration. A proper ration for a cow must not only contain the 

 right proportion of digestible protein, carbohydrates and fat, buv 

 it must also be light and bulky so it can be easily digested and it 

 must be palatable so the cows will like it. 



The third essential is proper care. A cow will not produce 

 very much milk unless she is camfortable. A cow that is ex- 

 posed to cold weather in winter or is compelled to drink ice 

 water will require all her feed for fuel, to keep her body warm 

 and will have little left for milk production. 



The investigation that the University of Illinois has carried 

 on 'for the last fifteen or sixteen years, goes to show that at least 

 one- fourth of the cows in Illinois barely pay for the feed they 



