16 
BULLETIN 1144, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUBE. 
lators judgment regarding the probable price of the stored prod- 
ucts later in the year. 
The distribution of the production of the 48 farms reporting is 
shown in Figure 3. Over half the milk was produced in five months, 
March to July, inclusive. August, September, and October were the 
months of lowest production. Pasture stimulates the milk flow of 
cows freshening in the early winter, and there is further increase in 
the spring owing to the large numbers of cows freshening at that 
time. One reason for the spring freshening is to avoid the neces- 
sity for the heavier feeding required to sustain the milk flow in 
winter. August is a trying month for cows, chiefly on account of 
failing pastures, and once they are allowed to fall off in yield they 
can not often economically be brought back in the fall. Grass pas- 
ture, so far as milk cows are concerned, is about exhausted by the 
JAN FEB. MAR APR. MAY JUNE JULY AUG. SEPT OCT. NOV. 
KXXX>4 Percentage distribution of production, 1920, on 48 farms 
Relative monthly price Milwaukee 1920 (ave. = 100) 
Relative monthly price Chicago (ave of 1907-1916) 
Relative rnonth/y condensery base price, Sheboygan Co., 1920 
Fig. '6. — Spring was the season of maximum production on these farms in 1920. Fail- 
ure of milk prices to follow the normal course in the autumn was marked and had a 
depressing influence on production. 
middle of July, and supplementary feed is necessary unless fresh 
pasture is available, or the aftermath of the fields 5 is sufficient. 
Grain feeding was not resumed as promptly in 1920 as usual on 
account of the high price of feed and discouraging outlook for milk 
jmces. 
The average price of milk for 1920 for the Sheboygan County 
group was $2.33 per 100 pounds, the range being from $1.81 to $3.13; 
for the Marathon Count} 7 group from $2.11 to $2.94, average $2.67; 
for the Columbia County group $2.30, with a range from $2.12 to 
$2.46, while the Milwaukee producers averaged $3.15 net at the 
farm. The range in price in any locality is caused not so much by 
difference in schedule prices paid by the factories as by the distri- 
bution of the production and the- butter- fat test of the milk. 
As between the Milwaukee price and prices outside Milwaukee, the 
higher price paid is due in no small measure to the activities of the 
1 Aftermath is secured from grain and crop fields as well as from hay fields. 
