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The  Rural  Publishing  Co. 
333  W.  30th  Street 
New  York 
The  Rural  New-Yorker 
The  Business  Farmer’s  Paper 
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li .  .  — - — - 
Vol.  LXXV.  NEW1  YORK.  OCTOBER  7,  1016.  .  Xo.  42,98. 
The  Problem  of  a  Young  Dairyman 
The  Future  of  the  Business 
1.  I  am  a  youttg  mau  past  21  years  of  age,  and  think¬ 
ing  of  going  into  the  dairy  business.  I  wish  to  run  my 
milking  machine,  pump  and  possibly  feed  grinder  from 
the  same  engine.  IIow  can  1  manage  to  lmve  hot. 
water  in  my  milk  house  (located  in  the  barn)  to  wash 
the  milker  and  separator?  2.  Hon  much  should  10 to  15 
good  Holstein*  return  in  one  year  besides  the  fertilizer, 
which  I  need  badly  to  build  up  the  farin'?  Would  it 
pa v  to  erect  n  silo  the  first  year,  going  in  debt  for  it, 
or  would  it  be  better  to  wait?  What  kind  of  silo  Would 
you  advise?  4.  Would  it  lie  better  To  loty  cows  tit  $io 
to  $100,  or  three-year-old  heifers  at  $< >5  to  $80 ?  I  do 
not  care  for  pedigreed  stock  but  wish  to  keep  high 
grades.  I  will  have  to  buy  all  the  stock.  C.  K.  1\ 
Michigan. 
NT,  of  the  most  risky  things  a  man  can  do  is  to 
give  advice,  especially  to  one  whose  character¬ 
istics  and  circumstances  are  unknown.  All  that  it  is 
possible  to  do  is  to  give  hints  and  suggestions  that 
may  help  in  the  solution  of  the  problem.  The  spe- 
eitie  questions  in  the  above  may  be  answered  with 
a  fair  degree  of  assurance,  but  the  underlying  prob¬ 
lem  is  so  serious,  far-reaching  and  complicated  as  to 
challenge  the  best  thought  of  the  times. 
1.  In  answer  to  the  questions,  lirst,  tile  most  eco¬ 
nomical  power  for  milking,  pumping,  etc.,  is  the 
gasoline  engine.  Probably  hot  water  will  be  pro¬ 
vided  for  the  milkliouse  most  cheaply  by  a  small 
boiler.  It  is  probably  not  wise  to  try  to  combine 
the  two. 
2.  A  good  Holstein  cow  should  return  in  dairy 
products  $50  per  year  above  the  cost  of  feed.  Some 
do  better  than  rbis;  the  majority  not  so  well. 
2.  Build  the  silo  at  the  start.  If  the  silo  or  any¬ 
thing  else  is  a  good  thing,  and  can  be  afforded  after 
one  gets  started,  it  is  a  good  thing  and  can  be  af¬ 
forded  at  the  start  to  help  one  get  out  of  debt.  A 
good  cheap  silo  is  the  woqden-1  moped  silo.  It  may 
not  look  so  well  as  some  of  the  expensive  patent 
ones,  but  it.  can  be  made  to  do  the  work  just  as 
well,  and  costs  only  about  half  as  much. 
4.  The  mature  cows  will  probably  return  the 
largest  immediate  profit,  but  the  tliree-year-olds  will 
likely  prove  the  best  investment  in  the  end.  The 
heifers  will  grow  into  value.  The  mature  cows  will 
rapidly  grow  out  of  money.  Why  not  mix  them  up 
and  get  the  immediate  returns  from  a  part  of  the 
herd  and  have  the  other  part  growing  into  money? 
The  inquirer  thinks  he  does  not  want  purebred*. 
I  am  wondering  if  lie  has  thought  this  through.  A 
$100  grade  cow  will  produce  a  calf  worth  $5.  A 
well-bought  purebred  cow  worth  $500  will  produce 
a  calf  worth  $100.  The  profit  in  the  dairy  business 
is  in  the  increase  of  high-priced  stock.  A  young  man 
with  a  dairy  capacity  ("‘dairy  capacity”  heavily  un¬ 
derscored,  and  none  other  should  go  into  the  dairy 
business  at  all)  should  make  careful  selection  of  two 
or  three  choice  animals  for  foundation  stock  and 
build  up  a  herd  of  purebred*. 
C.  B.  T\  has  given  us  no  hint  as  to  what  branch  of 
the  dairy  business  he  wishes  to  engage  in,  neither 
has  he  told  us  anything  as  to  his  facilities  for  pro¬ 
ducing  dairy  crops,  his  training  for  the  work,  nor 
his  markets.  We  may  infer  from  the  nature  of  the 
questions  that  he  is  something  of  a  novice.  The 
dairy  business  is  not  one  to  engage  in  without  very 
careful  consideration.  The  investments  are  heavy; 
the  requirements  are  exacting;  the  labor  is  exce- 
sive;  the  returns,  while  usually  dependable,  are 
small.  I  have  always  thought  that  the  true  dairy¬ 
man  must  be  a  little  better  man  than  “tlic  other 
fellow.”  He  must  be  a  good  farmer  just  the  same 
as  the  other  fellow.  He  must  understand  the  care 
of  animals.  In  addition  he  must  appreciate  the  fact 
of  maternity.  This  implies  much,  for  the  cow  is 
not  a  machine  into  which  farm  crops  are  fed  and 
manufactured  into  milk,  but  an  exceedingly  delicate 
organism  with  au  individuality  all  her  own.  More¬ 
over,  the  true  dairyman  must  be  personally  neat 
and  clean  in  all  his  habits. 
The  cost  of  producing  milk  has  advanced  in  the 
last  15  or  20  years  much  more  rapidly  than  the  price 
it  will  command.  Compare  present  prices  of  land, 
buildings,  necessary  equipment,  labor,  feed,  cows, 
etc.,  with  those  prevailing  15  or  20  years  ago,  and 
you  will  realize  that  the  cost,  of  production  has  just 
about  doubled,  while  it  is  a  matter  of  record  that 
Ibe  farm  price  of  dairy  products  has  increased  only 
about  5<trv.  The  demands  made  and  regulations 
imposed  by  city  authorities  from  time  to  time  add 
greatly  to  the  cost  of  production,  and  are  never 
covered  by  an  increased  price. 
The  man  who  is  so  situated  that  lie  can  reach  the 
consumer  direct  may  face  the  future  with  confidence, 
but  the  immediate  outlook  for  the  man  who  must 
market  his  product  through  trade  channels  is  not 
bright.  The  marketing  problem  is  too  big  to  discuss 
here,  yet  in  omitting  it  we  are  dodging  the  main 
issue,  for  until  an  aroused  dairy  consciousness  and 
an  organized  dairy  production  compel  better  condi¬ 
tions  of  distribution  the  man  who  wholesales  dairy 
products  faces  long  hours  and  small  pay.  Milk  at 
present  prices  to  the  consumer  is  about  the  cheap¬ 
est  food  product  on  the  market  today,  and  the  time 
is  coming — let  us  hope  soon — when  an  educated  con¬ 
sumption  and  an  economical  distribution,  perhaps 
municipally  controlled,  will  bring  a  just  return  to 
the  producer. 
I  have  been  wondering  what  advice  the  dairymen 
of  the  country  as  a  whole  would  give  this  young 
man.  Front  the  general  unrest  and  dissatisfaction 
with  prices  arid  condition.  I  believe  the  majority 
vote  would  be  to  go  slow.  And  yet  thousands  of 
men  in  all  parts  of  the  country  are  doing  well  in 
the  dairy  business,  Recent  investigations  all  seem 
to  show  that  it  is  impossible  to  produce  dairy  pro¬ 
ducts  at  present  prices,  yet  it  is  beiug  done,  and 
men  are  making  a  living  at  it.  From  a  somewhat 
wide  and  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  dairy  in¬ 
dustry,  I  am  forced  to  conclude  that  Comparatively 
few  men  are  making  any  money  today  out  of  dairy 
products.  Yet  it.  is  possible  in  every  neighborhood 
to  pick  out  men  who  each  year  have  a  nice  balance 
on  the  right  side  of  the  ledger.  All  rbi*  goes  to  show 
that  the  man  himself  is  the  determining  factor.  If 
a  man  loves  cows,  if  he  has  the  natural  ability  and 
the  training  to  make  wise  selections,  if  he  is  will¬ 
ing  to  study  his  individual  animals,  if  he  will  mas¬ 
ter  the  problems  of  feed  and  care,  he  can  make  a 
good  living  at  the  dairy  business  even  as  it  is  today. 
If  in  addition  to  these  personal  requirements  lie 
has  a  soil  that  will  grow  an  abundance  of  clover 
and  Alfalfa,  and  he  has  good  marketing  facilities, 
The  Young  Milkmaid  and  the  Family  Cow.  Fig.  522 
