116© 
Live Stock and Dairy 
THE KINKS IN A DAIRY FARM. 
How We Took Them Out. 
Part II. 
The foreman on the farm had been 
there for over 25 years, and was abso¬ 
lutely responsible. I therefore took 
him into my confidence, and acquainted 
him with the fact that we were losing, 
money on the farm a lot faster than 
we could make it in some other busi¬ 
ness. We went over my figures together, 
found that they were practically correct, 
and mutually agreed that we must either 
stop the leak or sink. In order to stop 
the leak we had to find it. We there¬ 
fore promptly organized ourselves into 
a private detective agency and took up 
the trail of a suspicious character known 
as “Deficit.” 
The first subject we investigated was 
our cows. We made ourselves familiar 
with the dairy, and in this case the old 
adage that “Familiarity breeds con¬ 
tempt” was very true. For the more 
familiar we became with our herd, the 
more we held them in contempt. We 
found-upon this careful inspection that 
nearly half of our cows were sick, all 
of them were poor and in bad condition, 
and some of them were old enough to 
have been engaged in the milk business 
before New York City’s Department of 
Health was organized. We saw the ne¬ 
cessity of getting rid of that kind of a 
dairy, so we promptly loaded a car with 
the lame, the halt and the blind, and 
shipped them into the city—as I recall 
it now, they brought us all of $9 a 
cow. The man who bought them claimed 
they were to be made into phosphate. 
I do not in fact know what became of 
those “bandboxes,” but since we made 
that shipment I have never been able 
to look any canned beef, bologna or 
beef products of that nature in the 
face. My conscience troubles me for 
fear I may recognize some part of my 
old dairy. 
It was easy enough to get rid of the 
old cows, but once we had them cleaned 
out the question arose as to how we 
could replace them. The easiest method 
seemed to be that of looking over our 
neighbors’ dairies and buying cows from 
them. We bought a few cows this way, 
getting about 25 per cent of good cows 
and the rest failures. Even if we did 
not get good cows we did get something 
for our money. We learned that it was 
not wise to put our trust in friends, 
neighbors or cattle dealers. It was 
a rather expensive lesson, for even 
then good cows were selling at $45, and 
the pick of the herd brought $50. After 
a few weeks of this method of filling 
our dairy we came to the conclusion 
that it was altogether too expensive, 
and was putting our neighbors all in as 
members of the Ananias Club. Our 
dairy was in very litttle better condi¬ 
tion than it had been when we started,, 
and at the rate we were then going it 
would only be a matter of a few years 
before there would be no necessity for 
a dairy, since inevitably some one else 
would own our farm. We stopped buy¬ 
ing cows from our neighbors and held 
a second conference. At this meeting we 
came to the conclusion that since we had 
plenty of barn room, lots of help and 
could get all the skim-milk we needed 
at the nearby creamery the best thing 
we could do was to buy calves and raise 
our own cows. 
We were quite ashamed of ourselves 
to think that we had never given this 
simple solution of our difficulties a 
thought before, and enthused with the 
new idea we proceeded to buy every 
heifer calf that we could house. We 
considered ourselves very adroit, in that 
we bought nothing but the strongest 
calves from the best cows of our neigh¬ 
bors. We found our neighbors very 
willing to sell their surplus calves— 
always of course from their best cows 
—at $1 each. The dollar bill looked 
good to them, since that was all they 
could get for the skin, and by selling to 
us they saved the trouble of killing and 
skinning the calf. We gave those calves 
the best of treatment, feeding them on 
prepared calf foods, some grain, plenty 
of skim-milk and all the hay they want¬ 
ed. And they responded nobly to the 
treatment. Our six-months-old calves 
were as large as our neighbors’ year¬ 
lings. Our yearlings looked like two- 
year-olds. 
The calf industry looked like a big 
thing; we became quite inflated with 
it, but in a few months our self-in¬ 
flated gas balloon burst, letting us back 
to earth with a dull, sickening thud. 
It took us, as a matter of fact, just an 
even three years to learn that it cost 
us at least $35 for each cow we raised, 
THE RURAB NEW-YORKER 
November 16, 
and that when they became milk pro¬ 
ducers, not over 40 per cent of them 
were worth keeping. In attempting to 
raise our own cows we had never given 
a thought to one of the basic principles, 
namely, the fathers of the calves. We 
had taken it for granted that because 
the mothers of the calves were fairly 
good cows that the calves themselves 
would follow in the footsteps of their 
mothers and be good cows also. It is a 
thing to be ashamed of, but do you 
know that as an actual fact four years 
ago there was not a single purebred 
bull of any breed in our valley? It was 
the custom of our farmers to buy year¬ 
ling bulls of any kind, color, size or 
mixed breed, from each other or the 
passing drovers. These yearlings were 
put in as the head of the herd, and from 
these degenerates they were attempting 
to raise good stock. 
A farm paper first opened my eyes to 
the cause of our failure in raising good 
cows. Had I subscribed to that paper 
or any other good farm paper two or 
three years earlier I might have been 
saved much annoyance and some good 
money. When I did at last subscribe, 
about the first article that met my eye 
was one upon the importance of the 
head of the herd. I had always been a 
firm believer in the law of heredity, the 
necessity of having strong parents to 
breed strong children, but I had never 
thought to connect the milk-giving ca¬ 
pacity of a cow with her father’s breed¬ 
ing. 
But I have wandered a long way 
from my original topic in the pursuit of 
the calf and must leave him for the 
present to go back to that first year of 
management. I had taken charge of 
the farm in the Fall. As the first Win¬ 
ter passed and Spring advanced we 
found that our hay was insufficient to 
carry us through to grass. This is a 
catastrophe to a dairy farmer, as I have 
learned that the dairy farmer in figur¬ 
ing his profits counts his hay as noth¬ 
ing. He does not even make it an item 
of his expense. Therefore when he is 
compelled to buy hay he counts it all 
as dead loss. That first lean Spring 
we were compelled to buy two carloads 
of hay, and those two carloads made a 
hole in our income large enough to 
drive our herd through. 
Delaware Co., N. Y. Ralph s. ives. 
MAKING YOUR OWN PORK. 
From time to time, with the high cost 
of living, one of the greatest problems 
to the workingman is his meat. There 
is no other meat that will go as far in 
a family as pork, yet with salt pork at 
14 cents a pound and fresh beef higher, 
will it pay the laboring man to raise his 
own meat, that is, fatten a couple of pigs? 
I would say yes, from my own practical 
experience. Last year I fattened two 
pigs, but did not keep an actual account 
of what it cost me. The two at eight 
months and 12 days old dressed as 
follows: One 312 pounds, and the other 
285. This year I have two and have 
kept an account of everything. The 
pigs cost me $10 a pair, and will be at 
time I kill 11 months old, will weigh 
better than 800 pounds of dressed meat. 
The cost was $10 for pigs and $25.20 
for feed. It will be seen that it cost 
me $35.20 to produce 800 pounds of 
pork. Dressed pork, whole hog, is $10 
a hundred. I have $80 worth of meat. 
It must be understood that these hogs 
have no other feed but wheat middlings 
at $1.50 per 100 pounds. Last year I 
topped off on a little cornmeal, but this 
year I shall not feed any. There is no 
better feed in my estimation or experi¬ 
ence to produce pork, pound for pound, 
than wheat middlings, especially to get 
the growth. Some prefer corn. Just 
before killing time this year I shall try 
it as a novelty without any corn, but it 
must be understood there are many 
things that go to help make pork besides 
what they eat. Their living place must 
be as clean as for a horse or any other 
animal, and it pays to keep them gentle 
and docile and feed them regularly what 
they will eat up clean, increasing from 
one week to another as they grow older. 
There is no animal that will respond to 
good care like a hog, and nothing raised 
on a farm that will pay any better than 
a few hogs with good care. 
Ontario Co., N. Y. r. b. hill. 
Guernseys for Butter Fat.— The prin¬ 
cipal reason why we have Guernseys, as 
far as I can see, is that they give a milk 
rich in butter fat. We have a school here 
for boys, and as we do more or less farm¬ 
ing, as we need a good deal of butter for 
our tables and cooking (about 25 or 30 
pounds per week), we have a herd of cows, 
registered Guernseys. Except through the 
dry spell this Summer, we have sold as 
much butter as we used, and we were milk¬ 
ing only about 12 cows. Of course we 
also use some cream and new milk, so that 
not all of it goes into butter. 
Saratoga Co., N. Y. geo. e. marx. 
The Secret 
of the Success 
One 
Man 
Milks 
45 
Cows 
in 
One 
Horn* 
The secret of the success of the Sharpies Mechan¬ 
ical Milker lies in the construction of the patented 
TEAT CUP. It is the one feature that marks the 
difference between the success and failure of milking 
machines—the feature that insures complete satis¬ 
faction to the owner and makes the Mechanical 
Milker the most practical and profitable part of your 
dairy equipment. Read this letter from the owners 
of one of the highest priced dairy cows in the world: 
Imported Billy’s Lady Frances Gazelle: 
“The Sharpies Mechanical Milker is one of the beat 
investments we ever made on this farm.’* 
Henry Fielden, Supt. 
Branford Farms, Groton, Conn. 
The Teat Cup with the 
Upward Squeeze 
Enables the Sharpies Mechanical Milker to draw 
the milk from the udder quickly, gently and without 
exposing a single drop to stable air. It never causes 
fevers, congestion or swollen teats. It gently presses 
the blood back up into circulation after each down 
stroke. It soothes and quiets the animal and makes 
her give down her milk, increasing the milk yield. 
With the Sharpies Milker one man can milk 45 cows 
in one hour. 
Write For FREE Catalog, E 
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THE SHARPLES SEPARATOR CO. 
WEST CHESTER, pa. Branches: Chicago, Ills. 
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ind Bigger Profits 
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DEATH TO HEAVES 
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Buy a 5A Bias Girth Blanket for stable use. 
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WM. AYRES & SONS. Philadelphia. Pa. 
^Calves Without Milk\ 
Cost only half as much as the milk 
raised calves. Increase your 
profits by using 
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The perfect milk substi¬ 
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\Vrite > today for free 
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Blatchford’s 
Calf Meal 
Factory 
Waukegan, III. 
PDI IMD^C IMPROVED 
UKUmDO WARRINER 
STANCHION 
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Mt. Herman School, Mt. 
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Send address for book¬ 
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,, r ROBERTSON’S CHAIN 
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m EXCELSIOR SWING STANCHION 
30 Days’ Trial—Stationary When Opes 
NOISELESS SIMPLE SANITARY DURABLE 
■Tfl 
The Wasson 
Box 60. -: 
Stanchion Co.. 
Cuba, N. Y. 
Foster Steel and Wood 
STANCHIONS 
Increase Your Dairy Profit 
Makes cows comfortable. Save time 
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strong, and durable. 
Write for our prices and illus¬ 
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906 Insurance Bldg., Rochester, N. Y. 
Let this Litter Carrier 
•3 h 
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HUNT, HELM, FERRIS & COMPANY V&ATfe/ (47) 
3893 Hunt Street Harvard, III. 
STARCH NE 
