678 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
May 2, 
DAIRYING IN CENTRAL NEW YORK. 
1. Can an ordinary 30-cow dairy in 
Central New York be run at a profit on 
a 200-acre farm by two men, where all 
grain is purchased and only hay, stalks 
and pumpkins for a while in the Fall, are 
fed from the farm, milk selling at an 
average price of 3% cents per quart? 2. 
If not would increasing the dairy by 20 
cows and using milking machines do it? 
3. Would the addition of a silo do it? 4. 
Would the sale of cream, butter, or cheese 
at wholesale and the use of the by-pro¬ 
duct for hogs, increase the results, and as 
a general rule which of the four products 
is the most profitable? A. B. 
Good Butter Pays Best. 
1. I do not see why a dairy of 30 cows 
cannot be run at a profit on a 200-acre 
farm. Of course it will depend on the 
cows, how good they are as milk pro¬ 
ducers, and the man behind them. You 
speak of ordinary cows. I think there 
are too many of that kind being used 
for dairy purposes. I know of plenty 
of cows in my own neighborhood that 
are not milking over 4,000 pounds in a 
year. If a man had to buy all his 
grain, and depend entirely on hay and 
stalks, and only get 3% cents for his 
milk, I am afraid he would not receive 
a very large profit from his cows. If he 
can raise Alfalfa to feed part of the time 
that would cut down the feed bill one- 
third any way. 2. 1 have never had any 
experience in using a milking machine. 
3. I know the silo would help out wonder¬ 
fully ; with good silage to feed night and 
morning and hay in the middle of the 
day he would be surprised at the end of 
the year to see how much more he had 
made from his cows and at less expense. 
4. Now I am coming to the part I take 
in the dairy business. I have 15 Jersey 
cows, mostly grades, and they make me 
300 pounds of butter on an average per 
cow in a year. This butter sells at an 
average price of 36 cents per pound. Of 
course I have private customers that I 
furnish, and I could sell double the 
amount if I could make it. Many are 
making more butter per cow than I am, 
but this is better than 314-ceiit milk, 
and I have the skim-milk, which is 
surely worth $10 per cow,. to feed to 
pigs. With a little grain it does not take 
a great while to make a pig dress 100 
pounds, which in our market is worth 
$12. I also sell a number of veal calves, 
New York. ciias. leiiman. 
Not a Living Wage In It. 
1. With good care and management the 
average cow would not give more than 
2,300 quarts and by my experience the 
expenses would be about as follows: 
To 2,300 qts.x 3Vi x 30 equals $2,242.50 
To 30 calves at $2. 60.00 
$2,302.50 
For grain at $27 per cow $810 
For seeds . 75 
For repairs . 60 
For expense 4 horses. . . 230 
For interest on $10,000 
farm val.500 
For interest and depre¬ 
ciation on tools and 
machinery of $800 val. 128 
For interest on stock.... 180 $1,983.00 
Profit . $319.50 
2. Adding 20 head to above dairy 
would bring at same rates $1,495, with 
an added expense of about $895, leaving 
a profit on the 50 head of $919.50. 
3. By my experience the addition of a 
silo with a good quality of silage would 
add 10% to above profit. 
4. This is a hard question to answer, 
as much depends upon the breed, butter- 
fat in milk, local conditions, etc. Tak¬ 
ing it for granted that the milk would 
test 4% and the average price 32 cents 
per pound for butterfat, each cow would 
produce 197.72 pounds, selling for $63.17 
and allowing 20 cents per cwt. for skim- 
milk would bring gross receipts up to 
$72.97 per cow, as against $74.75 by 
selling whole milk, and there is a ques¬ 
tion of the skim-milk making $9.80 worth 
of pork, as I have had as little as $1.17, 
and the most I ever had was $8.S5 per 
hog that I could credit to skim-milk, but 
I have no data as to amount of milk fed 
per pig. On the other hand I have fed 
skim-milk to veal calves and it has paid 
as high as 39 cents per cwt. Judging by 
neighbors’ experience cheese would pay 
still less, and if cream was sold at mar¬ 
ket price per pound of fat there would be 
nothing gained in that direction, only 
less labor. E. P. adams. 
Chautauqua Co., N. Y. 
Prefers to Make Cheese. 
1. I think yes, if the farm is properly 
taken care of and has no boarder cows 
or boarder men; that is, the men must 
work and expect to raise crops enough 
for their teams and families’ board and 
some to spare. There must be but very 
little forest land; the 200 acres must 
be nearly all cleared. By these .questions 
it would seem that there was doubt of a 
200-acre farm keeping 30 cows and pay¬ 
ing labor. It would be doubtful on some 
farms with some men. 
2. No I think 30 cows are more than 
the average 200-acre farm ought to keep. 
3. Would the addition of a silo do it? 
I think it would have to be an extra 
farm of 200 acres to keep 50 cows even 
with a silo, and allowing no waste land, 
which nearly every farm has. 
4. I think the sale of cream, butter, or 
cheese with hogs would increase the re¬ 
sults. You ask which of the four pro¬ 
ducts? I think there would be only three, 
as the hogs must necessarily be connected 
with one of the products, cream, butter, 
or cheese. I would expect every farm 
to have an orchard that would be made 
to help, and every farm usually has wood 
which would be quite an item. The 
calves from 30 cows ought to bring $3.50 
at four weeks old. The men must have 
a chance to save these calves and not 
throw away, so as to sell the milk at 3*4 
cents per quart. These questions do not 
take in consideration that there are many 
things on farm that will help, and not 
depend wholly on cows. It depends very 
much on the men, as some men can get 
so much better results from same cows 
than others, and not require as much feed 
to do it. I think cheese would be the 
most profitable. e. a. bentley. 
Allegany Co., N. Y T . 
Prefers Making Milk. 
1. This question as put is not vei'y 
clear. How far is this farm situated 
from a shipping station? Is this 200- 
acre farm all tillable land? What is the 
condition of the soil as to ease of tillage 
and fertility? Is it well fenced and 
watered? Are the buildings comfortable 
for housing 30 cows through the Winter 
season? Assuming a favorable answer 
to all these questions, it would still seem 
a hard task for two men to undertake 
the production of milk at a gross price 
of 3?4 cents per quart and have to buy 
all grains fed. If these men have capital 
sufficient to buy grains in car lots for 
cash it would help out some, still dairy¬ 
men about here claim milk cannot be 
produced at a profit for less than 3Vo 
cents per quart. ^ However, labor condi¬ 
tions may be different in Central New 
York and such a business venture as this 
might pay a small profit. 
2. I have not "had experience with 
milking machines. Dairymen in general 
seem slow in adopting them. 
3. Silos are one of the essentials in the 
profitable production 
32 feet stave and 16 
to furnish sufficient 
during the Winter 
acres of corn should 
4. No, not with 
dairy cows. The 
dairy mentioned 
of milk. A silo of 
feet diameter ought 
silage for 30 cows 
season; 12 to 15 
fill it. 
an ordinary herd of 
four products of the 
in the order of their 
Cows 6,000 lbs., 2,800 qts., 
$91 each. 
30 cows at $91.$2,730 
Growth on young stock 200 
Depreciation on stock . 
Annual loss on stock, accident 
and otherwise . 
Expense for feed . 
One man at $30, for one year. . 
One man, extras milk 730 qts, 
3 Vi c . 
Rent, value of house and garden 
One man, potatoes, 25 bu. at 60c 
One man, apples. 
()ne man, pears. 
Extra help . 
Blacksmith bills . 
Int. on investment at 4%. 
Expense for repairs, buildings 
and fences . 
60 tons of hay at $10. . 600 
Value of hay fed out. 
Family expenses . 
School tax . 
State and county tax. 
Poultry well managed. 150 
Beef for family use. .. 45 
Two pigs well fattened 50 
Expense for reseeding . 
Incidental expenses . 
$11,150 
at 3V4c, 
$ 200.00 
150.00 
1 . 200.00 
360.00 
23.72 
84.00 
35.00 
12.00 
2.00 
50.00 
30.00 
446.00 
200.00 
600.00 
300.00 
20.00 
50.00 
25.00 
40.00 
Boss of expense 
$3,775.00 $3,807.72 
32.72 
Value of labor to farm¬ 
er and family lost. 
$3,807.72 
500.00 
W. S. TECK. 
quick net profit returns would be, I think, 
milk, cream, cheese, butter. 
Monroe Co., N. Y. j. e. beedle. 
Must Be a Mighty Worker. 
1. I enclose these figures, nearly all 
from my experience, in answer to your 
first question. The farmer must be 
strong, a good manager and a hard work¬ 
er to bring about this result. 
2. To increase the dairy by 20 cows 
would make a much greater expense for 
help; have seen milking machines work, 
but am not convinced they are practical. 
There is a difference between farming i 
with money and farming to make money. 
The low prices of milk, 2% cents, and 
the high price of feed and also of cows, 
make farmers free sellers; the produc¬ 
tion will grow less each year. Low 
prices with arbitrary rules will cause 
them to change to other lines. 
3. We. do not use silo; hay grows three 
tons to the acre; that will do for us. 
We raise young stock, sell cows and 
large quantities of hay, with many side 
lines to help out. Farmers can get along 
without making so much milk as formerly. 
4. Where is the farmer .vho wants to go 
back to the old plan of butter and cheese 
making? It cannot be made up at home. 
Look out for a milk quake in fi.j years. 
Here are my figures: 
200-acre farm at $40. $8,000 
30 cows at $75 each. 2,250 
Value of horses . 500 
Farm tools, wagons and sleighs.. 400 
Y ou need a new 
1 
SEPARATOR 
NOW 
s |. If you are still using some gravity or setting 
= process of creaming— 
BECAUSE YOUR COWS HAVE 
likely freshened now and your sup¬ 
ply of milk is greater. 
BECAUSE YOUR SPRING WORK 
requires every minute of your time 
and a good cream separator will be 
a great time and labor saver. 
BECAUSE YOUR YOUNG CALVES 
will thrive best with warm, sweet 
oeparator skim-milk. 
BECAUSE WITH YOUR IN- 
creased milk flow your greater waste 
of cream, without a good cream 
separator, must run into more 
money than you can afford to lose. 
nd ! f „ you have a very old De Laval or an 
= inferior separator whether new or old— 
BECAUSE THE LOSSES OF THE 
poor separator from incomplete 
skimming, and the tainted product 
of the hard-to-clean and unsanitary 
separator mean most when your 
volume of milk is the greatest. 
BECAUSE OF THE AMPLE AND 
“ more than advertised ” capacity of 
the De Laval, you can separate more 
quickly and save time, when time 
means most to you. 
BECAUSE AN IMPROVED DE 
Laval Cream Separator is so much 
simpler and more easily handled 
and cared for than any other, and 
you can’t afford to waste time 
these busy days fussing with an 
inferior or half worn-out machine. 
BECAUSE THE DE LAVAL SEP- 
arator of today is just as superior to 
other separators as other separators 
are to gravity setting. 
These are all facts every De Laval local agent is glad of 
the opportunity to prove to any prospective buyer. If you 
don’t know the nearest De Laval Agency simply write 
the nearest main office, as below. 
Tbe De Laval Separator Co., 29 E. Madison St., Chicago 
50,000 BRANCHES AND LOCAL AGENCIES THE WORLD OVER 
m EXCELSIOR SWING STANCHION 
30 Days’ Triai^—Stationary When Open 
NOISELESS SIMPLE SANITARY DURABLE 
The Wasson Stanchion Co., 
Box 60, •:* Cuba. N. Y. 
r ROBF.HTSOS’S CHAIN 
j HANGING STANCHIONS 
“I have used them for more 
than TWENTY YFAILS, am! they 
have given the very best of satis¬ 
faction in every way,” writes 
Justus H. Oooley, M.D., Plainfield 
Sanitarium, Plainfield, N. J, 
Thirty days’ trial on application 
O. II. KOBERTSON 
Wash. St., Forcstvllle* Conn. 
eWe 
Everlasting 
Protect Your Health 
With ALPHA Cement 
A concrete platform over your well, and a concrete ^ 
/casing in it, shut off the germ-laden surface water and safeguard 
your family with little trouble and slight expense. 
Wood rots quickly ; it is slippery, leaky, unsafe. Concrete, 
made of the right cement, is imperishable. Four sacks (i barrel) 
of cement, mixed with sand and gravel, make a permanent 
concrete platform, 6 feet square, 5 inches thick, if you use 
ALPHA 
THE GUARANTEED 
PORTLAND 
CEMENT 
Its greater binding power makes ALPHA 
more economical than a cheaper cement. 
Every ounce is powerful, because it is mixed 
right, burned right, ground right and prop¬ 
erly aged before being shipped. ALPHA 
is guaranteed to be stronger than the 
Government standard. Don’t buy merely 
a “Portland" cement. Insist on ALPHA 
and be sure. If your dealer doesn't sell 
ALPHA, let us tell you where to get it. 
112-Page Concrete Book—FREE 
Our book "Concrete in the Country,” shows 100 ways to improve your lirm 
with ALPHA—how to make well-platforms, walks, stable floors, manure pits, etc. 
Regularly 25 cents. Sent free. Use the coupon or mention this publication. 
ALPHA PORTLAND CEMENT COMPANY S;™' Easton,Pa. 
Alpha Portland Cement Co., Easton, Pa. 
Send me your book on farm concrete work and Name_ 
information about ALPHA, the Guaranteed 
Cement. I may build a_ Address, 
RNY-My2 
