American Agriculturist, September 20, 1924 
The Dairy Outlook 
A Suggestion for Making It a Little Brighter 
A LL of my life I By E. R. EASTMAN have ever had be¬ 
have been in- fore. Children in the, 
tensely interested in the farmers’ problem 
of trying to make a living by producing 
milk. I suppose this interest has been 
caused by association with cows directly 
or indirectly since the time I can remem¬ 
ber anything, and I suppose it is the 
reason why I cannot talk with farmers for 
even a few minutes without the subject 
drifting around to dairying and to the 
prices—past, present and future—for 
milk. 
In recent weeks I have had many 
opportunities to visit with fanner friends 
in communities in different parts of this 
great New York milk-shed. As usual, the 
subject that is uppermost in all minds is 
the outlook for dairying. In one of these 
conversations, a few days ago, an old 
friend reminded me of that momentous 
fight in 191G between the dairymen of this 
section and the dealers, the first big milk 
strike, and of the fact that he and I had 
worked together for the common cause. 
I remarked that a good deal of water had 
gone under the bridge in the milk business 
since 1916. 
“Yes,” he answered, “and a lot of milk 
has gone over the dam.” 
Cows Are Increasing 
In the discussion which followed with 
this little group, I reminded them that 
there had been a six per cent, increase in 
dairy cows in the country during the last 
year, that there had been a larger increase 
in other countries which are able to ship 
their dairy by-products into our markets, 
and that as I saw it, there could not be 
much help for better prices until some 
method was found for cutting down 
production. 
“That’s all right,” answered the 
farmer, “but we have' to get hold of just 
about so much money to keep a-going at 
all, so when prices go down we are sort of 
forced to increase the production in order 
to get as much money as we had before.” 
I can see some point to this argument, 
but I tried to point out if such a practice 
were followed out to its logical conclusion, 
farmers would drive one another out of 
business. 
“What is the answer?” someone then 
inquired. “Or isn’t there any answer?” 
I am very frank in my reply to this 
question, and I am very frank here, in 
saying that for a lot of men the situation 
is hopeless. There is no answer. I believe 
that for the men who have succeeded in 
the past in securing a very poor living out 
of scrub cows, and who are not willing to 
inject some better business methods in the 
conduct of their dairies, there is nothing 
but trouble, disappointment and ruin 
'ahead. Lest I leave a too pessimistic 
feeling, let me hasten to add that there is 
as much, or more, hope for the dairyman 
ec ho is willing to make a real business out 
of producing milk as there ever was. 
Consumption Not Increasing Fast 
Enough 
Increased consumption will help some, 
and consumption is increasing, although it 
will have setbacks now and then when 
bard times come in the cities. Speaking 
generally, people have a better liking and 
appreciation for milk as a food than they 
schools—thanks to such efforts as those 
of the Dairymen’s League in teaching the 
children to drink milk—are learning its 
value and will be big milk consumers all 
of their lives. Increasing consumption 
will always help the dairymen in this 
territory also because they are near 
enough to ship fluid milk to the big city. 
Problem Must be Solved at Home 
But more consumption is not the real 
answer to the problem. It will not come 
fast enough to keep up with production, 
nor will cooperation and better sales 
entirely answer the problem. Organiza¬ 
tion and better selling will help a lot, but 
the best selling system in the world can¬ 
not sell a market more than that market 
wants. The real answer must be made by 
the dairymen themselves and more and 
more of them are coming to realize that 
the problem of making a living out of 
milk must be solved right at home. 
THE COSTS OF PRODUCTION 
MUST BE KEPT DOWN. I repeat 
what I have said several times lately, and 
what I have come to believe absolutely, 
that the day is forever gone when the 
dairyman with poor cows and careless 
methods can hope to make even a poor 
living. 
The biggest answer to the problem of 
more money for milk lies in keeping a 
smaller dairy but a much better one, and 
with much better feeding methods. Grain 
is too high, and it always will be, to feed 
at all to poor producers, or even to feed to 
good cows, without the dairyman being 
absolutely sure that the grain is the right 
mixture and in right amounts for each 
cow. He cannot be sure of this without 
weighing both milk and feed and keeping 
at least some simple records. 
That this solution is right, however 
much you may disagree with it, I can 
prove by giving the names of men who 
are making money from milk, even with 
the poor prices that are prevailing and 
have prevailed in recent months. You all 
know a few such men. 
Poorer-Than-Average Cows Cause 
Surplus 
It is not the good cows or even the 
average cows that cause the great milk 
surplus and keep down the prices. It is 
the poor ones giving four thousand 
pounds or less of milk a year that are a 
curse to their owners and to every other 
dairyman in the business. These cows 
cannot be gotten rid of all at once, nor 
are they in the majority in every dairy. 
But there are mighty few dairies where 
there are not at least one to five such 
cows present. The strange thing about it 
is that the farmer himself in his heart 
knows that_he owns at least one such cow, 
but in the pressure of work and with the 
habit which all of us have to procrasti¬ 
nate, he keeps her around year after year, 
while she eats her head off, decreases his 
profit, and increases the surplus problem 
for all. 
In the September 6th issue of American 
Agriculturist, I proposed a simple plan 
whereby we might begin to get rid of some 
of these cows and actually profit by the 
(Continued on page WO) 
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