Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 293, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 December 1916 — LIVE STOCK [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

LIVE STOCK

WINTER DAIRYING PAYS A . Significant Facta Revealed by Records of Cow Testing Association In Northwestern States When asked vyhy they prefer to have all their cows freshen In the spring, a number of fanners in the Northwestern States said positively that winter i dairying did not pay tn that section. The agent of the cow testing association, therefore, investigated a number of farms to determine whether it was the best practice in that region to have cows freshen in the spring because there is then plenty of grass, and "grass is a cheap feed.’’ He found that the spring freshened cows gave milk for a time while the pasture was good, but as hot weather and flies came on, the "flow gradually decrees ed until by fall they were usually dry. As the owners thought it did not pay to feed a dry cow, the cows were allowed to. browse around all the fall, picking up what feed they could, and, in many cases they were forced to "rustle” around the straw pile all winter. As a result, in the spring man/ cows emerged with ribs showing and were considerably weakened by the time they freshened. They therefore got a poor start in the season, and in many cases their milk records the following year were still lower. It was not surprising, the agent points out, that the average cow, so mishandled could produce only about 150 pounds'of butter fat a year."* w * Many so called scrub cows the agent points oat, if freshened in the fall and given the right kind of feed and treat ment during the winter before coming on grass for the latter part of their lacation period would prove to ba money makers. This opinion seems to be supported fully by the records of the cow testing association in the same general locality. These records show that the average farm cow that freshens in the fall not only produces mere milk and fat, but also is more profitable to keep. In one county many cows which freshened in the rail won a place on the association’s honor list for January and continued to produce heavily during the winter. When grass came in the spring these same cows picked up their naturally waning milk flow and finished up with a good yearly production before going ary late in summer. What is still more important, however, from the profit point of view, is that the fall freshen ed cows produced the larger part of their records while milk prices wero best. With the common idea that "grass is a cheap feed,” therefore, this agent would couple the fact that “butter fat is usually cheap at the same time.” The highest January record of this association was made- by a cow which produced 1,730 pounds of milk, or ap proximately 200 gallons, 3.7 per cent test, or 64 pounds of butter fat. Het milk, however, was sold on a city milk route and brought 20 'cents a gallon, or approximately S4O for the month. On the other hand, if the owner had sold his product on a butterfat basis he still would have received $19.20. As it cost him $5.37 to feed the cow, his profit on a butter fat basis would have been $13.83. On this farm the cows get practl cally all the alfalfa hay and corn silage that they will eat up clean, and ir addition a grain mixture of equal parts of rolled oats, bran, and shorts. Each of the heavier producers gets about ten pounds of this mixture daily. In addition to being well fed, the cows stand comfortably sheltered <n a warm barn most of the time and have access to plenty of good water. During ‘he month six cows in this herd averaged 54.8 pounds of butter "fat, worth more than sl6, while the feed cost was approximately $5.37 apiece. The records kept by the cow tester gave the dairyman exact know ledge of the cost of feed and production in the case of each animal, and' thus enabled him to cull out "boarders" and regulate his feed in proportion to the milk production of each cow. The association record for the farmer, -however, seemed to establish the fact that in the region mentioned, winter dairying can be made to pay.