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Show I COST OF KEEPING A COW. The Results Obtained by One Man Who Kept a .Record, f Tho expense of keeping n cow In the coat of labor anil feed, As a rulo tho I labor Ib not Included, but I think that l Is the most serious question, declares C. O. Carlson, In Dairy Hecord. When flfl wo hlro help to milk and caro for this cow, wc pay good wages, und oven ut Kfln that, It Is hard to sccuro a mun that flB will do tho work satisfactorily. It costs K to do tho milking, whether the hired BJ man or anyone elso does It, as u cow I I. Hint gives milk during ton months out of n yenr must bo milked GOO times. This will tnko about ten minutes each time, or n'totnl of 100 hours. Tho stablo must bo cleaned durlnR BBf I ho stabling season nnd that senson jB should bo about eight months. This will tako about four minutes n day, or Bfl Jfi hours a year. Feeding tho cow hoy, jB sllngo and grain will tnko about soveu BB minutes n day, or 2G hours a yenr. To IBB water tho cow will tako about live BB hours n year. Separating and caring for tho cream, 14 hours; hauling crenm BB to creamery, live hours. This will BB make a total of 1GG hours per year. BC Now what does that labor cost us BB when wo hlro n man? If we want n BS good ono wo must pay lilin $25 or $30 BB n month, together with board, lodging BB nnd washing. It will amount to about BB in cents mi hour, and 1GG hours at this BB prlco por hour would bo $24.90. Hut BB when there Is holp enough In tho ram-BB ram-BB lly to do tho most of this work, .ono Hm does not consider their tlmo worth as BB much. Of courso, theso flgurcB may BB vary in soma luslnncos, as In some B places It Is much moro conveillcnt und BB It may not tako as much time to care HI for tho cow, but I consider Hint It costs IBB about $25 to keep n cow, nnd this cov-JH cov-JH 1MB tho roughage, etc. Farmers that Bk have no silage will necessarily linvo to feed corn fodder, and of this, togcthor with the hay, n. cow will need four tons during tho winter. Hny at four dollars n ton nnd sllngo at two dollars n ton. Tho roughago will amount to $14, including in-cluding pasturage. Tho grain at last year's prlco will amount to about $21. If a good cow Is given good enre, together to-gether with tho abovo feed, sho will produce about 6,000 pounds of milk and 240 pounds of fnt. Figure this nt 25 cents and It will bo $G0 for tho fat; fi,000 pounds or skim milk nt 20 cents will bo $10. Total lncomo, $70; labor, $25; feed, $35; net profit, $10. Now figuring on tho profits from n cow that Is cheaply kept $15 worth of feed, nnd tho cost will still ho $20 and tho labor $25, which will bring a total of $45. Tho best sho could possibly pos-sibly do would bo 3,500 pounds of milk, 140 pounds of fnt, which would bring a lotal of $41, or a not loss of four dollnrB directly and moro Indirectly. Indirect-ly. Why do wo have bo many unsntls-lied unsntls-lied dairymen? I do not think there is nny profit for a innn who floes not glvo his cows good caro ns sho figures upon it. |