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Show AUTUMN AND WINTER BEST FOR DAIRYING A study of the prices paid for creamery butter ver a period of 13 years shows that Invariably the price per pound paid for butter on the larger markets of the United States is highest during the fall and winter and lowest during the spring and summer months. Therefore, a farmer who breeds his cows to freshen in the fall will get more from the volume of cream produced than he would get from the same volume in the spring, points out J. P. LaMaster, chief of the dairy division di-vision of Clemson college. The fall calf is also cheaper to raise Deeause It is fed milk, grain, and hay during the winter months, and by spring Is old enough to get a considerable consid-erable amount of Its feed requirements from pastures; while spring-born calves must be fed milk and grain during dur-ing summer, then graiff, hay and silage the following winter, thus making the spring-born calf cost considerably more at one year of age than a calf born In the fall. Furthermore, the farmer has more time to devote fo the care of the calves in fall and winter than in the spring and summer season, when crops require most of his attention. This same thing applies to mature cows in that they are giving their greatest flow during the slack winter months and are dry or nearly so during the dry, hot, busy season. The cow that freshens in the fall Is fed dry feeds during her heaviest production pro-duction when the product sells at the highest price, and therefore yields a greater return on the feed consumed. This production comes at a period of the year when it is easier to deliver a eream of good quality because of cool weather conditions and lack of flies and dust. On the other hand, the cow that calves in the spring produces her heaviest yield during the busy summer sum-mer when hot weather and files make It difficult to deliver a high quality product to the creamery and when the price Is lowest The spring-freshened cow does not Improve in her milk flow during the fall and winter months, but usually goes down In milk during the hot summer months, thus making It difficult for her to return a profit on dry feeds. She will lso be dry in late winter months and must be fed on dry feeds when she is not returning an Income. When spring comes new pastures help boost the milk flow of the cow which freshens in the fall, and thus she will finish her lactation period With high production. In spring the price begins to fall off, but the cowls cow-ls producing at a cheaper rate because she Is on pasture. She Is then dry during the hot season when butterfut sells at the lowest price and when furmera are busy with their field crops. |