OCR Text |
Show Cow Must Produce Much Milk to Pay Expenses Just to pay expenses under ordinary conditions, a cow must produce 4.000 pounds of 4 per cent milk, according to Prof. W. J. Fraser, dairy farming specialist of the college of agriculture, agricul-ture, University of Illinois. With cows that produce more than this amount the profit Increases rapidly as their production rises above this point. The reason for this Is that going up the scale of production from low to high producing cows, the value of the product increases three times as fast as the cost of keep, according to Professor Fraser. "This is because the overhead or maintenance ration and cest of housing hous-ing Is so great for all cows, and it does not Increase anything like as rapidly as does the production of milk per cow. This lies at the very foundation of successful farming. "In the early days of self-sufficing farming, the low producing cow was really of great service In furnishing food for the family. Under the present pres-ent conditions of business farming, the cow that does not . produce enough milk to pay expenses Is an absolute hindrance and detriment to the dairy farmer. "Profit In milk production arises only from the difference between what It costs to produce the milk and the price received from It. The commercial commer-cial dairyman, then, must keep cows which are good enough to make a profit If he is going to continue in the business. They must make a large profit If he Is to be a really successful suc-cessful dairy farmer. The surest way to weed out the "boarders" Is to keep records on them In a herd Improvement, Improve-ment, or cow testing association." |