Profitless Dairying.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 260, 30 September 1884, Page 2

Profitless Dairying.

The following figures and statement, attributed to a Mr A. S. Heath and published m t h& American Dairyman, aye almost sufficient to stagger or take one's breath, away ; yet there must be a considerable amount of truth m it, if. it- le not tbe truth; altogebhev:— "Of tha 16,000,000 cows of the United Kingdom more than one-third do not even pay for the food they consume, but rather they consume a considerable sum of the profit nude from the good-paying cows, Ot the 60,000,000 of cultivated acres required to keep these cows,t.be use of 20.000,000 acres is wasted, together with all the labour and expense of cultivation, m thai they do not pay a cent of profit on the capital invested. Thns the wages of 1,000,000 persons, and the expense of keepinsf 100,000, horses only pay two-thirds of the profit tbey should pay m the just economy of the dairy business. When we come to fully appreciate the fact that a cow for the dairy is a paying cow -wo- shall make money by slaughtering : the one third of non-paying cows and sell them for meat whatever they will .bring. For this is the only .benefit they eyer return for the money spent on their keeping, if, indeed, they have not already eaten their, own heads off. Twelve millions of good cows will produce more human food m milk than 80,000,000 of profitless dairy, cows will furnish m meat. If this be true — rand who doubts it?. — the greatest vigilance is necessary m detecting the profitless cows iv every j herd, and the judicious selection o/ the best cows for any product This* selection ianot sufficient when applied to a breed, though it be par excellence the best butter breed. But it must select not only the best buttei breed of cows, but the best cows of the best butter bree'-ls. Nothing short of this disci'imination will bring up the I butter product of the dairy to the high standard it should attain,"