My Holstein cows consume a trifle less than three tons of grain each per
year,--about fifteen pounds a day. Taking the ration for four cows as a
matter of convenience, we have: corn and cob meal, three tons, and
oatmeal, three tons, both kinds raised and ground on the farm, and not
charged in this account; wheat bran, three tons at $18, $54; gluten
meal, two tons at $24, $48; oil meal, one ton, $26; total cash outlay
for four cows, $128, or $32 per head. This estimate is, however, about
$2 too liberal. We will, hereafter, charge each milch cow $30, and will
also charge each hog fattened on the place $1 for shorts and middlings
consumed. This is not exact, but it is near enough, and it greatly
simplifies accounts.
As I kept twenty-six cows ten months, and ten more for an average of
four and a half months, the feeding for 1896 would be equivalent to one
year for thirty cows, or $900. To this add $120 for swine food and $25
for grits and oyster shells for the chickens, and we have $1045 paid for
food for stock. Shoeing the horses for the year and repairs to machinery
cost $157.
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