Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1926 [PAGE 30]

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1924]

UNIVERSITY O F ILLINOIS

27

gations covering a period of three years was 3.4 cents per quart. They further report the average feed cost for 25 Jersey cows kept in the station herd as .92 cents per quart, or less than 1/3 the cost for goats. It must be pointed out that the feed costs reported by Jordan and Smith can in no sense be regarded as applicable to present conditions. The cost of feed has advanced until it is two or three times higher than it was at the time the experiment mentioned above was conducted. However, thesefiguresshow the comparative cost of feeding goats and cows. Furthermore, feed cost by no means represents the total cost of production. In cost accounting investigations conducted by this Station on dairy farms in Illinois it was found that from the years 1918 to 1922, inclusive, the feed cost varied from Jo to 65 percent, of the total cost of production. The more complete results of this study are given in Table 8. Table VIII Relation of Feed Cost to Total Cost or Milk Production—Illinois Dairy Cost-Accounting Investigations Year 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 Number farms studied 23 21 17 18 26 Percentage feed cost bore to total cost 64-74 63.70 60.72 50.34 52.70 The above data agree with thefindingsof Voorhies. Voorhies1 found that five goats showed an average feed cost of 6.4 cents per gallon of milk and in the case of 73 complete lactation periods for Jerseys, Holsteins, Guernseys, and Ayrshires for cows kept in the station herd the feed cost was 8.3 cents per gallon. In this case the feed cost of producing cow's milk was slightly more than that for goats. A questionnaire sent out to leading breeders of registered milch goats brought replies from 57 different breeders. The average of the 31 replies which gave a production figure show a yield of 3.5 quarts per day. This undoubtedly refers to the production when does are at their heaviest flow. It would appear when feed cost alone is considered, that there is very little difference between the cow or the goat in economy or efficiency of production. W h e n labor is taken into account the balance is probably in favor of the cow.

NEEDS OF THE INDIVIDUAL FAMILY

A goodly number of milch goats are maintained to supply the needs of the individual family. In most cases these goats are kept in the suburbs of our larger cities and by our foreign-born population. The milch goat is very well adapted by nature for this kind of use, mainly because it is considered to be immune from tuberculosis. While it is possible to protect the general milk supply from germs of this disease, it is very probable that in districts where milch goats are most numerous, very few precautions, if any, would be taken by the individual family to protect the milk from contamination. The kind of goats kept under the conditions mentioned are for the most part inexpensive and therefore well within the means of the poorer people. Furthermore, the goat is an omnivorous feeder, thrives fairly well on a scanty ration, is naturally cleanly, and can be kept on a very small area. It seems, therefore, that the milch goat is especially well adapted to this particular use and will probably become increasingly popular in supplying milk for the individual family. The demand for goats for this purpose, however, is necessarily limited and cannot be expected to be an important factor in our 1 Voorhies, E. C, Tht Milch Goat in California. California Station Bulletin No. 285. (1917) milk supply.

FOR CLASS ROOM INSTRUCTION

Agricultural students are generally attracted to courses that give training along lines with which they are familiar. They as a rule prefer courses which yield information that can be directly applied to agricultural practices in their own communities. In live-stock judging and management, the largest registration occurs in those courses which deal with a popular class of animals. In other words, the student registration