The Pageland Journal

Keeping Cows Means $80,320 Extra for This County

An added income of $80,320 a year is enjoyed by Chesterfield County farmers indirectly as a result of keeping cows, according to the Larrowe Institute of Animal Economics. This income is in the form of a more fertile soil due to the manure of the dairy cows in this county. On the basis of practically a $20.00 fertilizer valuation per animal per year, this means a total of $80,320 added to the richness of the soil in this county every twelvemonth.

Manure is a source of the most valuable plant food obtainable, says the Institute, but to preserve it at its highest value or efficiency, it should either be put directly to the fields each day or conserved until such time as the opportunity offers itself to spread it. Feeding trials have proven that an ordinary cow, while putting from 15 to 18 per cent of the total energy of the feed she consumes into milk, actually returns to the soil 80 per cent of the elements of soil fertility in her feed in the form of manure. This has led many dairymen to discover that the purchase of good concentrate feeds for their cows not only more than pays for itself in increased milk production but that it also supplies necessary food to farm crops that are expensive when bought in the form of commercial fertilizer.