THE DAIRY BELT

milk is one of our most wholesome foods it is an important item in the diet of people who live in the United States and Canada as well as other countries throughout the world it is especially good for the health of young children most of our milk comes from cows whose bodies provide milk for their young calves however people use much more milk than calves do most milk cows today are kept and milked by dairy farmers who earn their living by selling milk now where are the milk cows and the dairy farms of the United States located these dots give an idea about where the milk cows are scattered throughout the states on various types of farms these dots show the location of dairy farms half the cows on these farms live in an area commonly called the dairy belt where dairy farming is the most important agricultural activity this dairy belt is partly in Canada conditions that aid milk production include good care protection and barns from extremely hot and extremely cold weather and large amounts of fresh clean water water must be available to the cows wherever they are in the barn in the lot just outside the barn and in the pasture a condition that is most important for milk production is good feed cows need rough feed such as pasture grass hay and silage they also need concentrated feed concentrated feed is generally made by grinding together a balanced mixture of feeds which usually includes corn and oats and may include cotton seed soybeans peanuts linseed and minerals dairy farmers must buy the feeds they do not grow however they grow most of their own feeds because providing feed for cattle is about half the farm cost of dairying let us see how feed is provided on to dairy farms which are nearly thousand miles apart we go first to central New York State to see a farm typical of that region owned and operated by mr. Calvin Roman it's 160 acres of land are used mostly for crops and pasture mr. Roman has about 30 milk cows the farms milk goes to the new york city area over 200 miles away where it is sold as fresh milk grassland which is used continuously for pasture takes up about half the farmland most of this pasture is on land that is too rocky or too steep for planting in crops grasses help prevent slopes from eroding during heavy rains the climate here is humid the damp air and moderate temperatures of summer slow down evaporation of the soils moisture some of which comes from winter snows with damp soil and moderate summers the grass grows well pasture grass is an important and inexpensive source of cattle feed on the Roman farm now let's visit the other dairy farm it is located in southeastern Wisconsin and is owned and operated by mr. bendable mr. dibbles farm is slightly smaller acreage than mr. Romans New York farm but it has a few more cows fresh milk from this farm is sold in Chicago 100 miles away as compared with the Roman farm a much smaller amount of mr. dibbles land is in pasture except for the ungrazed marsh near the lake mr. dibbles pasture land is usually dryer there is less rain and snow here melting snow often runs off frozen ground rather than soaking in a larger part of mr. dibbles land is in crops corn hay and oats the three most important crops on all dairy farms by raising more of these feed crops mr. Dibble is able to feed more cows with less pasture the grain from oats is mixed with the concentrated feed during grinding the stalks provide mr. Dibble with straw to be used as bedding on the floor of his dairy barn the straw is removed with the manure and spread upon the ground to decay this decayed material becomes part of the humors in the soil which makes the ground more fertile the soil of the Dibble farm raises good crops the large level fields are especially suited to the use of machinery in spite of a short growing season the climate is good for feed crops the harvests of summer and fall such as alfalfa hay must be stored for feeding to the cattle in winter when they gather the crops mr. dibbles son art is kept very busy when he is not in school the most important crop on the dairy farms of southeastern Wisconsin is corn corn sometimes groan with sorghum is chopped while the ears are still soft and the stalks green this green feed is then stored in a silo to be fed as silage most of the silage is used in winter when pastures are not available Corran not used for silage is allowed to ripen then the ears are harvested as grain like oats this corn is ground with the concentrated feed now let's return to the Roman farm in New York State because more of the land here is in pastures at woods we find less land in crops the crops however are the same as those on the devil farm oats hay and corn of these crops hey is the most important one on the Roman farm both farmers get at least two crops of hay during the summer after mr. Roman finishes cutting this field of alfalfa mixed with brawn grass he will allow it to dry before bailing it all of mr. Romans Corrin is cut for silage because he can buy shelled corn from the corn belt cheaper than he can raise it on these farms we have seen both similarities and differences in the ways that land is used to provide feed for cattle throughout the dairy belt sanitation and cleanliness in barns and milk houses are of utmost importance many sanitary practices are required by the states and cities in order to protect the health of all who drink milk cleanliness on a dairy farm means work and the Dibble family divides the chores before each milking mr. Dibble washes the utters of the cows the cows are milked twice a day after reach milking twice a day art Dibble cleans the floor removing the manure and straw with the help of a mechanical conveyance after each milking the milk is stored in a cooling tank and mrs. Dibble washes the milking equipment to be assured that milk is kept clean as it leaves the devil farm it is pumped from the cooling tank through a hose into a refrigerated tank truck a sample of the milk is taken daily to be examined for bacteria in the milk house the bought cooling tank keeps the fluid milk fresh because milk will sour quickly when it is warm it must be kept refrigerated and transported to market as quickly as possible the cool climate of the dairy belt makes less refrigeration necessary prompt collection and delivery during winter months requires all roads to be kept free of heavy snow when there is more fluid milk than needed the surplus milk is made into manufactured products Wisconsin has a greater surplus than New York in some of these plants the cream is separated from the milk and made into butter the milk that is left as the water removed and the solids are sold as powdered milk other important manufactured products are cottage cheese and cheddar cheese plants in and near the larger cities make ice cream and they packaged the milk that trucks bring in most milk of the dairy belt is packaged in cartons and distributed as fluid milk in the western part of the dairy belt that centers on Wisconsin the Chicago Milwaukee area is the largest market for fluid milk therefore the closer areas produce mainly fluid milk in areas farther away from the cities much of the milk goes into cheese production cheese a more concentrated food is more valuable per pound than milk and can stand the greater transportation charges about half of the cheese of the United States is made in Wisconsin still farther from the cities and even more valuable product butter is made from much of the milk Minnesota leads the United States in butter production a much larger proportion of the milk produced in the western part of the dairy belt goes into manufactured products than in the eastern part the dairy belle produces a number of other valuable farm products these are poultry and eggs meat animals vegetables and fruits such as apples cherries grapes pears and cranberries most of the people of the dairy belt live in cities since the dairy belt and the manufacturing belt in part occupy the same area the purchasing power of the people in these cities and suburbs makes possible the existence of the dairy belt most of the cities are growing larger and their suburbs are spreading rapidly over nearby farm land once used for dairying such land is valued at a price too high to make farming profitable this land mouths owned for industry was once a dairy farm until a few years ago it was owned and operated by mr. Dibble who had lived here from birth he sold this place and moved to his present farm when an interstate highway took part of the land and cut the farm into dairy belt farmers are finding many ways to produce more milk on less land they must do so if they are to stay in business and feed an expanding population in the future there will be fewer farms but they will be larger in size and have more cows