To feed these cows 60,000,000 acres of land are under
cultivation. The agricultural and dairy machinery and implements in use
are worth over $200,000,000. The men employed in the business number
700,000 and the horses nearly 1,000,000. The cows and horses consume
annually 30,000,000 tons of hay, nearly 90,000,000 bushels of corn meal,
about the same amount of oat-meal, 275,000,000 bushels of oats,
2,000,000 bushels of bran, and 30,000,000 bushels of corn, to say
nothing of the brewery grains and questionable feed of various kinds
that is used to a great extent. It costs $400,000,000 to feed these cows
and horses. The average price paid to the laborers necessary in the
dairy business is probably $20 a month, amounting to $168,000,000 a
year.
"The average cow yields about 450 gallons of milk a year, giving a total
product of 6,750,000,000 gallons. Twelve cents a gallon is a fair price
to estimate the value of this milk at, a total return to the dairy
farmer of $810,000,000. Fifty per cent of the milk is made into cheese
and butter. It takes twenty-seven pounds of milk to make one pound of
butter, and about ten pounds of milk to make one pound of cheese.
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