Dairy Farming

The comparison is made of the milk produced by a Holstein cow in one year with the composition of the carcass of a fat steer weighing 1,250 pounds.
A comparison of the feed consumed by the steer and the cow would be still more striking, since the steer required nearly two years of liberal feeding to build his carcass, and during the fattening period the ration was mostly grain. The product from the cow was made in less than one year, and largely from roughage. On the other hand, the dairy cow has to be fed two years before she comes into milk, although when once mature she is productive for at least five or six years. It is also recognized that the labor requirements in caring for the cow are much more than for the steer.