Improving Milk Production in North Carolina, Jan. 12, 1925

The Dairy Cow. . . There Are 300,000 Cows in the State, Producing Yearly 93 Million Gallons

By the Associated Press

Raleigh, N.C., Jan. 12—That North Carolina is interested in the dairy cow is evidenced by the fact that the annual farm value of the dairy products of this state averages $37 million, according to an announcement issued here today by John A. Arey, dairy extension specialist for the State College of Agriculture.

There are 300,000 milk cows in the state that produce annually 93 million gallons of milk, or about 41.2 gallons of milk per inhabitant, says the announcement. However, all persons in the state do not get their share of milk, it is pointed out, because much of this production is converted into butter and in the eastern counties there is a scarcity of cows.

To take care of this production of milk, the specialist asserted, there are now in operation in North Carolina 75 creameries, which make ice cream, cheese, butter and pasteurized milk. These factories, it was explained, received their raw product from approximately 10,000 farmers and paid them in cash each month.

“While not all cows producing milk in the state are of purebred lineage,” says Mr. Arey, “we have bred one cow which has given over 20,000 pounds of milk in one year. This cow is owned by R.E. McDowell of Mecklenburg county and is one of the leading dairy cows in the United States. She is an exception, however, because the average milk production per cow in North Carolina is less than 3,000 pounds per year.

“Our great problem now is to learn how to feed our cows better; to establish better pastures and to build up the existing herds of cattle by the use of better sires. We are making progress along all three of these lines and I look to see the day, not so far in the future, when the average milk production of 3,000 pounds annually will be greatly increased. I also look to see the time when the number of milk cows will be increased by several thousand above the300,000 now on our farms.”

From the front page of The Concord Daily Tribune, Monday, January 12, 1925

newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073201/1925-01-12/ed-1/seq-1/