Dry grass and calf-sharing make western dairy herds far less productive

Evidence

Cows have to be regularly broken in for milking, being as wild as buffaloes in their unbroken state; but, owing to the comparative dryness of the grasses, and the system of allowing the calf to have the milk during the daytime, a dairy of 200 cows does not produce as much butter as a Devonshire dairy of fifty. — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 146

Categorization

• SHARE: A superb nerdy fact for anyone who argues about butter: a 200-cow western dairy yields less than a 50-cow Devonshire one, because of dry grass and letting the calf drink by day.
• XREF: connects to: The Great Plains cattle and monoculture economy is failing — Winona LaDuke, All Our Relations: Native Struggles for…, 780

Broader Connections

• The Great Plains cattle and monoculture economy is failing #complicates (0.90) — Winona LaDuke, All Our Relations, 780