Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 January 1892 — THE DAIRY. [ARTICLE]

THE DAIRY.

Simple Fuelling Rule*. The live weight of an animal decides its ration of support. It should be|equal to 2} per cent, in dry food matter; or not less than thirty pounds per day of good hay, or its equivalent in grain, straw ensilage or roots for a thousand-pound cow. No definite details can be given for feeding a good cow. Her food will depend on the owner’s supplies, her appetite, digestion, and the value of her marketable goods. For a standard quality cow of 800 to 900 pounds weight at flush, making twenty-five pounds to thirty pounds of milk per day, or one and one-half pounds to two pounds of butter, it will be safe to feed her rich, digestible food. Her bran should be about J per cent, of her live weight, peas and oats ground, about 1 per cent., and cotton-seed meal or a mixture of linseed cake meal and cottonseed meal in equal proportions, equal to J per cent, live weight, clover hay, i per cent., ensilage, roots, as carrots or mangels, or green feed in summer, according to their quality, such a quantity as will yield not less dry matter than 2 per cent, of live weight. The above ration has been suggested because it represents a good variety of food, is rich, or has a close, nutritive ratio of about 1:5 to I:s}, •and -will pay for a standard (fourteenpound) cow. Tbe value of manurial residues must always be born in mind in choosing food. The richer the food the higher the manure value, and the greater the care required to preserve it. The ration here given is a winter one, and a cow as good as the one in mind would earn from 60 cents to $1 a day in milk, cream or butter. How much to feed and how rich the food should be must always be governed by the produce and its value from calving to drying off. Intelligence and discretion must be exercised from day to day. Weigh and register every day, or at least every ten days, the cow’s products. Reduce or increase her food supplies, according to her condition from calving and earning power of her produce. The net food cost may be taken at about two-thirds the value of the ration. The balance is the value of the manuie. Always give salt in the food, never less than one ounce per day, or A per cent, of the live weight per month. The length of the milking period of a well-bred and well-fed cow depends on regular and persistent milking by *her attendant. It should be 300 to 350 days, or within a month of calving. Never feed turnips, cabbage, or anything which taints milk. Make changes gradually. Dairy Dots. The more succulent foods make the more watery milk and oily cream, which churns the easier. Hence ensilage and roots are favorable to but-ter-making, the oils principally giving butter its flavor. The cow must not have to travel a long distance for water. If she does she will go without it until she gets very thirsty and feverish and then drink until she is painfully uncomfortable. Both conditions are unfavorable for milk secretion. Shade is almost as important m summer as shelter from cold in winter. See that the cow has plenty of feed and clean water while in pasture, so that she can fill her stomach in a short time and then lie down in the shade, chew her cud, enjoy herself and make milk. Mixed pasture grasses, Including ■clover, make a well-balanced sumnjer ration; but a little dry food is relished exceedingly, and is beneficial. Some of the best dairymen not only feed hay, but cornmeal and bran, or some •other form of grain, all summer, to advantage. . In case of trouble about churning, look first to the temperature. A higher or a lower one mav remove the trouble. Next, see that the cream is not too thick. If it is, thin with water of the churning temperature. Using skimmed milk would only be adding more of the same viscous material. But if the cream is not viscous, but simply lacks fluidity the addition of skimmed milk may do.