Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 286, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 November 1916 — LIVE STOCK [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

LIVE STOCK

WINTER DAIRYING PAYB Significant by Records •f Cow Tasting Association in Northwestern States When asked why they prerer%) have - all their cows freshen in the spring, a Bomber of fanners in the Northwest em States s&ld positively that winter dairying did not pay in that section. The agent of the cow testing assocla tion, therefore, investigated a numbei of farms to determine whether it wax the best practice In that n n t< have cows freshen in the apnng be cause there is then plenty of grass and “grass is a cheap feed." He found that the spring freshened cows gave milk for a time while the pasture wa§ good, but as hot weather and flies came on, the flow gradually decreas ad until by fail they were usually dry. = As the owners thought it did not pay to feed a dry cow, the cows were a! lowed to browse around all the fall picking up what feed they coulg, and in many cases th*| were forced to “rustle” around the straw pile all*win ter. As a result, in the spring man, cows emerged with ribs showing am) were considerably weakened by the time they freshened. *They therefore got a poor stoft in the season, and in many cases their milk records the following year were still lower. II was not surprising, the agent points out, that the average cow, so misban died could produce only about 150 pounds of butter fat & year. Many so called scrub cows the agent points out, if freshened in the fall Ind given the right kind of feed and treat ment during the winter before comint on grass for the latter part of their lacation period would prove to bs money makers. This opinion seems to be supported fully by, the .records,of the cow testing association : Tn {hv same general locality. These records show that the average farm cow that freshens in the fall not only produces more milk and fat, but also rts more profitable to keep. In one count> many cows whieh freshened in the fall won a place on the association’s honor list for January and continued p to produce heavily during the winter When grass came in the spring these same cows picked up their naturally waning milk flow and finished up with a good yearly production before going i dry late in summer. What is still more important, however, from the profit point of view, is that the faH freshen ed cows produced the larger part ot their records while milk prices wen best. With the common idea that “grass is a cheap feed," therefore, this agent would couple the fact that "butter fat is usually cheap at the same time.” The highest January record of this association was made by a cow which produced 1,730 pounds of milk, or ap proximately 200 gallons, 3.7 per ceni test, or 64 pounds of butter fat. Hei milk, howe~ver7 was sold on a cltF milk route and brought 20 cents a gallon, or approximately S4O for Hhe month. On the other hand, if the own er had sold his product on a butter fat basis he 'still would have received sl9. As it cost him $5.37 to feed the cow, his profit on a butter fat basis would have been $13.83. On this farm the cows get practi cally all the alfalfa hay and corn si lage that they will eat up clean, ir addition a grain mixture- of equal parts of rolled oats, bran, and shorts. Each of the heavier; producers gets about ten, pounds of this mixture daily. In addition to being well fed, tiie cows stand comfortably sheltered tn a warm barn most A the time and have access to plenty of good water. Durirg the month six cows’ in this herd averaged 54.8 pounds of butter fat, worth more than sl6, while the feed cost was approximately $5.37 apiece. The records kept by the cow tester gave the dairyman exact know ledge ot the cost of feed and produc tion in the case animal, and thus enabled him to cull out “board ers" and regulate his feed in propor tion to the milk production of each cow. The association record for the farmer, however, seemed to establish the fact that in the region mentioned, winter dairying can be made to pay.

Charcoal is a thing that compara tively few poultry keepers even thinl; of. Fanny M. Wood, who usually —lrnmmu wliri Hhe-nr-taikTmr~abcmt when she talks about pui}ltry„ says in Sue cessful Farming: “Evc/y hog ratsei knows that charcoal atid ashes are good to keep pigs healthy, and every chicken raiser ought to know they are good for chickens also. One suminei the head o# the house stored a barrel of charcoal in the 3 barn for the pigs. This was before we shut the chickens out of the barn, and every day when i went to gather the'eggs, I found one or more hens in that barrel scratching ar4 picking out small bits of charcoal l concluded they needed charcoal In their business or they wouldn’t be it- So I ptrt a panful of -- —ft — irr the chicken yard for them, and have kept it before them ever Bince. Wtr never have sick chickens and I think the charcoal has something to do with their healthfulness.’’ The white of a raw egg turned ovei a burn cr scald is inost soothing anu cooling. It *;an be applied an 5 Will prevent inflammation, beside* re~ Utvlng the stinging pain.