Rensselaer Union and Jasper Republican, Volume 8, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 June 1876 — Turning Dairy Cows to Pasture. [ARTICLE]

Turning Dairy Cows to Pasture.

Tn turning cows to pasture hi the spring, there is a wide difference in the practice of dairymen. Some allow tlie stock to range over pastures very early in the season and before grass has started, and no attempt is made to keep it off the ground at any time during spring. We have even lieard it urged that there is some advantage in this, as the old tufts of grass left from last year’s growth are not wholly wanting in nutrition —that cattle will feed upon them more or less, thus saving fodder, while at the same time the grazing of the old grass gets it out of the way, and is of advantage to the new crop. There is serious objection to allowing cows to roam over pastures during early spring, while the frost is out of the ground and while it is in a soft and unsettled state. The land is poached up by the tread of cattle and the grasses killed out or very much injured in these places. Again, the long continuance of the diet of dry fodder during winter renders the animals in spring eager to get a taste of anything savoring of green herbage, and thoy gnaw down into the ground and pull the grass out by the roots, which is easily effected, as the land is loose and the roots not held firmly in the soil. This practice is a fruitful source of pastures running out, and must be condemned as altogether too injurious and unprofitable, since the small amount of nutrition obtained from die forage will not much more than supply the waste of the system from the extra work of travel and of roaming about in search of green food. The opposite course practiced is to keep stock yarded until pastures have obtained a good growth of grass, and the argument urged for this course is that unless pastures get a fair start, the stock will eat it down close, keeping it short all the season, and thus the yield will not only be less, but dfinng tlie season insufficient amount of food is supplied. The objection to this course is that where cows are kept from the pasture until it has a larger growth and are then turned in, they overfeed, and the sudden change from dry to green food affects the health of the animal; not unfrequently causing serious troubles. And again: the grass often gets such a start that a considerable portion m places becomes hard and woody before it is cropped and is left unappropriated. Tlie best results from pastures is where they are kept in moderate growth, or so that the animals can get a good bite of grass and nil parts of the field are eaten over from week to week. The grass must be sweet, nutritious and palatable, and this state is best secured before it has acquired a high growth and is approaching maturity. Tlie liest results obtained is when a middle course is practical. Let the animals be kept in the yard until the ground is well settled and the grasses have made a fair start; then allow the stock to go to pasture at first but a short time during the day, but not long enough to fill themselves. This should lie continued for several days, or until they have become gradually accustomed to the change ot food, when they may be turned to pasture for the whole time; but haj’ should be fed in small quantities at least once a day so long as the cows have a desire for it. Pastures should not be overstocked, since overstocking not only decreases greatly the average yield of milk from the whole herd, but it seriously damages the productiveness and permanency of pastures, causing the grass to be eradicated and leading the space thus left to be occupied by weeds which, from not being cropped, accufnulate, and spread with wonderful rapidity. Tlie most productive pastures are those which are thickly set with a variety of grasses, forming a thick, smooth sward, with no intervening spaces for the lodgment of weeds or otherwise, and if proper attention be given to such lands, tlie best results will be obtained hot only in the amount •of food yielded, but also that of milk from the herds grazing upon them. — Rural New Yorker.