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What I Know about Calves
and Cows.
Editors of the American Farmer :
I sometimes hear and often see
written statements like this, “ I
, calves that 1
never allow any am
raising to suck the cow.” It is well
known that tho•first milk from a cow
after she drops her calf contains
medicinal properties necessary to the
health of the calf ; it cannot be taken
from the cow and fed to tho calf
without losing at least a portion of the
aDimal warmth so 11 necessary to the
calf, when first exposed to the air
Beyond all doubt the best way to
raise a healthy calf is to let it suck
its mother until it is old enough to
take care of itself ; it may not
always he best for the cow, but it the
calf is allowed to suck only night and
morning, and care be taken to milk
the cow entire!// clean immediately
after, I do not see what harm can
come to the cow.
I prefer to have calves that I
intend to raise dropped in the Win¬
ter ; calves dropped in January and
February will be ready to turn out to
pasture by the first of May.
I always let the calf suck the cow
at least two weeks, for the good of
both the cow and calf; and in the ease
of the first calf, not less than four
weeks. There need be no trouble
in teaching a calf to drink at three
weeks of age ; if it is very obstinate,
let it wait, it will drink before it will
starve. I feed new warm milk until
the calf is six to seven weeks old ;
after that, skimmed milk, warmed
If a little corn meal, mixed with wheat
braD, is stirred into the milk, tho calf
will do better. If the calf sours,
give it an ounce or two of wheat flour,
or a raw egg. A calf should not be
exposed to cold raius before it is five
to six months old, and if turning it
out to pasture checks its growth in
the least, it should be fed either milk
or grain. It is most essential that
there be no falling off in the growth at
any time during its first year. By
the first of November 1 begin to feed,
giving equal quantities of Indian
corn and oats ground together, from
one quart to three pints to each
animal, with all the good hay
or rowcu they will eat. They should
have a good roomy stable at night,
and not be allowed out in the rain or
snow. Kept in this manner, heifers
may be allowed to take the bull at
any time from twelve to fifteen
months of age. I prefer to have a
heifer drop her first calf before she is
two and one-half years old (Jerseys
not older than two years); they make
gentler and better cows. 1 do not
teed grain to my heifers when be¬
tween one and two years until they
are within three or four weeks of
calving, being without they are bad keepers,
it understood that no cow or
heifer should be allowed to get thin
at any time, if it can be prevented.
A great deal has been said and
written about the best and most eco¬
nomical way of keeping cows. Some
advocate what is called “soiling,” a
most pernicious practice, which should
never be thought of except in cities
or on board ship. No doubt a
larger number of cattle can be fed
from the product of a given number
of acres by this system than by let¬
ting them run at large, hut the cattle
will suffer in health, and more es
pecially will the evil effects be develop¬
ed in their descendants, who will
lack bone, muscle and a vigorous
constitution.
There may be a necessity in Eng¬
land, and perhaps other places, for
feeding turnips and other roots to
cows, but I think none exists here,
where we have plenty of good pas¬
ture and hay. I have tried and
discarded the whole brood ; they all
more or less affect the flavor of tbe
milk, turnips most of all ; cabbago,
though uot exactly a root, about as
bad ; one can smell a cow fed on
either thirty or forty feet.
In Summer, old pastures, where
there will always bo a variety 'of
grasses, arc the best. Clear vanning
water is very essential. I always
yard my cows at night ; they have
plenty of time to eat during the day,
and by doing it most of the mauurc
is saved. A* soon as the pastures
bogus to get short in the Fall I begin
to feed ; it will not cost nearly so
much to Winter a cow if she goes
in Winter quarters in good condition,
tlfasten my cows in stanchions. If
properly made, not a pound of hay
will be wasted. At night they have
as much hay as they will eat; in
tho morning, oorn stalks ; at noon,
hoy are fod from two to three
quarts (as they differ in size and ap¬
petite) of Indian corn and oats,
ground together in equal measured
quantities, mixed either wot or dry
without about twice the quantity
wheat chaff; when they arc moving
about tho yard during the day, they
have oat straw, cither in the stack,
where all caugetatit, or scattered
about the yard. Cows not giving
milk will uot need as much feed, but
they should bo well fed for three or
four weeks before calving. Plenty of
water should bo kept where tbe cattle
can get at it all times during the day.
Two or three weeks before calving the
cow should be placed in a roomy box
stall ; immediately after she has
dropped her calf she should have a
puilfull of warm water, with two or
three quarts of bran stirred in ; she
will usually drop the after-birth in
one hour, but if she does not, givo
another warm mash ; no cold water
should he allowed under twenty four
hours. I have never fed cotton seed
cake, but I consider linseed cake
dangerous for a cow with calf—very
likely to produce abortion.
My bull calves I feed the same as
my heifers the first year ; after that,
#
not a particlo of grain of any kiud.
All cattle should be kept clean at all
times. I have fed and cared for
my cows as above directed for the last
five years. During that time I have
had but one cow to fallow. I have
not lost so many as one calf in fifty,
and I am sure that during the whole
year I get one-third more milk than
I did when I fed wheat and rye straw,
buckwheat, beans, pumpkins, linseed
cake, roots, and the various other
things that people who knew nothing
about the matter advised, It will
be understood that I farm in Ne w
Jersey. What modification may be
necessary in a different climate I have
no means of knowing, but it I was
going to keep a cow in the moon, I
would have Indian corn meal and
wheat chaff for her. L. E. Bice.
Princeton , N. J.
■-
Raising Cows for the Dairy.
BY DAVID Z. EVANS, JR., IN RURAL
ALABAMIAN.
Beyond the mere satisfaction of
having the name of and making the
finest butter, is the great satisfaction
of obtaining the best prices and
readiest sales for your daily products,
a thing which is utterly impossible
without the best and thorough manage¬
ment throughout the long list of de¬
tails which, together, couspire to as¬
sist 1 he dairyman in producing “gilt
edged” or prime butter. I do not
meaD, now, to go into describing tho
minute details of dairy farming, for
it would take far more space than is
contained betweou the two covers of
this journal, but merely comment
upon the proper method of raising
cows for dairy purposes, irrespective
of blood or pedigrees.
It requires both care and judgment
to properly rear heifers intended for a
future dairy herd, and unless it is
bestowed from the commencement,
and so continuod, all after care is of
little avail, for ull dairymen well
know that a stunted heifer is next
thing to worthless, at least for dairy
ing; and, unless such heifers he from
the very best milking and butter
stock—and not then, in many cases—
will they consent to raise sneh an
animal, for the chances are decidedly
against them. Tho food should be of
such a quality and in such quantities
as will tend to a healthy and vigorous,
though natural growth, at the same
time aiming to foster all the good and
dosirable qualities.
Never select the young from com
molt or ordinary stuck, but only from
those in the herd which are of good
size, are healthy, and above all, give
the greatest amount of rich, butter,
producing milk. By mating such
stock with thoroughbred hulls of
acknowledged good points and ex¬
cellence, the produet is, invariably, an
improve incut on the mother ; and as
improvers ouly, of our ordinary farm
stock should tho ped’greed stock of
our country be considered, and not
as stock to produce for the ordinary
wants and uses of the farm, for the
butcher, etc.
The best of stabling during the
Winter, and good nutritious food are
the prime essentials dur'mg the cold
weather, and good pasturage, with
abundauce of pure, fresh water
arc the necessaries during the Sum¬
mer, to ensure good cows for the
dairy.
Never make a practice of leaving
the bull run with the h rd of cows or
youDg heifers, for it is a pernicious
practice, good breeders and justly condemned by all
; but keep him stabled
until wanted, when the heifer <.r
heifers can be turned into his en
closure, for, unless this is doue, the
< heifers w/11 often take the bull some
time before they should, often before
they are a year old, while we con¬
sider it much the best, both for us,
financially speaking, and for the
future cow, to keep the bull away until
the animal has attained the ago of
fifteen months, when you eau, with
safety and profit, mate her with the
bull you desire as a sire.
Do not stint in food, nor yet feed
food so rich as to impair the general
health of the animal, for they are
much more susceptible before two
years of age than when older; so do
not do anything to undo your previous
good and careful management.
feeding, especially just before calving,
has otten deleterious effects upon the
auiuial, for it sometimes induces in¬
flammation iu the udder, which
naturally has somewhat inflamed about
this time, which is apt to result in an
impaired secretion ot the milk, owing
to part of that organ being injured or
impaired, llcrc, again, it not caie
fully looked to, you may partially lose
the good results brought up to this
point by careful management, tor, in¬
stead of a first class milker, you may
soon find out that you have only a
second or third-rate one, or one tar
better fitted lor tin* butcher thau for
ttie dairymau. But permit me heie
to remark, that far more cows are im¬
paired in a milk-producing way by
under feed ing than by overdeeding ;
so it is ouly iu special cases that such
caution as the above is desirable.
After the calf lias arrived, iced the
mother wet teed almost exclusively, it
it be early Spring or during Winter,
in preference to dry feed, of a violent
heating nature, for the animal now
requires such, aud do not stint her in
the least in the matter of water.
Wet food of good quality, aud in
sufficient quantity, stimulates the milk
producing capacity of a cow, and
hence, should be mainly used. Lot
the calf draw as much milk ftoui the
mother as she wishes, and at the same
time, to prevent unnecessary inflam¬
mation, draw all the surplus milk
from her at least twice a day, some re¬
commending three time each day,
which may bo a somewhat trouble¬
some task at first, but if the heifer
has been petted aud kindly treated
while iu her heiferhood, she will soon
be very willing for you to relieve her
surplus load of lacteal fluid, aud
thereby allay, in a great measure, tho
inflamed and distended udder. After
the tendency to feverishness has
passed off, the amount and quality of
food can bo increased, which should,
be such as produces a small amouut of
fat-producing lat aud a large supply of milk, for all
shorter, the supply properties flow invariably
or of milk.
Although a first-class milxcr is rarely
fat or fleshey, yet it must not be in¬
ferred from this that a poor cow will
milk largely or well. It always pays
to feed well; and, kuowiDg this, all
well-to-do farmers make it a poiut to
keop just enough stock to consume the
products of the farm—those Intended
for their use—and no more, knowing
full well that it is true economy to do s”
I have not touched on several im¬
portant points which come directly
under the heading of this article lor
want of sufficient space to do so, so
foundations those “points” will have to form ’the
for some future articles.^