CULTURE FOR COWS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1074, 25 July 1912, Page 4

CULTURE FOR COWS.

Recently an account waa given of the mot hod advocated by some American farmers oi increasing the milk supply of their cows by the simple device of playing music to the animals. Mrs Howie, of Wauesha County, for instance, finds mandoline solos efficacious, while, Mr Josiah Grant, of Wisconsin, hesitates between a soothing waltz and the Wedding Match from “Lohengrin” as the best means of replenishing the miik-pail. Other enthusiasts, however, we, learn from the London .Standard, have gone still further in their efforts to raise the. Jewel of bovine culture. and. incidentally, to increase the milk supply. Mr Schoopf. a rich Ohio farmer, owner of a herd ol cattlo worth thousands of pounds, has all his eows washed Iron) head to foot every morning. and. when dry, clothed in linen overcoats, to ward elf the flics. Each row then has its teeth cleaned with a special tooth-brush, an operation which is said to greatly improve the. quality of (he milk. At'first, the cows did not quite eatch the significance of the brush, not unnaturally mistaking it for something edible when it was inserted In (heir months, and attempting to swallow it, but now they fully appreciate the luxury, and are considerably sweeter in both months and tempers in consequence of it. An Illinois farmer, .Mr Frank Worth, lias gone still further in the matter. Believing, no doubt rightly, that the mind of the calf is more easily impressible than that of its mother, he has brought up quite a number of calves on the lines of the “’higher education.” They are washed and groomed night and morning, and have their food served up to them in howls or on large plates, and they wear bibs while eating, to ensure perfect clcanline s. Music is discoursed by attendants, and every need, mental a.s well a.s physical, is amply provided for. And the’r owner declares ■ that the amount oi extra milk which the grateful lieasts yield, as a token of their appreciation of Ill’s care, well repays tin 1 extra time and trouble spent. Another farmer has applied the theory to his pigs, and has, after some trouble, induced them to relinquish the inelegancies of the feeding-trough for the grosser refinement of'the feeding-bottle. But it appears that pigs are less disposed to hanker after the higher things of life than are cows, and hackslidings in this respect are, unhappily, far too frequent.