FEEDING COWS IN MILK. (Live Stock Journal.)

Waikato Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1454, 27 October 1881, Page 4

FEEDING COWS IN MILK. (Live Stock Journal.)

It seems extraordinary that the general run of dairy -farmers make no eftort to flesh their cows before they sell them. Eveiy autumn there are more or fewer draft cows for sale, to make room for the young ones that aro reared, and they have to go for what they happen to be worth before winter comes on. They aro of course ju&t tho cows the farmer has no ■wish to keep, or, at all events, the least desirable ones in tho herd. Commonly, they are sold for a fault, that of age, or of being iufciior milkers, or of having " a screw loose" simowliere; and these very faults, supposing they exist — and buyers always act on the assumption, that they do exiht — make it moro imperative thao thero should be condition to help the sale. If the cow is in good condition in tho autumn, it is pniwifunc evidence of a good coiibtitution, and that is an important point to niakft clear when a man has an animal to sell. In any case she commands a customer almost at the teller' n own prico. A lean cow is not a nice thing to face the winter with ; and, however good an animul she may be except for her leanness, she brings an infeiior price. We ha^ o frequently known really desirable cattle sold at a sacrifice off their meats ju&t because their owners had let them full out of condition in a wet dashing autumn ; whereas a little extra keep, and shelter from the storms, both of which would have been repaid in the extra milk, would have added pounds sterling per head to their selling value. Yet farmers so on year after year in the same practices, neglecting to give their cattle some dry (stimulating food when tho gra.sa begins to wane on the pastures, giving them instead some sort of green food to force all the milk. Tho rebult is that, hiving no really nourishing food and being exposed to whatever ■we it her may come, they loose flesh quickly, and so aro woith Lss money. As the v dither grown colder the glasses loose <i good do ll of then* nutiitive piopei ties, and it is not to bo expected tli it a millcgiving animal ran keep up her flesh under buch conditions. The btsfc dairy farmn.s we know — small fais-neis us •well as larsjc oucb— ncvur let their cows, out of condition at any time of the year, and especially those of them they intend to .sell. They do not lrivo fuith in selling anything leau, at a loan pi ice. It ib condition they aim to sell, and not a mcio bag of bones. An animated skeleton is a fright in the maikct, and you never find a farmer wortli the name bhocking his neighbours that w<ij r . It is, of course, idle to hope that all mcv will maufi-ge their dairy cous in the best possible way. Cheese and bntteimaking fairneis do uot find pioiit enough in their calling to induce them to <^o in for intensive piacticcs m the management of their cattle. The milk-selling f amors h.ivo moio encouiagorncnt to do bo, and in ban and submban dairymen most of oil. The djityina.il, in fact, aims to sell ofi his cows f.it, or neaily so, when they no longer yield a p.ijing quantity of milk. To thi& end ho Iccrls them generously all the while. And, indeed, if a cow in not giving much milk, bhe ought to be laying on flesh either for the butcher, or for the next .-eaf-on's milking. In tho ense of dairymen, sow c of whose cows are Jeep 1 " b.n 1 en, tlicie aie two objects aimed at : tho foicmy of a full flow of milk, and the laying on of ilet>h , ,«o that when the lacteal organs begin to dry up, tho cow may so >n be tinned oft fat to the butcher, and the pi ice ihoy make will buy otheib in thepLue of them, or ue.uly 80. This is a method ot making the be&t of things which dairy- f uaiois gcnoially might copy with advantage. If a cow is inclined to lay on flesh while fehc is in milk, it is not easy to feed her too well, paitioul.uly m hen the flush of milk is over. We assume now that she is iutended for sale, and not. to be kept on another season. Whethei in calf or banen, bhe will pay be-t on this soit of treatmtnt ; and, if tho is to be kept on, it pays.to keep up her condition, because she will milk longer and stiongcr on account of it. A tew pounds of cake p"r day throughout the autumn will be )epaid in the milk and inanme, leaving the improvement in condition as clear gain. A few farmeis give their cows "a bit of licking" at milking time, all the season through, with the addition of cake in the autumn; and we niver kiuw a. ca.se m which this soit of thing was not considered to pay. It may, of coiuse, bo overdone, like any other good thing, but done with judgment it m smo to In ing a rewaid. No animal is 11101 c grateful than a dairy cow for good food and kindly treatment.