The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1827-11-28
an tcuEturSI.
WORCESTER COUNTY .fGRECUL-
TUR.4L SOCIETY.
REPORTS OF COMMITTEES.

ON Mich COWS AND FAT CATTLE.
The Committee on Mich Cows and Fat
Cattle have attended to their duty, and beg
leave to submit the following
REPORT.
That only three Fat Cattle were entered and
exhibited Your Committee cannot doubt, that
the stalls of this County can furnish many fine
specimens of fat cattle, deserving premiums
and they apprehend, that the reason, why SO
few of this description of stock have been ex-
hibited at our annual festivals, is to be found
partly in the difficulty and trouble of driving
them any considerable distance, but principal
ly in the prevalence of mistaken notion, that
no fat animal is fit for exhibition, unless it be
some monster in size and flesh. In selecting
suitable objects for its bountes and honors, this
Society does not seek out the proftless prodi-
gies Of giant race but only those among the
ordinary but valuable animals upon our farms,
which will make the best beef at the least ex-
pense.
OF the three Fat Cattle offered for premium,
two were yoke of Oxen, six years old, raised
and owned by Levi Baker, of Rutland They
were worked till the first of December last
From that time to the first of June they were
kept on hay, with the addition Of peck of
cob-neal daily for both to the first of March
from that time TO the first of June, the daily
allowance was increased to half bushel-
From the first of June to this time, they have
been pastured and fed with IL bushels of corn
and the same quantity of oats, ground together
The third animal was an Ok, seven years
old owned by Benjamin Harrington, of Prince
ton, This Ok has never been in the yoke, and
with the exception of a regular daily allow
ance of peck of potatoes during the winter
seasons only, has been fattened wholly on hay
and grass.
To Levi Baker, for his largest Ok, the Com
Littee award the first premium, of SIS; t.
Benjamin Harrington, the second premium, of
$40.
Your Committee have examined the several
Mich Cows, placed in the pens for their in
spection. with all the and attention which
this important portion of neat stock deserves
The Mich Cow has, in most countries been
the constant companion of domestcated man
Her quiet and cheerful disposition her kindly
and good natured department. and her domes-
tic habits, united to her milk giving faculty
have made her, in manner, family beast !;
and, in this State, she is privileged above all
her kind, and cannot be removed from her
domcl and the scene of her useful labors, even
by that legal process which, for time, may
separate her owner from his family If not
the most valuable of neat stock, she is an in
dispensable animal TO the comfort of the far
mer. and, in the country at least, man would
as soon think of raising family without a
wife, as without COW. From the heritage Of
our farms, gathered half the year by herself,
she extracts, by the oaly process of distilling
which can be safely encouraged. an aliment
for our sustenance, which, in one form or
another, is always found upon every well fur
nlshed table.
While there is no animal from whom we
reserve so many constant and every day COM
FORTS nor any which makes such sure and
grateful returns for kind treatment and good
keeping, one would think, that no man would
keep poor COW, nor keep good cow poorly
And such proves to be the fact, in most in
stances, where but single COW is kept. The
poor man, who keeps one cow, and can keep
but one, usually keeps a good mtikeq in good
! heart He does so from necessity He can
not afford TO keep poor cow. But it is not so
with bis richer neighbor. HIS pastures are
overrun with herd of the lean kind, whose
costlve bags give down some quart or two Of
milk, if milk that may be called which is not
nor will be, cream However much it may
minister to his vanity to view his extensive
pastures, stocked and overstocked with nu-
merous herd of poor COWS. 1t is impro vdenl
! husbandry, and he will at last learn, that, by
such management, instead of milking his cows
to profit, he has only MIXED his purse.
At the present value of land in this County,
no man can afford to keep a poor cow and
your Committee do not apprehend that there
! is any serious difficulty in selecting cows for
large dairy, each of which can be made as good
mixers as single cows, kept alone, usually
are A less number, with better keeping, will
| 90 far in effecting this object. But still there
are difficulties, (Which have rendered the du-
ties of your Committee somewhat embarrass-
ing) which must always be encountered in the
selection of good milch COWS. The ordinary
tests OF a good animal frequently fail when
applied to the COW. Beauty of form, or ten
dency to fatten, are deserving but little consld-
Grafton, as the value of the mich COW depends
mainly on the quantity and quality of her milk
TO ascertain which, time and actual expert
ment seem to be necessary. But, when the
farmer is fully convinced that poor mixer is
the most Improbable of stock, your Committee
doubt not, that he will readily find ways and
means of selecting and obtaining rich and lib
eral n,ilkcrS ; and they cannot but hope, that
the large stocks of mich cows in tho County
viii soon be so much improved as TO compare
TO advantage with the many individuals Of the
species, kept alone, which have been exhibited
to tho Society on this and former festivals.