The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1871-02-21

Rest Feed for Mich Cows.

Hest feeu Tor IulIch lows.
Thanks to your Whately, Mass. cores
pendent for his compliment in the FARMER
of Jan. IA. If he will give my article
another careful reading, and compare it
with his statement; he will see that he
neither understood nor quoted my words
correctly.
At the time | tried the experiment. |
found that my cows were every day gain
ing in flesh, but gradually falling off in
the quantity the feed all this time being
thirty.two pounds of Indian meal, rye
bran, and wheat shorts,-al of them
heavy feed,- in about equal parts. Sus-
pecting that my feed was too concentrated
and heavy and was producing flesh rather
than milk, resolved upon trying the ex-
pertinent.
The idea that intended to convey
was, not that the shorts or the bran would
weaken the COW, but that the flow of
milk produced by the bran would tend
to this result ; or, in other words, the
bran would be expended in increasing
milk, rather than strength, and at the
expense of the cow
In order to be fully understood, | will
here say that l am producing milk for
the New York market, and for the sake
of convenience. shall suppose your cor
respondent to be making milk in winter.
Your correspondent says: "a friend
to whom he has just read the article says
that he has been feeding to his COWS since
the middle of October twelve pounds of
shorts a day." "His cows have done
well and are in prime condition" Zone
Of them has laid on so much fat that she
is in good condition for the shambles !"
all of which | have no doubt is literally
true, and his experience is just what mine
would have been had kept on the heavy
feed.
He further says am feeding four
cows with shorts, at the rate often quarts
daily, to each, with good results so far.
Still my COWS are in fine condition"
And well they may be. He then asks.
"Will that amount affect the COWS inju-
riously ?" Certainly not, and he need not
fear abortion or any other disease from
that cause. He adds. "my neighbor does
not complain of its weakening his cows
with feed of twelve pounds to each, al
though he thinks they walk as though
they were little stiff, which he attributes
to the fact that he keeps them constantly
in the stable, excepting that he let's them
out just long enough to drink" l should
expect that, with that amount of heavy
feed and no exercise they might be more
stiff before spring
With regard to cotton or inseed meal,
will say that l am preparing an article
upon abortion which will answer that
question according to the best of my
knowledge and experience.
When l tried the experiment in ques-
ton, was feeding 80 pounds of Indian
meal, wheat shorts and rye bran, in about
equal parts, and this amount fed twice
day; and in the experiment, | weig hed
out the same number of pounds of wheat
bran ga lbs.) and fed half at night and
half in the morning with an increase Of
nine quarts day in favor Of the bran.
Wheat shorts, rye bran, linseed and
cotton seed meal are all Of them milk
producing articles, but when fed with or
without corn meal, are too heavy and con-
centrated to produce milk proftably; il
fed with Indian meal will dry the milk
and fatten the COW. Indian meal is not
producing article, but goes to the pro-
duction of flesh. 1t may indeed increase
the flow of milk for a short time in some
cows, but not in others. There are some
cows which seem to turn most of their
food into milk and get poor. In such
cases it is well to feed corn meal enough
to keep good the flesh and strength of the
animal, and COWS that tend to flesh may
be fed mostly on wheat bran, which will
check the tendency to flesh and produce
more milk.
l am now milking twelve cows, one Of
them two-year.old heifer; one of them
coming in in March, and one is farrow
and has been in milk more than year.
l am now feeding bushel and half Of
wheat bran (ship stuff and peck of In.
dian meal twice day, and making ten
quarts Of milk per COW, or 100 quarts a
day.
l have become convinced that the cobs
which will shell bushel of corn are
worth at least as much when ground with
the corn as four quarts of meal without
the cobs.
l am also convinced that when water
can be had by bringing half mile, il
pays well to wet the meal over night if il
can be kept without freezing, and that il
would pay well to warm the water, if il
could be conveniently done.
In answering communications Of this
kind,it would be very great conenvienct
if all correspondents would write ovel
their own names. However, if any are
afraid that their creditors will find ou
their whereabouts, they ought to be ex
cused for resorting to fictitious sigma
ture.
To carry on successfully the business
of farm. great deal Of common sense
thought and careful observation are re
quired. Nc other profession would sue
coed as well as farming with so great 0
want of these desirable qualifications.
If every farmer who owns cow an'
reads your valuable paper, would try var
ious experiments, such as warming tn
water, cutting the feed, mixing the mea
with the cut feed, or feeding withou
mixing and report the result to tn
FARMER, we might all obtain great dea
of most valuable information, for want Q
which, we all lose more than twice tn
amount Of time and trouble Of doing it.
Will not your readers set part som
of these long winter evenings in doing s
and report the result Of such experiment
T. l.. HART.
West CorapaH, Conn.,, Jan. 1871.
Premiums for Fast Horses at Agricu
tural Fairs.