The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1871-02-11
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
Dairy.StOck in Winter.

Under the above caption, 4 correspon-
dent, from Massachusetts, writes as fol-
lows, to the Germaatotcn Telegraph, and
though the article is headed "Dairy Stock
in WINTER it contains as much advice for
summer as winter management:
| raise all my stock, and get them as
large or larger at two years as those
would have to buy are at three | have
my heifers all come in about two years old.
BY the time they are four or five years
oId | can determine which are good enough
to keep for dairy cows four or five years
/ longer. The others are fatted after being
MIXED from 10 to IS months. and sold for
beef. l raise all the heifer-calves that give
promise of making good butter-cows. So
/ | can keep my stock renewed and yet aeeed
out the inferior ones quite thoroughly.
endeavor to have all my animals gain every
month until they reach maturity.
average about eight cows and heifers in
milk, and have from two to five yearlings
/ all the time and as many calves.
| | make fancy butter my speciality.
engage to supply certain families with a
certain quantity each week through the
year. Make about the same amount each
month. OF course | am having calves at
all seasons. | succeed as well with my fall
and winter calves as with those dropped in
the spring. | have no good pasture and
only about SIX acres of poor. Have about
twenty acres of moving and tilage. Do
: not use over two acres for the keeping of
each animal. My whole stock, including
horses, equals about thirteen or fourteen
head, and my land that is used does I ct
much exceed twenty-five acres. / have no
| ing or rather Stall-feeding largely in the
summer.
| Part of my cows were kept up all the
past season. | feed green, sweet corn-fod
der in its season. But what depend upon
is early-cut hay through nearly the whole
year. In June | have about half enough
pasture feed for my mich cows. In August
and September l intend to feed all the
corn-fodder the COWS can Use and keep
their health and appetites good. The
other months my feed is chiefly hay. I
sometimes have a few roots, but do not
depend on them at all. | also feed all my
calves, yearlns and cows more or less grain
every day. | feed grain because think it
is generally cheaper than hay and more
easily obtained. can buy good grain but
seldom find hay that is as good as my own,
pound for pound. | commence cutting my
grass the fore part Of June and get the
first crop secured if possible by the first
week in July. Then cut one and often
two crops of rowen in the fall on a large
portion of my moving land. l cut all my
grass, if the. weather is favorable, before
it is in full blossom. / raise orchard grass
or clover fol- the earlier harvest, then TIM
othy and lastly red-top, keeping the differ
ent kinds separate as much as is practical
Bile, SO that the hay harvest will not come
all at once. | cure my hay generally in
two days, as green as it is; never salt it,
but pack it down in close mows in as solid
a body as possible and keep it from the air
as much as can. raise no grain of any
kind and of course haze no straw, corn
fodder OF poor coarse stuff to work up in
the winter. My winter-feed is wheat-bran,
coln-meal, cotton-secd cake, and my early
cut hay and rowen. When I seed down a
lot of land | SOW grass seed only If in
spring | generally cut two crops the first
wear of orchard-grass and clover
My cattle are fed but two meals day.
summer ard winter. 1t takes from two to
three hours for them to eat meal Finish
feeding about eight in the morning. Com
mence the afternoon feed at three or four
o'clock, varying somewhat according to
the time of year and the length of days.
Water soon after each feeding. Do not
intend to give more feed of any kind than
the animals will eat up clean. My stock
are considered in high condition all the
time. | do not have to feed much extra to
make beef of any animal. They arc beef
Ill the time except some of the very best
mixers during their greatest flow.