The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1872-10-08
Milk aud IT'S Products.
From an Essay delivered before tho Vermont Dai
ryman's Association.
ny ALEXANDER HYDE

rymans Association.
ny ALEXANDER HYDE
But the circumstance that most affects
the quality aud quantity of the milk is
the food. The luxuriant and succulent
grass of June produces great flow Of
milk, but the per cent of water in it is
much above the average of 81. Take a
COW from green pasture and feed her
on dry hay, and the quantity of milk will
oe greatly diminished, while the quality
may DO improved. Everything that a
COW eats affects her milk directly. We
have great faith in cabbages as producing
an abundance Of rich milk, but uufortuu.
ately, the lady who presides over om
household has keen senses, and detects in
the milk the least favor of cabbage OF
turDlp. We have sometimes evaded de-
lection by feeding cabbage leaves moder-
ately at first and Immediately after milk
ing, but the increased quantity and quail.
ity Of the milk il not the taste, are apt
to call out the 81 y question, "What are
you feeding your cows on now ?" Sweet
corn fodder, we are confident, gives a
richer milk than common corn. Indian
meal, all farmers agree, gives rich
milk, while bucSwheat increases the per
cent. Of water more rapidly than it does
the more valuable properties. Clover,
cut green, greatly improves the quality
OF milk. Being q leguminous plant, il
should add to its casen rather than to it,
butter. Pea vines also lcguminous, are
extensively used at the South, where the
grasses do not flourish, as food for COWS,
and are said to produce excellent milk
There can be no question but that grain
cut before 1t goes to seed will produce
more and better milk than after all its
virtues have been spent in their legiti-
mate purpose of producing seed after its
kind. If the hay has been made from
grass as dry and woody as oat straw, it
may be benefited by being cut and moist.
ened, but can never be restored to its or.
.glnal nutrition any more than the daugh.
tiers Of Tobias could rejuvenate their aged
father by cutting him up and boiling him
All the roots add to the flow OF milk
and improve its quality. They furnish
both food and drink, beiig largely COM
posed Of water The feeding Of root.
does not save as much hay as some sup.
pose. They keep the animal in GOOD
health and appetite, and are valuable il
their sanitary and manurlal effects rath
er than as an economzer of hay. TIL,
increase Of milk and manure is very man
Hest from the feeding Of roots. Potatoe,
make the best Of milk, but at present pri
ces we can hardly afford to feed those o.
q merchantable size and quality. The
small potatoes can be put to no better usC
than food for young stock and mich COWS
They furnish much saline matter, thu.
adding to the specific gravity of milk ant
to the material for building up the frame
work OF the young animal. AS an OBJ
serving dairy woman once said to us
POTATOES give body to milk"
1t is cruel to tax COWS in winter 70,
milk and give them nothing but dry hay
from which 20 manufacture it. If GU
before maturity this hay contains all thu
elements Of milk, but it is dry fodder, ant
If it constitute the only food of the COW
day after day for six months, there is {
sameness about it which is not provoca
tive of coed appetite. AS men crav,
and need variety of food, so do COWS
A few beets, or turnips, or carrots shout,
be fed to them each day, and the slecl
coats of the animals and the improved
quantity and quality Of their milk vii
Indicate their appreciation of these roots
One OF the best,and most economical kind
Of feed for cows both in summer and win
ter, is the bran of wheat and rye. Thu
inorganic part Of grain resides chiefly il
the husk or bran, as may be seen by burn
ing similar quantities Of fine -four an,
bran. The ash Of the latter, will on tn
average be six times that of the former
the ash Of dry fine -four being about on
per cent. and that of bran six per cent
OF the weight of the whole. Bran, there
fore, though dry looking sort of fodder
Is rich 10 those elements which form III
frame work OF animals, and DR.. Graham
was doubtless correct when he advocate
making bread from unbolted -four. Man
dalrymen practice putting a couple c
quarts OF wheat bran into six or eigb
quarts OF whey and feeding it to thei
cows night and morning, thereby improy
ing their milk, their cows and their pa.
lures. The Improvement OF the latter
specially manifest as the bran restores
them the phosp horus, sulphur, potash
lime, soda, ETC., Of which our old pasture
have become exhausted. these cssenti,
constituents of a good soil having bee
carried of in the bones Of the animals an
the grain and dairy products sold.
This leads US to say that milk contain
variable portion Of ash or earthly ma
ter. The per cent. Of this ash is small
usually about one half of one per cell
and may seem to some insignificant, b,
when We consider that cow gives SOC
lbs milk per year, this small per cent.
the course OF years counts up 20 large f
ures. II each COW carr les off from ii
farm In the form Of milk alone, thent
FIVE or thirty pounds Of potash, lime, s
da, etc., the richest pastures will final
become exhausted unless some restorati,
is made. The saline matter Of milk is
very essential constituent to make it Il
perfect food that it is for young ANNA
fer without it they could not build
their bones. The analysis of the ash
thousand pounds of milk gives, on 4
average, the following constituents
phosphate OF Lime, 2s7 lbs
Phosphate Of Magnesia, 80 I"
Oxide Of Iron, .O7 :"
Chloride OF Potassium. Lea :"
Chloride of Sodium. 40 I"
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