The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1873-01-16
for the farmer.
rREDINo cows m wINTER.

The drouth Of the past summer has cut short
the usual supply of hay on probably MAJORITY
of farms throughout the middle, noftne.n ana
western States. The amount OF corn iooaer 10
alsO less in great many districts ID tnese Stees'
Now as these two articles are the main depend.
ence Of most farmers for the winter fceding OF
their cows, il must be of great Importance " All
concerned to consider well what are to lie the
consequences of this great scarcity OF the nsuai
forage or feeding stnffs Taking 1t for granted
that those who are likely to read this know that
to keep any horse, cow, OK OF steer III what Is
usually called store condition, it must have at
least two and half per cent of its own weight
in hay, or in some equivalent, per day, cow Of
eight hundred pounds requiring fully twenty
pounds of hay per day, and horse of one thous-
and pounds twenty-five pounds of hay per day,
merely to keep them 50 that they shall neither
gain nor lose in flesh; and suppOsng farther that
they can measure pretty accurately the amount
Of hay they may have on hand, by allowing
about six hundred cubic feet for q ton, and have
done 30, and found that allowing twenty or TWEEN
ty-five pounds per day for the one hundred and
eighty days or more Of the foddering season, they
must come short, then the consequences between
which choice must be made-a mere choice of
evils-are mainly the following:
They must sell off reduce the amount of
their stock; or they must half starve the whole
or part; or they mnst provide some substitute,
as cut straw with grain, ground OF unground; or,
if resolved to keep all in good condition, they
must calculate to buy hay, grain, olcake, or 9TH
er feeding stuff, and should now be counting the
cost, and making themselves sure that neither
they, nor any of the creatures dependent upon
them are to suffer loss.
But it was mainly to make q few suggestions
in regard to mich cows during the present win
ter that We write this article. Setting aside all
the considerations of humanity and mercy to an
imals-though the exercise of these to our do
nestle animals is a moral dnty or obligation-s
ting aside, We say, all considerations Of this kind
it must he enough to cause every one to resolve
not to pinch or neglect his mich cows at all
events, to consider the prices Mt which milk and
butter can now be sold. For immediate profit,
at least, it would be better to do almost anything
rather than to pinch the cows so as to reduce the
quantity or quality of their milk. In addition,
then, to the quantity of hay which we have
named as absolutely necessary to keep q COW in
store condition, she must have something else
out of which she may manufacture the milk ex-
pected from her. ~r~
Of the various feeding stuffs which may be re-
sorted to for this purpose, grain of some kind is
entitled to rank highest mixture of corn and
oats ground into meal is pretty general favor
lite; but we have tried buckwheat boiled or
steamed until it swells to double its bulk in the
dry state, and splits open. for 50 many winters
that we are satisfied that every one who tries it
in this way will be likely to be well satisfied
with it, Next to grain of some kind may be
placed haxseed oilcake, when to be had. Next
to these, and almost as indispensable, we would
place roots or other succulent food of some kind.
Carrots and sweet apples We place first on this
list, and then sugar beets, ruta bagas, cabbage,
etc. Bran is now ground SO close as not to be
worth half as much as it was twenty years ago
Finally, cows are benefited by variety of food
and by teaspoonful or two of salt in a mess
night andmornins. 1t pays to feed cows well.