The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1874-12-09

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arr, after e long silence, happy to
report that | am By the mercy Of dod
still able aad ever willing to commit
nicate, through your stable and felia-
Die old journal, my experience and
observation in any and al the prae-
teal matters pertaining to that great
national interest to which my we'll
heightened life has been devoted. 4
deem it opportune at this tiTet to drop
a few suggestions relative to the
management Of cows, which are now
generally about II go into their Win
tcr-quarters. I have observed IN my
travels among farmers that it is Q
very common practice, when tue sea-
son comes for drying up the mich
cows. which have not only
returned TO their wner the
substance of the food on which they
have subsisted in . condensed, sslIa-
bic, edible and merchantable form,
but have also exhausted their flesh
aud physical strength in their milk
~secretions until many of them, espec-
Tally the most valuable ones, 60 in
to the winter ~emsciated and weak.
The transition from s~ucculent to try
and ~unpalatab!e food is often so sud
den and so severe on them that they
suffer much from cold, ana fall of 10
that degrS that under ordinary mar
agement they remain thin AMI weak
all winter, and commence the follow
ing season so reduced that frequently
the best Of the season is lost ere they
reeuperete on the pastures to a con-
dition that enables them TO yield @
profitable return in milk. That this
is bad economy must be apparent to
all observers, yet it is g condition OF
things that may be seen on many
farms in the best dairy districts Of
the country, and it has been SO for
the past City years to my knowledge
and probably viii Re SO for hundreds
Of years mort.
1t is not only bad economy but 1t
is shamefully cruel, and deserves to be
noticed by all who possess = desire
TO exert an influence 10 prevent cruel
ty to animals; and il is to be hoped
that those who practice it viii be
made to feel that they are q dis
grace to a community possessing civ
ilization, much more C~brisiianiza-
ton.
Cows require special care, protec-
ton aad food at this season o. the
year. a sudden change Of food
should not be made, but MS the pas
lures are rendered insipid, sour and
innutritious by the effects Of frost,
they should be daily supplied with
palatable, nutritious food, such as
pumpkins, apples, root-foliage and
chopped stalks and blades Of corn,
or fine second-growth hay, and they
should be sheltered at night and in
stormy weather as carefully as they
should be in the most seTere weather
of winter. Rain-storms Of autumn
occasion more suffering in domestic
animals exposed to them than the
dry SHOWS of mid-winter. Thin
coats have not become fully grown,
nor have they become Injured to the
cold, hence they require the special
care and protection that / have
claimed for them. The stage Of
pregnancy with the COW at the time
She is dried in her milk, is so far adj
vanced that it requires about all the
food nutritious that she is capable of
consuming to maintain her physical
condition and nourish properly the
fetus; hence she requires as much
care and food during the latter por-
ton of the period OF pregnancy as
she does when in profit.