Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1874-11-27
MANAGEMENT OF PASTURES.

No part Of the operations of the farm is
more important than the treatment of pas
ture lands, aud nothing is more totally neg
ected as general rule, We hope the time
will come, as it certainly will sometime
when this will be different We wish every
farmer in New England could sec how they
do things in Holland so far as the manage
ment OF pasture land is concerned.
The pastures there are what may bo
called natural, which in Europe means pas
lures stocked with the natural grasses, or
grasses proper instead of the artificial
grasses such as clover, sainion, lucerne, etc.
The turf or sod is closely set with the finest
and choicest herbage, while the soil and
climate and the constant attention on the
part Of the dairyman secure to them the
greenest and most vigorous growth, uniform
and luxuriant throughout.
The cattle and sheep are turned out as
early as the first of May, and the pastures
are divided by hurdles into two parts, one
devoted to the growth Of grass ts cut for
hay and the other for pasiuring, For every
five or six acres you will see five COWS and
six sheep. by the middle of August, after
the hay crop is all off the ground the hur.
dies are taken away AMI the cattle have the
run of tho whole for the rest of the season.
The size Of the pastures aud the system of
small holdings which prevails in that coun-
try makes it impossible to adopt the alterna-
tive system or the plan of frequent change
Of pastures which is advocated by many
dairymen in this country.
You see everywhere running with the
COWS about an equal number of sheep. The
price or the profit of raising meat is such
that it is for tho interest Of the farmer there
to make the most of everything and to
adopt the motto so popular here and "push
things" The sheep eat down the hard wiry
grasses which the COWS reject aud so contrib
ute very materially to keep the turf close
and fine. But they are cautious not to over
stock in this way, not to stint the cows so as
to lead them to fall off in milk, aud the
number Of sheep is usually limited to the
number of cows. In winter the pastures
are given up wholly to the sheep at the rate
Of about one or two or taree acres. If the
surface is so deeply covered with snow that
the sheep cannot dig through it 50 as to get
living they are fed with hay in racks
morning and evening near the farm build.
ings.
BY the middle of November the COWS are
put up,and now begins the active preparation
for manuring the pastures, Our readers
are probably aware that tho fields and pas
ures of Holland are all surrounded and in-
tersected by bitches. These are regularly
cleaned out and they yield large crop of
mud, while through the summer they grow a
splendid covering of green weeds and water
plants. These are carefully collected and
laid along the banks of the bitches IN heaps
and so is the mud. You will sec long heaps
in the form of a rectangular prism, about
thirty feet long aud yard wide at the bnse
and perhaps six to eight inches deep. The
heaps are perhaps SIXTY to sixty-dve feet
apart. These heaps lie till the cows go into
barn at the beginning Of winter and the air
aud frosts melt them down so TO speak into
a iine, mealy mess.
Now when the COWS are stabbed at the
middle of November, every day, till the ice