The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1875-03-22
rCnac1uded from Eiraf .Bnce. ]

may pc salu OF 1at ana DODe. DO true Is
this that among cattle bred expressly for
the stall the females often furnish hardly
milk enough to sustain their own offspring;
and in countries where the bone and mus
Gle of the COW are developed by labor, her
service in the dairy amounts to but little.
1t would seem, therefore, from the ex-
plananation which nave given of the two
duties to be performed by the animal econ
oiny, one for the dairy and the other for the
stall, and Of the ease with which either may
be developed by feeding, that in raising
animals for the dairy, care should be taken
that the young arc not so fed as to develop
n tendenly to great size, either in frame or
in adipose tissue nor so as to establish in
the end race which has every faculty ex-
cept that of producing milk. We have all
seen how high feeding of the young has in
few generations, and sometimes in one or
two, removed from family of vigorous,
nervous, muscular and active horses, all
traces of those characteristics which have
given them value. What they had &C.
qured on the homely fare of their native
hills, they lost when brought and bred into
greater prosperity. The hard and wiry ten
don vanished; the elastic and well defined
muscle was rounded off into graceful efiem-
nacy the carcase and adipose tissue had
gained the ascendancy, through the aid of
good living and luxurious life from youth
upward. Some of us have seen promis-
ing heifer calf, the offspring of a good milk
er, pampered in its youth, and fed until it
became anything but the dairy animal which
its ancestry promised.
| would not advocate q deficiency of food
for young dairy stock but l would argue
against an excess Of articles of highly
stimulating quality. The plan of the Ayr
shire farmer is undoubtedly a good one
to take their calves early from the dams,
feed them from the dish, and bring them to
solid food or pasture as soon as the young
stomach will allow, Instead of lnseed
meal, they use great qauntity of oatmeal
an article Of food much less predisposing
to fat, and keeping up a vigorous growth.
We have in New England the best quality
of English hay as basis for feeding; and
after the calf is weaned, or after it has had
milk enough to give it fair introduction
into life, hay in the form of hay tea, and af-
forwards of rowen, is undoubtedly the best
food the young animal can have, especially
when aided by few turnps and little
oatmeal. In some cases milk is abandoned
at very early age, and skinned milk is
advantageously used as a substitute
would not recommend the use of grain, es
pecially that containing superabundance
of oily matter, as Indan corn, or cotton
seed, or oii-cake for young dairy stock,
Perhaps corn meal, sparingly, or barley
meal may be used in winter, should the
animal seem not to thrive well. But
calf that is properly weaned and properly
fed after weaving, and, if dropped in early
spring or in winter. furnished with a good
pasture the first summer, will be carried
through the first winter most satisfactorily
on good sweet hay, especially rowen, with
turnips and oatmeal. In this way can a
uniform and well balanced animal be pro-
duced, which. when put TO dairy service,
will not become coarse and rawboned in
her appearance, nor take on flesh at the ex
pense of the mill pad.
Of course, the views which | have adj
vanced apply solely to dairy stock, and
be borne in mind mainly by the farmer who
is engaged in raising cattle for this pur-
pose. l have alluded, as you must have
noticed, to the custom adopted by the Any
shire farmers, and have done this because
on their farms the business of feeding and
breeding for the dairy has been brought to
the highest perfection. If, however, the
object is the STALL an entirely different
course should be pursued. The breeder
and feeder of cattle especially adapted to
beef may begin at the earliest age of his
animal and force him into rapid growth,
without injury to the animal and with ben
eff to himself. The fat-producing system
can be constantly encouraged, and should
never be checked by neglect or improper
food. 1t is a system easily preserved,
readily transmitted, and capable of bearing
constant stimulus. While the AYRSHIRE
breeder feels that he is liable to repeated
failures on account of the delicacy and
sensitiveness of the system he is to produce,
the shorthorn breeder may feel confident
that he can arrive at uniformity, and sus-
tain the type of animal he desires without
great difficulty. and with small danger of
being disappointed. lie may therefore with
great advantage to himself pursue a course
entirely different from that which L have
recommended to the dairy farmer. His
calves may be kept upon the COW until the
third or fourth month; and, when weaned,
they may be provided with the most stimu-
lating and nutritious food. If at two years
old they can be made to attain q size equal
to that of ordinary animals at three or four,
so much has been gained. And the feeder
need have no fear that the physical organ
ization of such an animal will be injured by
this forcing process.
You, who are engaged in the practical
business of feeding cattle for various pur-
poses, and who undoubtedly know more
from your own experience than can from
even the best founded theory of my own,
will allow me, ] am sure, to suggest that
the same rule applies to feeding dairy
stock at maturity that applies to feeding
the yound animal. have frequently met
in my drives through this region, cases of
intlammatory disease among COWS, which
could almost always attribute to long-con-
tlnued, excessive, or injudcious feeding. |
gllnnDSp there n n hat
OF the udder, such as garget and swelling,
which often terminate in running the COW,
may be traced almost universally to the
same cause. A sudden chill, or long-con-
tinued exposure to cold and wet. may pro-
dnce this, but generally it is imprudent
feeding. | should say that a liberal use of
corn meal and oil cake and cotton seed
meal would produce this result. 1t may
not come about in one year or two, but
were | a cattle feeder and dairyman, |
should just as much expect to find garget
in my herd of mich COWS if fed on olea-
ginous grains, as | should to find govt fol-
lowing long continued use of Madeira
winc-and if not govt, something worse.
II ] am wrong in this, shall be glad to be
set right by those of you who have had ey
perience in the business,
Now, | beg you to remember that am
considering what deem to be for the best
good of the animal, and most in accord
ance with the best Physiological laws 1t may
be profitable for some of you 10 feed
heavily, and force your cows up to their
highest capacity by liberal use of such
food as am condemning, and after a short
period of time to turn your animal to beef.
This point do not propose to discuss But
| would ask you to consider the usual loss
on a COW when she has finished her career
in the dairy, and to calculate carefully
whether it is not good economy TO avoid
the necessity for turning her for beef as
long as possible. Cows do not mature at
an early age-rarcly before they are five or