Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1878-04-12

ht"o weeks thereafter
r. l.. HOPKINS. sec'y.
bungtOwn Farmers Club.
Practical Farmer.
MISTER EDITUR:-We had a big
crowd at our March meetin' of the club,
and there was a few of the wimmin folks
come out to the meetin'. This kinder
skeered some our ~fellers, but they got
ust to it pretty soon. and l think we
had a good meetin'. Jack Dwiggins be-
gun by saying:
I've been lookln' round to see how
the cows was managed in Bungtown,
ank l cum to the conclusion that if the
majority is rite, the way to keep cows
in winter is at a straw-stack or in a
fence-corner, fur that's the way most of
EN- is kept. But I've been at three or
four honses to dinner or supper since
we had our last meetin', and I found
that butter war mighty skace, and what
little thar wus, wus as white as lard.
They said it wus the cornstalks that
made it so white; but l guess twas the
want of EN-, fur I've been to Jehu
Simmses, and he has been feedin' six
cows on cornstalks, and has made a
good deal of butter, and it's rite yaller,
too. | went down to the grocery and |
found that butter wus sellin' at thirty
cents a pound, and they couldn't get as
much as they wanted at that.
The storekeeper sed: A good many
of the farmers hev to buy butter when
they have company, and go without it
the rest Of the winter; but as soon as
grass ONE butter'll be down to a dime
a pound
Where do you git butter now sell
"'Oh, thar's a few farmers in Bung-
town that's got some warm stables fixed
up and is a feedin' their COWS high, and
they make a good deal Of butter, but l
don't believe it pays en-
Now, Mr.. President" says l. this is
jest what | want to find out. My old
woman and me has come to the conclu-
sion that it don't pay to make butter in
summer at ten cents a pound, and Our
cows are mighty apt to 60 dry in win
ter. You see, the cold water sets EN-
to shiv'rin' so when we hev to cut the
ice in the crick fur 'em to drink, and
they git mighty poor, too, afore spring,
and we think we are doin' purity we'll if
we git butter enuf to hev 1t on the ia
bic once a day. But l want to hear
what Jehu Simms hes to say on this
subject"
Jehu Simms said! %
Mister President, | bought one of
the Farmer account books, and my gal
that's been away to school has bin keep
in accounts in it, and | got her to make
a copy OF the account she hez been a
keepin' with the cows for three months,
December, January and February. We
heven't charged nothin' for the corn
fodder, as | allow the manure is worth
what that cost, and our cows hain't had
any hay. There wusn't any fresh cows
among them, either, but one of them
had been giving milk twenty-one months
and another twelve when we begun
keepin' the account, and the others was
fresh in May and June. But here is
the account"
| looked over it and was mighty we'll
pleased, for it was written jest as nice
as Good be. and it showed how much
butter they had made each week, but as
| allowed you wOoden't hev room fur it.,
| asked Jehu's girl (for she was at the
meetin) to add it up for me, and here is
what she gave me;
Butter produced from 8 cows in 3 mos. 200 rs
Average per 33 bs
Cost of keeping;
s. 'b bushels n or d $3.50 lbs Of corn meal at Is 90 -"
10 bushels of soft corn at Is cents a bu... 81
SO Is
When | finished readin' it Jehu said:
You see that got about two dollars
back for every II | paid out for feed,
and when spring comes my COWS will be
wuth five dollars apiece more than the
crobates that hev shivered out doors all
winter
Joe Tucker said:
Il want to ask some questions.
Go ahead" says Jehu.
Didn't you put your corr pretty
low? It's bin sellin' at sales fur more'n
that, and you had to shell it and take it
to MILL"
Il know" says Jehu, that it's been
sold at sales on twelve months credit
fur more, but twenty-five cents is as
much as | could have got for it to have
hauled it off to WHARF they wus buyin'
corn, and it didn't cos much more to
shell it. We tramped out a hundred
bushels in a half a day with four bosses,
and we did it a cold day when we Good
ent a worked out O. DOORS"
Zeke Dobbs asked, Didn't the cold
water make them SILVER and dry them
up like blazes?'
No, fur when it wus cold we allus
pumped fresh water fur EN-, and if it
was any ways stormy We carried their
water to them in the stable"
I'm allus afeard to feed meal to
cows" said Dave HObson, Sur I've
tried it three times and they got pretty
soon so they wouldn't touch it, and |
he'd a cow wunst that was poor as Jobs
turkey, and a little while before she
had a calf / begun to feed her pretty
strong with corn meal, and before her
calf was a week old she quit %eatin', and
her bag swelled and got full of fever,
and she dried up and didn't give a drop
of milk, and finally her bag spilled so
that she wasn't of any account, and We
had to knock the calf in the head"
Jehu answered, you've got to be
keerful how you feed your cows for a
week or so before and after they come
fresh; whether the critter is poor or fat,
she orient to hev more'n half a feed. /
want to ask Dave what kind of meal he
fed his cows, and how much at a feed?'
Il fed corn meal, half a peck at a
time" Dave answered.
Il don't wonder you spilled their ap-
petite" said Jehu, Sur corn-meal is
too rich and heavy to feed cows alone.
| alus mix it with morn its bulk of
bran, and beside you fed too heavy. A
half a peck of corn meal will weigh over
six pounds. Now my cows have kept
s fat srs T that tie snf hs y0a a s e,o see deal aI0m mo '9e
p paid their e~' keepin', and I've f fed them
loot ninn nounds IF hran and mnol