Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1880-07-02
Testing Dairy Cows.

DAIRYMEN need often reminding of
the things they should, but generally do
not, do, We have often illustrated
what occurs in so many herds -un-
profitable dairying, for the want of in
dividual tests of the cows in the herd.
1t almost passes belief that an intelli
gent dairyman could keep cows year
after year without knowing whether
they made or lost him money. But such
is the fact and q number of instances
have occurred where dairymen, on a
careful test of each individual cow,
found that one-third of them did not
pay for their keep, one-third paid a
small profit over cost of keep, and the
other third paid a handsome profit over
all expenses. Now, is it not easy to see
that such dairyman would make much
more from his one-third good cows than
from his whole herd--say herd of fif-
teen COWS, five paying good profit,
five not even paying for their keep, and
five paying little more than their keep,
but no profit; the bad COWS just about
balance the good ones, making the
whole herd Improbable? But the five
good COWS would require Only one-third
of the labor, and would pay at least
double the clear profit.
r There is less reasonable excuse for
keeping an Improbable COW than most
other things. For instance, raising a
poor crop year after year, upon the
same land, has but poor apology; but
it may be said that the land can't we'll
be sold and that it may be improved,
while the COW runs him deeper and
/ deeper in debt, with,no hope of amend
ment. rE Efr5gyr
You may easily test the yield of milk
from each COW, in weight, by hanging
spring scale at a convenient place in
the stable, where the milk of each COW
can be weighed and recorded one day
in each week A few weeks will serve
to show the character of each cow with
regard to quantity, and this will repre-
| sent her value at the cheese factory,
where the standard is weight. But if
you keep a dairy for butter, nothing
short of setting each cows milk by it.
self for short period and churning the
cream viii give the value of the COW
| for butter. The bulk or weight OF
cream does not test the butter it con-
! tains, as the cream is often so unequal
in quality that the butter must be actu-
ally separated to test it. BY preparing
a small book with the name or number
| of each COW entered, and having q pen
Gil attached to it, the weighing of each
cows milk will not occupy more than
one minute, and certainly any dairy
man can afford this minute oncea week
in consideration of learning the charac-
ter of the COW.
I When the dairyman has determined
that COW is Improbable, he should get
Arid of her at the earliest opportunity.
There will be different reasons for de-
string to be rid of COW. If butter is
the product desired, ascowt that gives a
liberal quantity of milk may be quite
undesirable, because the milk is very
poor in cream; and in this case the COW
should be sold to the patron of n cheese
factory, to whom she will be valuable
but if the COW gives too small quan.
tity, of too poor a quality to be profit.
able, one of the best ways to get rid oi
her is to fatten, her, by feeding with
grain for that purpose. Feed her very
generously, and milk her to pay the cost
of fattening. This is often a profitable
way to test cows capacity for i'm
provement. Ii she is capable of i'm
proyement as mixer, such feeding
will test it, and may occasionally show
so marked an improvement as TO war
rant her being kept for further trial
but if she does not improve materially
in milk, she will take on flesh anC
soon be ready for the butcher
while .hor milk will pay at lsas
large proportion of the cost of fatten
ing. In this way poor COW may b'
disposed of as beef without any rea
loss. Dairymen sometimes give COWS {
bad character when that character /
the result of insufficient feeding, II
a broad sense, the dairyman is who'll,
responsible for the character of hi
cows In the first place, it is his duty
to give all the food required to manu-
facture large yieldof milk, and to u.s.
his best endeavors TO develop and en-
large the milk yield of his cows. Is,
doing this for the young COWS, for tw,
seasons, aud noting the yield of eael
for one day in the week, he may de
termine which ones are profitable an
which ones Improbable; and the I'm
profitable ones he can turn into beef a
a good price, and need not keep coy
that does not yield profit
When dairymen shall give close at
tention TO everything that selates to tn
management and welfare of their dah
herds 7-testing everything, both COW
and food we shall hear much less abou
losses in dairying. - NattoAdi Lvc'Stoc
JomNa