Milford chronicle., 1883-03-02
FRUITLAND GRANGE, No. Is.

NATURES bOuD FOh COMSs
The COW in her natural state must necessarily
have been timid and retiring 10 her habits.
Only emerging from her concealment in the
bushes of thick wood long enough to crop hasty
meal Of long rich grasses; devoting her whole
attention to securing goodly supply which she
hastily swallows and then quietly returns to her
shelter, there to complete the WORK Of mashca-
tion.
In this condition she IS found by man and ap-
I propriated by him TO his use. Her natural hab-
its and requirements are unchanged.
At first men depended entirely on pasturiug
their cattle, and herding them from day to day
and moving about to secure the best pasture. In
winter, they left them to shift for themselves as
is now done by cattle growers on our western
ranches.
It soon occurs to the primatiye cow-herder to
dry some grass in summer and thus keep it to
assist his stock to live through the winter. Some
farmers even in this last quarter of the 18th CEN
tuary have not passed beyond this secondary
stage.
The progressive farmer soon adds gram TO the
hay IN winter, and winter.made butter Is for the
first time possibility.
AS land becomes valuable, pasturing is found
too wasteful and soiling is tried; it is sneered at
by the old fogy as too much trouble but grad.
ualy it works its way into general favor.
| Then comes another important development of
the question. Some observing herdsman or farm.
or seeing how much more butter and milk his
COWS will make from green grass, than from the
same after It has been made into hay, conceves
the idea Of keeping it green by simply excluding
| it from the action Of the air. and Be have the
siIO. With it, not only grass, but green corn iod-
der, the easiest grown and most productive crop
we can raise, can be preserved and fed to very
nearly as good advantage in winter as in sum-
mer, This is now live question Of deep import,
and suggest that it be referred to our Dairy
Committee for consideration and an early report
| Along with the sllo comes another improve
ment based on much the same principles.
! 1t is found that hay, when exposed to boiling
heat, returns to a condition very similar to green
| resh-cut grass
| Corn, our great staple, and main reliance as
/ grain feed for stock, contains a very large per
cent. of starch which is insoluble IN cold water,
only partly soluble at 100 degrees (animal heat
and only wholly soluble, and of course dIgesti-
( be, after it has been exposed to a boiling tenn
peraiure. Heat also destroys the life germ that
is contained in all kinds of gram, and enables
animals eating it, to appropriate considerable
part that would otherwise be wasted.
These are the theories on which the advocates
OF cooked food base their arguments, and to
prove their truthiulness or fallacy, have recent
ly been trying some experiments in feeding
cooked feed to my stock Steam is the agent
most easily brought to our service IN cooking
though the same object may be attained by
cooking in any way.
| Before undertaking this experiment my cows
received Tations as follows;
To 70 lbs, or bushel Of cob meal, grouad
coarse, I added IA lbs. cotton seed meal and IS
| lbs bran. This was well mixed and each COW
received IS lbs. g gall per day, or 80 lbs. to
my six cows. Tue same amount 1 divided
among the rest OF my stock, including horses
and pig, Is head; or 1870 lbs to my whole stock,
q head.
| weighed the milk and found was getting n
lbs, per day. Ithen took 14O lbs. Of the same
mixture, steamed it, fed it to my whole stock
and continued the same feed for one week. dvid-
! ing it as nearly as possible, between the differ
ent animals in the same proportion as when fed
dry. again weighed my milk, and found it
! had increased to 90 lbs. This result proving
favorable l continued the same feed another
week, again weighing 80 lbs. milk per day.
This result is TO me highly satisfactory, but still
more in the fact that all my stock has i'm
proved in condition. never saw my stock in
better condition all round than they are to-day.
Most Of my COWS have been milking six months
or over, and it is usually necessary at this
season to feed pretty literally OF roots 10
keep up the supply OF milk. have fed no
roots with the cooked feed, and do not believe l
should be able to derive much benefit from them.
1 believe from my observation of cooked feed
and its effect that it acts on the digestive organs
very much as green food or roots would, and 10
connection with little coarse fodder is all that
a COW needs.
The following discussion nsued,
Bro. C.G. Brown thought that by the increased
amount Of milk received and the improved con
dition of the stock Of our Worthy Lecturer, re-
sultng from feeding cooked feed, many migh-
be led to suppose that cooking feed for stock
was the most economical, therefore the most
satisfact0r way of feeding, yet he had had some
experience in feeding cooked feed and the re
suits were not satisfactory,
The Bro. said nothing about the extra expense
incurred, such as extra time. labor, cost Of fuel.
etc. He did not believe that the increase of Is
pounds of milk per day to the herd of six cows
sufficient to warrant the extra expense incurred
to prepare the food for his cows 10 this maRner.
Bro Slaymaker.-The Bro. will notice that the
increase is very nearly equivalent 70 the product
Of one COW, while the extra expense incnrred BY
cooking the feed is very little, had rather do it
than cut the roots for the six cows.
Bro. J. G. Brown stated thathe had considera-
BILE experience 10 cooking feed for stock fed
one winter 6s head Of stock on cooked feed 40 Of
which were beef cattle end he was free 10 ad.
nit that the results we're far from being satisfac
tory.
He had fitted up, at considerable expense, and
entered iutoit very sanguiue Of success but faied
He knew some Of the most prominent cattle MN
Of Kentucky who years ago advocated, aud
pracliced cooking feed for their stock, but these
are not doing it now this was sufficient evidence
for him that eventually it had not proven salts
factory. !