The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1884-02-01

thing to do was to bring our boys IN
healthful and useful. We thought Of
Whitticr's beautiful tribute To "The
barefoot boy, with cheeks of tam" and
decided the farm to be the proper
place for them. But as my husband is
professional stump, or rather root ex-
; tractor, he thought he couldn't ply
his vocation very well on Il prairie farm
but if thought could 60 it alone, he
would put up his money against my cx-
periencc; so We went into partnership
and bought farm. That was seven years
ago and 1t remains question of doubt
in my mind to this day as to which got
the better Of the other in that bargain.
We started in with small herd of
COWS, fought grasshoppers and hard
times and tried to make fortune rails
ing wheat. We kept this up some two
or three years, hiring all our help, and
each fall after the threshers were
gone, the hired help paid, and We had
made an invoice of our stock i'm store,
we felt that we had very little left to
feast our eyes on, besides the straw pile
and the threshers bill But all this
time our little herd of cattle had been
steadily increasing. We had plenty of
grazing land convenient, and the little
boys were large enough to mount their
ponies and take charge of the brigade.
The youngest one began to herd when
he was seven years old and can now
stick to horse equal to Texan.
We were now milking sixteen cows
and taking care of all that milk i'm the
shallow pans. | had ere this abandon
ed the cellar as about as poor place as
housekeeper need keep milk. The
doctor had refrigerator built that
would hold sixty pans. II was made
double all round, with air chamber be-
tween and sink at the top that would
hold two or three hundred pounds OF
Ice. This was a great improvement.
1T kept the milk very nice and got
very satisfactory results in the way of
cream. But the labor. When would
wake in the morning and think of those
| twenty-five or thirty pans of milk to
skim, my back would begin to ache and
l would turn over time or two To rest
a little more before entering into the
actual conflict.
After the Swimming was done, then
there were all those pans to wash
| through two waters, wipe dry and put
out to sun and air. When l had ac-
complished this much of my days work,
you may be sure l felt '.just as happy
as big sunfiOwer."
Then there were all those sixteen
calves that must have their milk prop
erly dealt out to them twice day and
see that no injustice was done, not even
to one of the least of them. And Just
here will give little ofmy experience
raising calves. In the first place /
would rather raise winter than spring
calves, for the most profitable results
There would be no difficulty i'm having
sweet milk and there are no flies or
mosquitoes to contend with. And fell
low farmers, as far as bringing up big
calves on skim milk is concerned, if |
may judge from observation, it is sue
cess. l have seen some wonderful
calves on exhibition in the last two or
three years that the exhibitors said land
they looked like honest mem were
brought up on skim milk, with an Oc-
casiOnal feed of oil meal, bran, shorts.
oats and corn meal, just enough to keep
the calf from getting discouraged. But
my own experience is to furnish them
a good warm stable, warm their milk,
feed a little bran and shorts or oats ev-
cry day and have rack and keep it
filled with your sweetest and best hay,
keep their stable clean and they will |
have nothing to do but grow. Another |
important matter i'm feeding calves is To |
have some one to feed that will take
some interest in them. If one does not |
eat just right, they should try and find
out at once what the difficulty is and
meet it promptly. Early spring calves
are liable to take cold and injudicious
feeding may bring on diarrhea or
what is generally termed scours. For
this difficulty the best remedy | have
found is to scald the milk and add
teaspOonful of ground cloves, let it cool
to proper temperature before feeding
and unless it is very obstinate case a
few feelings will regulate the difficulty.
1 have known persons who have given
an AM, 31 a9 or perhaps an ounce aHIf ;cf
would be sufficient in itself to scnd the
calf to kingdom come, is there was
nothing else the matter. Then again |
do not like the calves to run in the
yard with the older cattle. found it
was every day with the calves, like it
is with children at Thanksgiving and
Christmas dinners. They had to stand
back and wait until the older ones were
served and then take what they could
get. So we built an orphan asylum for
their especial benefit. We built stable
and put in stancheons for twenty, with
Il feed box in front of each StancheOn
and plenty of room for hay. We fitted
up yard with racks for hay where
they could run outside through the day
but we never leave them out in storms.
Another important point is to see they
have all the water they want, and right
here l would say if have stock to
water would have windmill and
water tank if had to do without new
spring bonnet for ten seasons in success
sion and that is making quite a sacrifice
for woman. Since We have had plen-
ty of water We have not lost any calves
with what is called black-leg. | be-
lieve it is nothing more or less than an
engagement Of the stomach with dry
food that results in congestion. At
least We made post norton eXamina-
ton of one pronounced to have died of
that disease and those were the condi-
tons We found.
With regard to feeding milch cows,
l consider mixed bran and shorts, corn,
pumpkins and plenty of good sweet
hay as the best class Of feed, together
with plenty of pure water, and don't
with their backs bumped up like rain
There is no breed of cattle, not even a
thousand dollar Polled Angus that will
look any better than scrub If not
properly taken care of. And while
am on this topic would say, that the
small farmer does not want to breed
for the exclusive benefit of his dairy.
He wants something that will turn off
profitably for beef, and l believe for
both beauty and utility there is nothing |
excels the Short Horn.
know it is an old saying that you |
might as we'll be out of the world as out |
of the fashion, and also know that |
the Polled Angus, Jerseys and Hol- |
stems are all the fashion, and since the |
Chicago cattle show, suppose the
Herefords will come in for their share |
of favoritism.
The Jersey will no doubt win the
laurel for butter, but they are too small
to be profitable for beef and their dis
position is not amiable. The Holsteins
are too coarse breed, and the Here
fords, though rice bodied animal, are
overdone with horns. The Short Horns
are very fair milk, butter and cheese
producers, besides being profitable for
beef, and as far as personal safety is
concerned with regard to horns, |
would Just about as soon be tossed by
the COW with the Grumpy horn as to
have the breath knocked out of me by
a five hundred dollar muley.
While l have been summing up the
above, there has been revolution GO
ing on in the dairy system. A new
plan of setting and cooling the milk has
been brought out and the public in gen.
eral and the housewife in particular is
raving over the new labor saving meth
cd. The scientific man explains to the
bewildered farmer, that he need not
wait any longer twenty-four hours for
the cream to rise, bat that it can all be
forced up in from four to six hours, the