Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-12-31
KEEPING ONE COW.


Many families, especially those living
in towns, keep q single cow chiefly for
the purpose of supplying the household
with milk. With butter as low as it is
at present, it is cheaper to buy it than to
manufacture it on a small scale Vii
lage people are rarely experts in butter
making, and it is difficult to make a very
choice article when but one cow is kept.
The amount of milk is small, and most
OF that is likely to be consumed by the
members of the family. Some viii be
set for cream to be used in coffee. for
converting into ice-cream, and for eating
ON fresh fruits when they are in their sea
son. The skinned milk can be used to
advantage in making bread. Some of
the milk can be converted into cottage
cheese, which is becoming a favorite
of food. Generally there is very little
trouble in dispoSing of the milk that is
not wanted by the family. Many will
prefer milk fresh from the COW to that
which is distributed by the ordinary milk
men. Some persons have a preference
for warm milk, and will pay literally to
obtain it. For infants the milk of one
cow is preferred to a mixture of the milk
given by several COWS. In many eases
family can supply itself with milk given
by one COW, and sell enough to pay for
her feed
When but one COW is kept it should be
good one in all respects. 1t should
yield large mess of rich milk during at
least nine months in the year The COW
should be easy to milk, as persons who
are not accustomed to the dairy will do
the milking. She should have large,
well formed teats, that are easy to clasp
by the hand. She should have no vicious
habits, as hooking and kicking. She
should be of gentle disposition, and take
kindly to being petted Such cow can
not be obtained for a small sum. A
Jersey, Holstein, or Ayrshire cow will
generally be found to give the best salts
faction. A cow that is registered in the
herd book of the breed to which she be-
longs is not necessary to the production
of large amount of good and rich milk.
A high grade will answer the purpose of
a milk producer. But general pur-
pose cow is not wanted. Persons living
in villages and large towns can not fat
ten with profit COW that is too old to be
good mixer. They want a cow simply
for the purpose of giving milk. When
too old to give a liberal amount of milk,
she should be disposed of for what she
will bring to some farmer or feeder. A
family that keeps but one cow will find
no profit in raising calves or in producing
beef.
When a single cow is kept for supply
ing a town family with milk she should
be literally fed with a variety of food.
Hay is the cheapest food for COWS kept
in the country. In a large town, how
ever, meal, mill-stuhs, and oil-cake are
quite as cheap as hay, while they are
more easily housed and fed out. Hay is
q bulky kind of stock food, and as a rule
barns in towns are quite small. Of
course, a COW viii require some hay
every day, but the amount need not be
very large. It should be of the best
quality, as that which contains foul
weeds or has become even Slightly moldy
will impaIt an unpleasant flavor to the
milk. In towns that contain Touring
mills bran. shorts, and corn meal can be
obtained at low rates, and these should
constitute the principal food for the cow.
Cows kept in partial confinement will
digest ground grains better than they will
dry hay, and will produce more milk
when fed on them. The kitchen will
afford considerable food for the COW in
the stable. All the potato and apple
skins, the tops and fragments of al kinds
of vegetables, and the pieces of stale
bread will be eaten by the COW. They
will furnish a change of food and be the
means of increasing the yield of milk.