The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-12-13
THE OLD cow

HE OLD cow.
Mr.. A. ". Hathaway, at the Farm
ers' Institute, held at New Florence.
No, had this to say in regard to the
| old cow:
"Of all domestic animals which CON
tribute to mans necessities, the old
| cow easily takes the lead. From IN
fancy to old age, in sickness and in
health, the old COW contributes to a
large degree the n~ourishment of the
human family. We commence with
milk and follow with butter, beef,
cheese and probably end with beef tea.
Her skin manufactured into leather
contributes to our comfort In booG
and shoes, and to our wants in tho
various articles for which leather ag
used, and if necessity compelled, tha
OK could do a large share of the labor
that is performed by the horse. I will
not be tedious by giving statistics of
the amount of beef produced, the
amount of butter and cheese manufac-
tured, or the amount of capital in
vested, but only call your attention to
it that you may compare it with the
rest of our domestic animals, and see
if the old COW is not worthy Of more
attention than is usually given her.
Yes, her meek, quiet and gentle ways
ought to win our affections. To be
practical, let us consider what care
should be given her. A barbed wire
fence is not sufficient protection from
the cold winter weather, but she should
be comfortably housed and have plenty
of good food. And let me give you
some of my experience in feeding the
old cow. Last year l cut my corn
while the fodder was green and let it
cure in the shock, then run it through
a feed-cutter, and fed with it a ration
composed of one part of ground screen
ings, one part of cotton seed meal, n
part of crushed ears of corn. They
gave a good quantity of milk and ate
the cor fodder up pretty clean, leav-
ing only the larger pieces OF the butts.
This year I am feeding corn fodder the
same as last year, and corr In the ear.
They do not give nearly as much milk,
and do not eat the cut fodder nearly
as we'll, and this is my reason: The
cotton seed meal and ground SCREEN
ings made better balanced ration. The
ratio of albuminoids to barbO hydrates
for milk cows or ~fattening animals
should be one of albuminoids to five of
carlo hydrates. Corn fodder contains
1 "a, corn 10, making the ration con-
tain a ratio of about 1.20; cotton seed
meal1.18 and wheat screenings, which
is composed largely of chess, has never
been analysed, but probably has about
the same ratio as wheat bran, which is
1 to 81, which would make last years
ration somewhere near right. I wish
some n would tell me before these
meetings close, what we can raise that
will be rich enough In albuminoids to
feed with corn fodder.
IT. would Cnnn0 Tnnnnnc-aTsv for ma
to say that an animal so valuable and
Of such good disposition as the old COW,
ought to be treated with kindness but
l know many treat them very i'll. If
she is frightened and starts they send a
club after her, or if she has a sore teat
and kicks they whack her on the ribs
with the threelegged stool. q don't
use a three-legged stool; l use a box,
which is Unhandy to chastise her witty
l will tell you how / manage to break
a heifer to milk. Ihad a little scrubby
looking COW which I traded with n
of my neighbors for a large, fine look
ing heifer with a fine calf some six
weeks old, He said hehad never MIXED
her except to relieve her bag of what
the calf could not take. I put her in
the stable and tied up her calf; she was
a little wild and large and strong, and
COu1O A4CA L4O 0O4OS0 U4O Dg0OAO W4GA
little effort. [ concluded that the
reason my neighbor traded with me
was that he did not like to wrestle with
her, to break her to milk, and if he is
here to day he will learn how I did it.
l tied her head up pretty short to the
mangera as quietly and gently as I could.
She could not run but she could kick.
I then strapped up her right foreleg
and had her at a great disadvantage.
I petted her and rubbed her bag a little
while and then MIXED her. I went
through the same operation afew times,
till l could put the strap on without
tying her up. After she got used to
that I put the strap on in the yard;
after awhile l could milk her without
putting the strap on, and had no trouble
with her after that 1t is better to
handle the heifers and gentle them be-
fore thew have calves