Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-06-17
csop suliErin.


replies from an unus-
uaIly large number of the leading fasmsrs
IN the State, and the information on dairy
matters is the best obsainable. The secre-
ta.y received returns from every county and
from 50 towns in all parts of the State.
The list of questions sent out were:
/. How many pounds Of butter have
your cows averaged the last year:
2. OF wha, breed are your cows. and did
you buy them or raise them yourseifs
}. Please give method of summer feed
ing. whether pasture feed wholly or in part.
and if only in part what folders are used
to supplement the pasture, if grain is fed,
what and how muchl
4. Please give winter feed, coarse fod-
ders and grain. daily amount of each OF the
kinds and estimated cost Of keep of COW
per year?
5. How are your cows tied in winter.
6. How are they watered aud how many
times each day:
I. Do you manufacture your own butter,
or is cream or milk sold.
S. If butter is manufactured. state
where sold. how put up and average price
received per pound:
3. Please give your estimate in detail of
apiece:
10. Please state what you use for bed
ding in winter!
Ii. What improvements were instituted
for the maintenance and repair OF the roads
in your vicinity last season?
IL. What will be the method employed
this season?
From the fifty-six replies to the first
question, we get" says Secretary Mckeen,
ian average of 2'53 as the number of pounds
of butter produced in year by each COW.
In one or two cases reported, cheese was
manufactured for short time during the
summer and except in a very few instances,
nothing has been allowed for the milk cream
and butter used in the family. OF course,
if this could be got at accurately it would
add quite an amount to the number of pounds
of butter produced.
From the replies to the second question
we get the information that twenty-five of
our correspondents have thoroughbred Jer-
seys; either Cattle Club or Maine State !;
thirty eight have grade Jerseys, four grade
Holsteins, one grade Ayrshires and ten ma
tiyes, that forty four raised their cows, and
that fourteen bought them.
From the replies to the third question we
learn that twenty depend upon pasture
wholly in summer; that thirty three feed
grain TO supplement- 1t, except in the flush
of feed that thirteen feed grain and green
crops as supplementary to the pastures, and
that two soil their cows, keeping them in
the barn the entire year.
II regret we did not receive any replies
which would indicate the relative cost Of the
different systems. While there is no feed
SO cheap for the production of butter as
pasture grasses, careful study of the cost
of keeping a COW year AS given by our
correspondents, would seem to indicate that,
under existing circumstances in Maine,
those dairymen who use the partial soilIng
system, keep their cows cheaper than those
who depend upon pasture wholly, and also,
that their cows, as rule. earn more; thus
making a double gain for them.
From replies to the fourth question we
learn that ten are feeding ensilage. straw
etc. for coarse fodder, that one depends
upon hay alone, without grain ami that
sixty six feed hay. straw, corn fodder and
grain. In nearly every case this consists
of shorts, corn meal, gluten and cotton
seed meal, mixed in about equal proper
tons and fed in quantities varying from
three to six quarts per day. Several feed
home grown mixed grains, and one, care
fully noted the fact that he feeds no pur-
chased grain. The average cost of keep
of COW per year is given as Si2.36.
From replies to question FIVE, we learn
that seventy-four tie in winter with chains
or straps around the neck, while six use
stanclions, and kee p the cows confined with
their necks between two upright poles, so
tnnotbDr that tn EntI no
withdrawn. The advantage claimed for
this system, being the increased clcanli-
ness of the COW. One correspondent writ
ing that, from using both chains and STAN
chions at the same time, has concluded the
starchions are far preferable. But we be-
lieve their use should be discountenanced,
as relic of the past, and the COWS should
be kept clean by liberal use of bedding
rather than by combining them too close for
comfort.
Question six gives us the information
that twenty of our correspondents water
their cows in troughs in the barn, forty
seven in troughs in the yard and three at
springs or brooks. That forty three water
twice, and twenty seven once a day, that
four have running water before them at all
times, and that four warm the water.
Replies to question eight show that forty
eight sell butter, twenty cream aud
nineteen milk. The average price received
per pound for the butter, which is, gener-
ally, put up in prints, and sold to private
customers, in cities and villages, is twenty
four cents. And the average price re-
ceived for cream enough to make pound
of butter, is fraction over twenty cents.
"From an average of the replies to the
ninth question we get S65.li as the cash
value of what the cows own apiece. The
replies to this question, being based on the
same assumption as those to question one,
we should feel that this is low figure for
the earnings And as it is S22 IS in exces SIS
of the average cost. which should represent
the market value of the fodder consumed, 1t
seems to be very encouraging condition.
"Replies to question ten give thirty-seven
as the number who use sawdust for bedding
in winter, five of those use leaves, two use
plaster and the others use straw and other
waste material.
Replies to questions eleven and twelve
are given quite fully in the individual state
ments which follow, and indicate the gen
eral opinion of the farmers on this great
question of road improvement. The re-
marks and suggestions are given quite fully,
both those which seem to favor the old
methods and the highway system as well
As those who are looking for improvements
and progress along this line as well as
others
Facts Concerning Poultry.