The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1894-06-09
Gla 8armer.
The Average Cow.

narrow; her skin is too hard, and her but
ter too soft; she has too much tail and tai
low, and Too little capacity to make milk
and butter, and she beats the farmers OF
this country out of more money than the
sugar trust, the railroads and the patent
medicine men combined. She has two
very good qualities appetite and constitu-
tional vigor; they will do to graft upon,
but immediate dependence upon them for
daily bread will make man earn it BY the
sweat of his brow in some other way.
The average COW is the workmanship of
the average farmer. She has not been
bred right, fed right, nor been handled and
cared for as she should be, and she gets
even in wholesale robbery of the man who
made her what she is. | do not know the
average COW in other States, and | don't
care to, if she bears the same character that
her sister does in Pennsylvania. Here she
is better than she was, but even now she
fools away whole year in making l25;
pounds of butter, and the man who waits
on her 365 days get most of his profit in
some other way than in the pleasure o
milking.
There are 1000 COWS in this State
if 300 900 would die this minute, as they
ought to, the State would be better off.
But, some farmer says, what shall | do if
my cows are all average 2 answer, sell
them to some man you don't like, and, ii
you like everybody, eat as many as you can
and sell the rest to the butcher, and if you
have not the courage to do any of these
things, grade up your stock with the in
PRODUCTION of pure blood; the latter remedy
is slow, but it is effective. In this State
it raised the average butter production per
COW from 60 pounds, in 1855, to 125
pounds in 1890. Farmers complain that
they cannot afford to buy good stock, nor
can they to raise corn with hoe, harvest
grain with a sickle, or cut wood with Il
dull axe.
Half the men in Pennsylvania who think
they cannot afford frst-class dairy bull
spend enough in tobacco in a year to buy
one.
The best COW is the COW which makes the
most butter fat out of dollars worth of
feed without injury to her vital force, and
can transmit to her offspring her own ex-
cellence. OF all men poor man cannot
afford poor COW. The average COW fiat
tens his pocket-book and his ambition.
The man of wealth is the only man who
can afford the society of the average COW.
When | talk about average COWS l do not
refer to natures alone; there are cows in
all breeds that pull down the averages as
if they had grudge against them. The
Jerseys and Guernseys are fine butter COWS,
but in almost every herd of these breeds
you can pick out cows that kill profits.
The Holsteins are noted for milk, but there
is fair per cent of them which give only
milk and water, and not much OF that. A
good portion of the DevOns have been SO
warped from dairy purposes that the aver
age COW can look down on them. The
Short Horns have played smash with dairy
averages by the surprising ambition of their
owners to make three-cent meat and tallow,
instead of 20-cent butter. The stamp of
breed does not make sure in the golden
book of profit. There are black sheep in
all fiocks, and BUTTERFLIES cows in all breeds
Nevertheless, the breeds which have been
handled and bred for generations towards
the milk and butter purpose give us the
most certain leverage to raise the dairy cows
of the country to good yield. The native
COW has been terribly mauled by the dairy
writers and takers of the last decade, in
spite of the popular saying that we should
treat cow as we would lady. As rule,
the native COW does not pay as COW
should, but she has plenty of defenders.
Almost every farmer has one or more
specimens, and man is very apt to be In
favor of what he owns. So | am not COM
PEELED to help her out on the ground of
sympathy l sympathize more with the
man who blindly milks COWS that do not
pay. Some say we should stick to the
native cow because of her constitution.
Steers have good constitutions, but they
are not useful in the dairy. You cannot
sell a cows constitution unless the consti-
tutional power to manufacture milk has
been developed. The native COW is com
mended as being hardy; there was never a
first-class dairy COW on earth hardy.
Is it any advantage to have cow that
can live out in blizzard six days and give
a tea cup of milk day? Occasionally a
native COW is found which is splendid dairy
producer; can anybody prophesy what her
heifer calves will make if she is bred to
native stock? The native is mixture of
waning elements of blood. The well-bred
thoroughbred is union of parallels, di-
rected to the one purpose of making the
most valuable dairy product out of a dol
lars worth of feed and care.
We are told that fancy farmers can
pump their COWS and break down their con-
stitutions, but the common farmer cannot
fuss so much and get so far away from
nature. Is it fussing to get good COW,
put her in a warm barn, groom her, give
her the best rations possible and work her
for all she is worth for the sake OF profits?
IF it is, what the dairy world needs Is
more fussing. The modern COW in her best
form is long ways from COW nature, as 1t
was in the time of Jacob, no doubt. She
is highly artificial, and the more artificial
she is, the better she is. The men who
worry about our getting away from nature,
in order to be consistent, never should
milk; they should leave that to the calves
The dairy COW of today has been made over
by the hand and brain of man for per-
fectly natural purpose-money making
and, if she does sometimes have milk fever
and many other diseases unknown to wild
cattle, she today possesses greater vital
force them her untampered ancestors, who
we're supposed to be hardy, but all of whom
would have died in less than week If
compelled 20 give enough milk in seven
days to make IA pounds Of butter. We
have not destroyed vital forces, we have
changed their currents.
An old farmer says feed makes the cow.
One man feeds native cow, grade Jer-
sey and a thoroughbred Jersey, IL cent
ration, each the same in the same barn,
with the same care, for one week, and from
the native COW he gets four pounds of but
l. I..s.Wa