The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1895-02-08

DRYING OFF co US.

| A C.. Cuyleryi!le. N. u, writes in
the Breeders Gaze, t.:
If you can will you please give me
the best met hod for driving off COWS.
have noticed several articles on the
subject in my Breeders Gazette, but
cannot make my JERSEYS dry off by
using thase methods. From what has
b Ell written on the subject of cou'in-
uous milking, do you think COWS do as
well as they do when they have a rest
of six or eight weeks:
AS | have said before to the readers
Of the Gazette my opinion is that as IA
rule cows do bet er to be dry six or
eight weeks before calving. Ger ainly
they should be thoroughly dry before
the time comes for them to commence
''making bag previous to becoming
again fresh. My way Of drying cows
is to at first reduce the feed, especially
the grain fed. Then stop milking
for two or three days; then milk them
| out clean and let them 90 for longer
period without milking and milk them
out again, and so On till perfectly dry.
In this way there will usually be no
J trouble. This all seems simple enough,
vet mistakes sometimes occur even
with the best and wiSest of men for the
reason tina there are some things ut
lines about cows hat no man is able
to know with certainty. think |
can best make myself II, ders God by
relating some .fncfs which | know. One
Of Wisconsin hest dalrymen, who has
fine herd of pure-hrrd dairy cows.
gave Instructions to have them dried
up in good time. OF course he kept
record o. service. His best COW after
she was dry was found not TO be with
calf. She was dry nearly year be-
fore coming in again and the mean
time became very lat. She contracted
a beef habit 50 that ever af erward she
persisted in turning much Of her food
into beef instead of milk. This was
very ccs ly mis- AXE, for he not only
lost the use of the COW for a year, but
he nearly ruined $500 COW. 10 not
say ii man oug hit to know be t-r, f L
this man is one of the most attentive,
careful and intelligent bergman in
the country.
Here is one of my own mistakes: In
driving off one of my cows that was a
yerv persistent r1.I~44Ner 1T took long
time to accomplish it. She came IN
nearly month sooner than we expect
ed, although | know the recor of SER
wee was right, and was therefore dry
! l. Oh ,Io
gave almost no mi k and in a few days
was entirely dry A COW dried up only
a few days before ca'ving is almost
sure to be worthless for at least one
year. This COW also got fat long be-
lore having another calf and was never
again the good COW she had been. The
mistake was in not milking her right
along. though if we had commenced
drying her month sooner 1t might have
been just as we'll.
Another mis- axe that has been made
on my farm and also on my neis hbors'
in fact it is quite common mistake.
A COW is imagined to be perpetual
mixer and no attempt S made to dry
her. She is MIXED right along, the
quantity gradua ly growing less, but
she is stripped and stripped, giving a
very small mess up to the time of calv
ing. She comes in with a very small I'd
der. which is not disrended and enlarg-
ed as it should be, and result does
poorly, giving smaller amount o!
milk than she should during The whole
year. Those dairymen who do MOI
carefully keep a record of service or
let the bull run with the herd are very
apt to make this mistake if they have
long period mi king cows that are fed
as cows should be.
| have another case to mention. One
day my son who was caring for my
cows said to me: "Julia is dne to
come in in about two months. She is
now giving 16 lbs. Of milk a day that
tests per cent, making nearly a
pound OF butter day 1t is best to
reduce her feed and commence to dry
her?' l thought best not to do so,
thinking there might be mistake as
the time of her coming in. Two weeks
afterwad this COW was giving Is lbs.
of milk day and there was no falling
off but rather slight further gain
until she came IN, which was on time
as calculated. One month after be-
ing fresh she was giving 36lbs. of
milk day and doing better that ever
before. Her calf, though rather small
at first, developed into strong,
healthy fine animal. In this case there
was no mistake. There would have
beer one if the attempt had been
made to dry her up.
1t must be admitted that this
rery unusual case. 1t is barely
possible that our correspondents
Jerseys are similar to what this COW
was. If so he is making a serious
mistake IN trying to force them dry.
Now l have tried by these lustra-
tons to make my ideas about ''drying
up cows" milking from calf to calf,
etc, clear and hope have succeede d :
c. 7. Goodrich, J.fc' son Co. Wis, IN
| Breeders Gazette