Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1897-12-16
COWKEEPlNG.
1t Is Possible to Maintain Fun Milk Flow
All Winter.

1t Is Possible to Maintain Full MIX Flow
All Winter.
Keeping COWS is matter solely of in
come-to get return for the food con-
sumed over and above cost. That is the
commercial side of the matter, and the
herd that only pays for its keep soon
has its owner where he will need an in
dorser. The profitable COW can only be
the one that gives such quantity of
milk that its commercial worth is in
excess of the cost of feed and care. Actu-
ally in this day and generation, with
the sharp competition not only of other
states, but countries as well, care of the
COW contributes in no small degree to
securing this profit. To feed up to the
limit of the COW S capacity to digest and
pay back in milk needs care and watch
full attention, with no small skill and
discernment too. Unlike all other ami
mails, the COW, to produce milk well,
must have not only enough to support
the system without loss of flesh, but the
milk must also be taken into account in
the feeding, for milk is in one sense
only food recomposed into another FORM
In the ration fed, the body of the COW
takes its share first, and the rest has it's
effect on the yield. The better the mech
anism of the COW to accomplish this re-
suit, the better for the dairyman. Thus
the points of capacity to store food,
power to digest and assimilate and vi
tality to carry on the work are now the
most important items to be considered
in buying COW, and men have become
in many instances experts in judging by
external evidences of the possession by
the cow of these now considered essen
tials.
As a COW is kept for the dairy that
profit may be secured, it depends upon
the man to a large extent whether this
COW shall have the opportunity of hav-
ing suitable food to stimulate milk flow
and in every way possible extension of
time given to the milk flow There is
no reason why the average COW should
go dry at Thanksgiving and board
through the winter with her owner at
his expense. If the fall months are given
to the abundant and uniform feeding of
green soiling material, the COWS kept in
warm stables after the frosty nights and
are not allowed to become drenched
with chilling rains and fair quantity
of protein foods like bran or buckwheat
shorts is given them to supply the miss
ing element in the frosted and dry herb
age, there is no reason why a COW that
is to drop her calf in March or April
should not milk well to the lst of Feb
ruary, as well as the COW that calves in
the fall months, if well cared for, should
milk until July To- The stimulating
grasses of May, June and July actually
force milk supply, and the same would
be quite as true if the months of Sep
TENDER, October and November and
part at least of December could be made
to supply good, nutritious succulence as
abundantly as the early parts of sum-
mer In the autumn months the winter
dairy herd is quite as dependent on an
abundance of succulence as are the sum-
mer COWS, for to let the former shrink
for lack of succulent food is to show
great loss in milk that can never be
restored by any system of feeding.
All this extra feed is secured from the
small field of millet, sweet corn and
others of our now recognized good soil
ing crops, and here and there is man
who is demonstrating that no fall soil
ing crop comes quite as near filling the
requirements of milk production or is as
cheap and sure as to have small pit of
ensilage left over on purpose from the
previous years crop.
With ensilage there is the same thing
to be met with as with the flush, rank
food Of the pastures. Ensilage repre-
sents more fully than any other food
the starch side of the ration, and in the
summer or fall feeding of it some sort
of protein should therefore be fed with
it.
So a small ration daily of bran or
like protein foods is of great assistance.
Even on the best of grass a pound or
two of oat dust or bran, possibly lit
tie oilmeal and a lightener with it, pays
when fed to each cow.-Exchange.