The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1898-12-14
AGRICULTURAL.
Cow Talk,

How 10 make the cow pay for her keep
ing and leave fair profit for her own
er is the subject of great deal of the
work of the experiment stations. Aud
it is the man who studies the results of
this work, and who puts the most skill
into his dairyiDg who is going to make
the most from bis cows in the future.
The great lesson which is being learn
must be fed according to her individual
capacity, that there is vast difference
in the butter producing abilities Of diff
ferent cows, and that more protein is
needed in the dairy rations. Prof. G.
S. Phelps of Connecticut tells the RI
ral NetU Yorker that the old feeding
the live weight of the COW. The true
guage of the amount of the ration is
the quantity of milk the cow gives. He
would use as base for ration, the
old l 900 pound weight standard as it is
printed in the tables for maintenance
ration, and then for the heavy mixers
he would use an additional ration COM
posed of meals rich in protein such as
cottonseed, linseed, gluten, and pea
meals. A dry cow not in calf needs
only enough feed to repair the natural
waste of the body. A cow giving milk
must not only have food for the repair
of waste, but she must also have food
to Use in making milk. The more milk
che gives, the more food she needs, and
the more milk she gives, the more pro.
tein she needs. SO do not feed all the
cows out of the same meal bin. Mix
as good a ration as you know how to
for the cows, and give them good feed
of it. Then have another box of the
meals rich in protein, and feed accord
ing to the quantity of milk the cows
are giving.
This requires study, but to know
the capacity of each of your cows re-
quires a great deal more study and
skill. Yet there is no knowledge 30
necessary to dairyman as the knowl-
edge of the butter fat production of
each individual COW in his herd, no
matter whether he has TWO or two
hundred. To give an idea of what is
being done by one station in this line
we clip the following from the Rural
Ne,o Yorker:
A bulletin is soon to be issued by the
Cornell University Agricultural Expert
ment Station on Studies in Milk Secretion.
Since the spring of 1894 the experiment
station through its dairy department, has
been conducting official tests of purebred
cows of various herds throughout the State,
and it is upon records 80 obtained that
these studies are based. Representatives
from the station have made 210 separate
tests of 1853 different animals. The bulletin
gives the con plete record for one week OF
each cow tested, the amount of milk and
butter fat produced, and the daily grain and
fodder ration. Comparison is made be-
tween the records of cows tested while at
pasture and those tested on stall feed. The
average gain in production from two.year-
Odds TO aged cows is given.
The yield of milk for seven days is found
to vary from 156 TO ga pounds, and of but
ter fat from 81 TO 2la pounds The amount
of grain eaten daily by cows in the stable
varies from IA to 53l pounds, and of coarse
fodder from Al to 90 pounds. The largest
daily ration consumed by one animal con-
sisted OF 10 pounds wheat bran, Is pounds
corn meal, pounds ground oats, 81 pounds
cotton-seed meal, 6 pounds oil meal, 27h
pounds clover ensilage, 294 pounds corn en-
silage, and II pound cut corn-,taks. The
wide variation in food eaten and in yield of
butter fat is no more striking than the vary
ing power OF different cows to use their food
economical y. The amount of food in dry
matter, required to produce 100 pounds of
milk, varies from 38 to 141 pounds, and to
produce one pound of fat from III to As
pounds The subject of the economic use
of food is carefully treated.
On the question of the variation in per
cent Of fat, it is shown that there is slight
variation between animals of different
ages; that up to 80 days from cslving there
is lutte, if any, change in the quality of the
milk; that the milk of the older cows does
not run 80 even in quality as the milk of the
younger animals; and that the highest per
cent OF fat usually follows the shorter PEE
Rod between mikings, and the lowest per
cent of fat usually follows the longer peri
cd, most Of the highest per cents coming at
noon and most of the lowest per cents in
the morning.
TINS bulletin has been issued and is
beiu he writer. We advise all our
reco' no are interested in darying
t, n it as it is free. Write to
Cow | University Agricultural Ex-
pertinent Station, Ithaca, N. Y, and
for bulletin 1872, "Studies in Mi k Sc
cretion." We think there are few
dairymen who would not learn some
thing from this work, and to many IL
would be of great benefit. 1t seems
that requests have come to the station
to make official tests of certain cows