The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1898-06-07
THE cow.
DR. James Bird, in Second Report N. G.
State Dairymen's Report.

A@4AA16 % S4CSCSSs We
grow and make ON our farms largely
what we eat ourselves as well as what
we feed to our work stock. The hen,
the hog and the COW play an important
part in the table supplies, and even
sheep in quite a large part OF our State
will pay better for the feed consumed
than does the hog. The COW has been
styled the poor mans friend, and such
she truly is-truly the small farmers
friend, capable of making for him a
perfect food out Of material that with
out her aid ia a waste or that would in
the main be let 60 to waste.
OF all our domestic animals, she lis
the most important to the farmer, aud
today shows the inf fence OF civiliza
tion-R creature of modern times-the
resultant OF that great law, that stlike
begets like" an artificial animal with
all the functions Of the animal i'm the
wild state, having some OF those func
tions intensified and enlarged for q
special purpose. Thus instead of Civ.
ing milk for only a short time or barely
long enough TO give her offspring
growth and strength sufficient to care
for itself on the range, she quite often
milksfrom n ~calving time TO another,
making phenomenal yields Of butter,
even whole herds i'm our country aver
aging 800 pounds and 400 pounds i'm O
year. Her feeding capacity of q like
phenomenal range. Ready to eat, and
can be induced to eat large quantities
OF q mixed variety of foods. Her
stomach or digestive apparatus OF that
capacious character TO hold large guam.
titles and with powers Of digestion and
assimilation in proportion, working
out Of the coarse as well as the richer
or more concentrated articles OF diet
the material, for the repair and main
tenance of her own structure and for
the production OF milk. The parts or
organs in her body concerned in this
secretion Of milk {the milk glands and
blood v~essels) are enlarged and inten-
sifed in their action.
Instead of storing up fat with the
feed not required TO support life, she
returns it in milk. The special feature
in her animal economy is the produc-
ton of milk.
We say OF a watch or any other ma.
chinery in which the parts are small
and require accurate setting for sue
cessful working, that it is a delicate
piece of machinery. The cow is a ma.
chine, with the capacity to reproduce
herselt-a very delicate machine-with
microscopic parts, very wonderful in
CONSTRUCTION, with a governing organ
Of the most sensitive characteristic
nervous syssem-very impossible
subj ct to influences from several diff
ferent sources-heat and cold, storm
and sunshine-kind usage and rough
usage-anything to frighCen or irritate
the food and water she takes both
quality and quantity. The more COM
Portable she is in her surroundings, the
better will every organ perform it's
part. Interfere with that comfort,
and, even with the best of food, her
digestion will not be as good, and the
quantity and quality of milk will be
lessened. Exposure TO cold viii invari.
ably lessen the quantity, and fright or
irritation-rough usage-win interfere
with the quality, making less cream
or butter fat. The milk often deIeteri
GUS in character, sometimes positively
harmful.
Every one familiar with the cow
knows how readily milk is tainted by
the odor and flavor of what she eats.
Let her have impure or infectious
water TO drink, and the germs of dis
ease will appear in the milk, and often
with very calamitous consequences to
the consumer. Pure food TO eat, pure
water TO drink-not ice Cold-clean
and comfortable surroundings, as well
as a healthy animal, are the sine qua
non, the absolute necessity for the
production OF pure milk. Some cream
cries and milk establishments require
their patrons to use certain feeds and
no others. I am told that the milk
condensing companies object to en-
silage.
What a delicate machine we have in
the cowl How wonderful in cohstruc
ton, yet largely subj 9ct to our pntrol.
We a influence her product, both
quantity and quality, by her surround
irgs and with the food we give her.
Give food that she relishes and she will
eat more and re-chew it better, more
thoroughly masticate and digest it,