The Redwood gazette., 1902-12-24

The feed for a COW costs more than
half the entire expense for her main
tenance. and any saving on this cost
adds just so much to her profits While
no saving can be effected by putting
her on short rations or by giving feed
of inferior quality or unsuitable COM
position. it is quite possible to make
an important reduction in cost by Civ
ing just the right kinds OF feed-those
containing the different food elements
in the proportions in which the COW
needs them for her own support and
7 for the production Of milk. 1t requires
more skill and good judgment to feed
economically than to make good butter
and cheese. Whether the feed comes
from pastures. soiling crops. silos or
grain. it must be abundant. palata bic
and nutritious. 1t is always good econ
omy to provide COW with as much
food as she can be induced to eat with
out becoming too fat, and 4 COW which
is really good dairy animal can rarely
be made fat while she is giving milk.
Pastures give certain amount Of
roughage at the lowest cost. but need
to be supplemented by soiling crops
and silage. while no combination Of
such feeds will enable COW to do her
best without the addition of more or
less concentrated food. like grain
Farmers Bulletin No. ISL
Benefit of Cultivnting Pastures.
Very few farmers ever think of cul
tivating pastures, and yet this may
protitably be done.
The director Of the Iowa experiment
station says: The problem US our lands
become more valuable will be not how
to do with less grass. but how to get
more of it. Pasture lands may become
worn out or. what is more properly
termed, run out" quite as readily and
| completely as tillable lands. No part of
| the farm will yield better returns for
careful attention and good treatment
| than the pasture. Some simple expert
! lnents conducted in the Iowa college
| farm pastures have furnished striking
results in favor of pasture culture. The
application of ten quarts of clover seed
| per acre. disked and narrowed into blue
! grass pasture in the early spring. in
| creased the yield 6o per cent over pas
lures Immediately adjoining that re-
| ceived no treatment. Pasture lands
| thus treated produce heavier, denser
| growth and better variety os grasses
aud stand drought better and the i'm
| nrovement extends over several sea
! sons. This treatment should be alter
mated with top dressing. applied pref
|, crably during the fall or winter. follow
ing with the harrow in the spring. The
best pastures are those that are never
disturbed by the plow.
For Feeding the Dairy Calf.
The calf is what the dairyman has to
build his future herd from. To neglect
the calf and let it simply survive is
poor economy. A very common type OF
, calf has stomach b1oated and distend-
ed and stunted frame. The calf is
liable to gulp its milk, and the result is
the milk lodges in the stomach in an
indigestible cheeselike mass. and gases
form which bIoat the stomach. Scours
are sometimes q result of this unnatu.
raj feeding. There is another type ot
calf. with a large stomach. but with q
we'll developed frame. The latter result
is accomplished by allowing the calf
TO take it's milk in the natural way by
means of the calf feeder. The calf. By
taking its milk slowly. allows it to be
come mixed With the juices OF the
mouth and stomach and thus to digest
readily. This sort OF calf develops di-
gestive capacity that is Indispensable
IN the COW VITA which you expect e