Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1903-05-28
Know About the Cows.

Know About the Cows.
1t is astonishing how little most
COW owners know about their ami
mails. One man will have a lot OF
good, average and poor cows, and yet
have very little conception of their
real or relative value To demonstrate
this, one has but to 60 out to buy
a COW, and inquire as to milking
capacity of any one of them at any
farm. He is told, that such and such
a COW gives "pailful" of milk twice
a day." and that it is very rich. Not
infrequently he is told that the cow
gives ten quarts of milk morning and
night, with the inference that this
rate of milk giving is continued the
year around. But the scales and the
test change all these opinions. The
COW that was reported to be giving
about 40 pounds per day Is found to
be giving about one.third of that on
an average. The other rate would
have given over $4,000 pounds of milk
per year and cows giving that amount
are not too numerous. The man that
buys cows to put into dairy is com.
ing to demand very complete knowl-
edge of them. He wants a yearly
knowledge Of weight Of milk pro-
duced, as we'll as richness tests
throughout the milking period. He
will not, If he is wise, trust the hired
mans or any one else's guess as TO
how much milk a cow can give.
Cow Capacity.
In the selection of a milch COW for
the farm some attention should be
paid to her capacity to produce milk.
There are on American farms alto
gether too many cows that give only
5000 or 1000 pounds of milk per
year. The 5000 pounds of milk mark
is a good one to strive for, and If
man can get together herd Of cows
that can average that amount he Is
about sure to make money OUT OF
them. But this milk should be above
the average in richness, say per cent
There are indeed numerous cows that
give as high as 10000 pounds Of milk
per year, but they form but small
per cent of the whole At the pres
ent time an average Of even 5000
pounds of per cent milk is some
thing to look forward to. 1t is to be
regretted that in the past there has
not been more method in breeding
up and selection. Cows have been
retained in the herd without much
regard for their real capabilities, and
ones that have been sent to the butch
err have also been little understood.
Some Of our best strains as well as
some of the poorest have gone to the
shambles; and this process continued
year after year has been to the detri-
ment of our herds. :.
Cream for the Creamery.
There are a good many things that
our creameries will have to do before
they succeed in getting first-class
cream for use in making butter, espe-
cially when the gathered cream sys-
TEN is followed. One manager sug-
gests that every creamery should fur
nish the haulers with canvas covers
for their cans to keep out the dust
that so often gets into the crease
where the covers fit in and are after
ward rinsed out with the cream when
it is poured from the cans. He also
suggests that 1t would be a paying
investment to furnish the haulers
with soap-stone stoves or some
other kind of heaters In winter, so
that the cream will not freeze, as II
is not possible to make first-class but
ter from frozen cream. In the sum-
mer time haulers Of cream should be
required to be at the creamery at a
certain time, as several hours I'M
necessary exposure of cream to the
suns heat is likely to injuriously af-
feet its quality.