Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1904-11-29
The Pines Dairy.

HOW b. WALKER M'KEEN Is ABLE I
FEED AS MANY CATTLE AS HE HA
ACRES UNDER CULTIVATION.
The Pines Dairy, owned by B. Wake
McKeen, and located in the town Q
Fryeburg, Me-, is one of the up-to-dat
dairy farms of that state. 1t is pleasant
ly situated on the main road runnin
from the New Hampshire White Mour
tain region to Bethel and other town @
interest to summer pleasure seekers
The farm was originally settled by a
Englishman in the year l760, and wa
purchased by the father of the presen
owner in 1865.
From the first ownership of the farm
the keeping of cows was made An i'm
portant feature, the cows and smal
part of the young stock running in
fifty acre upland lot, and the thirty-fiv,
acre iutervale being wholly devoted t
the growing of hay, grain and hoet
crops. Under this management from
ten to fifteen head of cattle and the farm
team were kept. This continued til
about the year 1880. At this time effOrt
were made to increase the stock carry
ing capacity of the farm, and to max,
really dairy farm. The pasture wa.
continually growing up to pines; th'
amount of feed to be obtained was con
stantly growing smaller, and all of th'
droppings of the animals in summer
went to fertilize forest growth, rather
than the growth of stock folders. This
pasture problem was at once solved BY
abandoning the pasture, giving it back
to nature, whose hand, ever busy, has
in the years since past grown some
sturdy pines, which the present owner
hopes and expects to live long enough
to see reach the full size for harvest
The first thing, then, to do was to
plan for something to take the place OF
the upland pasture. To do this it was
arranged to take up five year rotation
and to include the pasture in this rota
tion. This rotation was and has remain
ed as follows: Pasture, hoed crops
oats, land seeded to grass and clover
two years in grass. By this plan the
farm has had seven acres in pasture,
seven acres in hoed crops, seven acres in
oats and fourteen acres in grass each
year. A portion of the section devoted
to hoed crops has been used for a sue
cessiou of soiling crops. These have
been grown, as far as possible, near the
pasture, and are cut and fed there, thus
saving quite an amount of labor.
In 1892 silo was built and has proved
a great help in securing fodder for fall
and winter use. The gain in fodder
was direct, and by better
tillage, more thorough working of the
soils and the extension of the farm ma
nure over larger area, thus getting
over the farm oftener-working, as it is
claimed, nearer the capitalize capacity
of the farm was increased, until in 1900
it produced coarse folders enough, in
cluding pasturage, to carry an animal
to the acre. 1t will be seen that the in-
crease was rapid, indeed, as in 1850,
with eighty-five acres in use, only fifteen
animals were kept, while in twenty
years, with the fifty acre pasture out OF
the farm, thirty-five animals found food
enough to keep them the entire year.
At this time more land was obtained,
and the same system of rotation was
and it is confidently expected
that in the near future the animal-to-the-
acre mark will again be reached.
When asked what were the principal
features of his work that he considered
of most value, Mr.. McKeen named the
saving Of all fertilizing material by con-
fining the animals on the cultivated por-
ton of the farm in summer, more fire.
quent ploughing, the more careful
application of the farm manure and the
increased amount of fodder produced by
the use of the silo. There are now two
silos on the farm, holding about one
tons of silage, and in all except
in unusually bad corn years these are
filed.
The farm barn, originally SO by As feet
has been extended, until now 1T is As by
So feet, with milk room, icehouses, car
riage house, ETC., in addition.
During the first years of the dairy
work butter was made and sold to pri-
yate customers. Then cream was sold
TO creamery. The first lot OF cream
ever shipped from this town went from
this farm. In 1899, an opportunity pre-
senting, a retail milk route was estab-
Iished, the constant effort being to put
an article upon the market that shall be
first class in every respect.
The milk is put up in bottles at the
farm and delivered each morning from
A clean cart by a man who makes that
his regular business. The cart leaves
the farm at 4 o'clock and returns at
about s.
The motto of the farm is "CleanlineSs
and Purity" This condition is secured
By giving sweet feeds and pure water to
clean cows, in clean stables. A sepa-
rator is used, and quite a cream trade
has been developed. The sales of milk
aud cream for July were larger than for
INV previous month, and aggregated
S242. rs. The milk sold was 3,4O6
luarts, or an average of somewhat more
than 100 quarts day. Some of the
COWS are raised, others purchased. The
most serious objection to this practice
S lack of uniformity in the herd, as
when cows are purchased more attention
s paid to their capacity as individuals
han to their breed or color. A thorough
bred AYRSHIRE bull is kept at the head OF
he herd, and only calves from the best
COWS are raised. / do not understand
hat a record of any cows production
has been kept by weighing all her milk
;or an entire year, but by occasionally
weighing and by striking averages a
;airly accurate record has been secured,
he best one of which is $500 pounds.
The Babcock milk tester is used to ascer-
,ain the richness of the milk and cream.
When The pines was visited in August
The cows were being fed green oats, in
addition to the pasture, with one feed
,f grain, consisting of mixture OF
mixed feed and linseed meal.
There was a succession of oats and Hun
yarian sufficient to last them until the
corn should be well matured, when they
we're to be fed that, together with the
wastes from the corn factory, until the
silos should be opened.
Mr.. McKeen is a great believer IN the
value of succulence in milk production,
and thinks that good quality of silage
Or an abundance of soiling crops, both
from fairly mature plants, can be made
10 take the place of at least one-half OF
the grain ration. Some grain, however,
is fed at all seasons, and is considered
1t has been found that
cottonseed meal has an unfavorable
effect upon the flavor of the milk, con-
while it is the cheapest
source of purchased protein, none OF it
is fed. When asked what were the
chief requisites for the production OF
fine dairy products and milk OF good