Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1905-12-26

to the cows living room. This evil can
be remedied somewhat by sprinkling
air-slacked lime over the manure occa-
ionally, which holds down the impuri-
ties and kills the poison. Also the tie
ups should be whitewashed once . year.
am aware that farmers do not use
lime enough. 1t is good disinfectant
and fertilizer, and the land needs 1t, and
my advice to the dairymen is to use
lime around the stables more freely.
High pressure of feeding plays an i'm
pOrtant part in causing trouble with
our herds, yet am aware that there are
moro cows under-fed than there are
over-fed. There is one redeeming thing,
however, about animals that are under
fed. When they 60 to pasture In the
spring. if they get good feed, they will
recover and generally do we'll, but the
animal that ia over fed seldom ever
RECEIVERS or gets back to . normal and
natural condition. Under moderate
system of feeding We can feed our cows
all alike without injury, but under q
high pressure it requires an expert.
The weight, the age and the sssimila-
tive powers of each animal should be
carefully studied and considered. My
attention was called to case of over
feeding q few days ago. A man was
trying to see how much butter he could
make from q 3-year-old heifer. She
stood the feed for few weeks and then
collapsed. He told me how he fed her
and how much butter she made in one
week. "Well," said, 'she did we'll,
but you have spoiled your heifer."
When we stop to look back twenty
five years, and think Of our tough,
hardy breeds of cattle, with no close tie
ups, no water In front, and few barn
cellars, and our cattle with plenty of
exercise and fresh air, and with q moder-
ate system of feeding and breeding for
strength and muscle only, it was al
together a different condition of things
from what we find to-day. Breeding for
production only, close tie-ups, water in
front of the cattle, depriving them of
their proper exercise, and with high
pressure of feeding, barn cellars and
many other things that come in, who
wonders that it requires more thought
and care to successfully handle our
herds than it did before dairying was
establishedP But do not understand me
that would do away with any of these
things. We cannot 60 back, but must
go ahead. We are using them every
day in our business, and they are all
practical in a way, and we cannot get
along without them. They have all
been in the line of progress, and in har-
mony with the progress made in other
lines of industry, but to my mind the
time has come, and the conditions justi-
fy the importance of it for us to take an
other step in progress forward along
this line.
The dairymen are the interested par
ties. They are the owners of the dairy
interest of the state, with nearly twelve
million dollars invested in their herds,
and are responsible for the future well
fare of the industry. And 1t will re-
auire careful administration of affairs
in order to build 1t larger and stronger,
and it must be done through the in
fluence of this association; and as time
goes on and conditions change, we must
be able to meet every emergency by put
ting into operation every safeguard con-
sistent with practical economy, for his
tory will prove to us that as the country
grows older, the harder will be the task
to protect animal and vegetable life
from pests and diseases.