Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1905-01-13
TEFSh NO.
~ ~? 81 EsE-Ds
Assss AKPEN
GENTLE CARE


The secret of Success In Developing
and Improving Dairy Cows.
AS early as 1874 an able historian at
tributed the beauty and meritorious
qualities of the breed Of cattle found
on the island of Jersey to centuries Of
gentle care under the management Of
women. The entire secret Of re-
markable record of successful breed
ing stands out strong and clear. The
first step taken in the improvement Of
any breed should be to develop the
confidence Of an animal. In order to
do this one at all familiar with the
rudiments of a breeders knowledge
has but to run a finger down the in
dex Of a bygone period until he comes
to 1.-THE magical words centuries Of
gentle care" containing a manifold
meaning-fOr wisdom. steadfast pur-
pose, pride and affection are all blend
ed and condensed into those four ex-
pressive sgords-and then fall into line
to do his duty to the best Of his ability
in the improvement Of his cattle.
The One Thing NeedfuI.
The dairy papers have chanted that
refrain gentle care, gentle care"
week after week and year after year,
and yet from a number of cases easily
found it will bear constant repeti-
ton, for it Is the keynote to the en-
tire secret Of dairying A man may
be endowed with SKILL intelligence, per-
seryerence, and there may be added
that most convenient commodity,
wealth, and yet If in the management
of his stock the all important requisite,
gentle care, be lacking his efforts can
not but result in disaster 81 a more or
less serious nature.
To obtain the best results the every
day life Of "a COW should be reduced to
a system bordering on utter monotony.
She should go in and out of the same
door, invariably occupy the same stall
and should be fed, watered and MIXED
at regular intervals. In short, her en-
tire existence should be as placid and
uneventful as possible, for anything to
disturb her sufficiently TO cause an in
terruption Of the peaceful occupation
of cud chewing will TO n greater OF
less degree affect both the quality and
the quantity Of her product.
shaping the Udder.
There is one more essential point in
building up a useful as well as an at
tractive herd Of dairy cows that is toe
often overlooked, even by some of the
most prominent breeders Of fancy
stock, and that is in shaping the nd
der. There is an old saying, NO foot
no horse" and dairy lore could as ap
propriately adopt one that would read
mo udder, no cow" for, while there
may be rare exceptions to a case il
point Of usefulness, a COW with a de
fective or i'll proportional udder should
not for a number Of reasons be tolerat
ed in a herd by one whose worthy am
bition is for the improvement Of tn,
breed in which he is interested.
AS the mixer or herdsman has
largely in his power to either mar o.
mold this importgRt feature Of the dai
~ animal, there is little doubt that 4
taken at the proper time, by the ex
ercise of care and judgment, many al
unsightly udder might be coaxed int,
a semblance closely approaching tn
highest standard. In case Of the un
evenly shaped udder Of a heifer
would be well TO first draw the mill
from the quarters best developed 70
the reason that it would throw all tn
weight OF the undrawn milk into tn
smaller quarters, thus helping to dis
tend the inferior parts. A still turtle
advantage would he gained by dali,
half hours gentle rubbing Of the undo
veloped quarters. mtistening the hand
from time to time with a few drops o
sweet oil.-Mrs. A. r. Howie, Wiscon
sin.