Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1906-05-25
PROFIT ON % COWS.
W. F. Schilling Tells Minnesota State
Dairymen's Association of
His Experience.

What our dairy herd has done dur
ing the past year embodies more per-
haps than can be told in a brief ar
ticle. There are many things incl
dent to the caring for and work OF a
large dairy herd which comes up fsom
the daily routine on the farm. yet
they are in the main necessary 10 the
dairy success In fact. dairy suceess
cannot be had, without the close at
tentlon 10 detail
TO begin with, our herd was select
ed with regard only TO dairy eff
cheney from the standpoint Of "a dairy
farmer and not at all with the idea
that they We're To be fancy True. it
is one breed predominates, and this
because of the similarity of the con-
formation and disposition of the ami
mails. They 'rere gathered together on
October, 1904. and on November -,
the work of the herd began. and we
will state that the years work was be-
gun under a condition certainly not
conducive to the best results for dairy
ing.
The dairyman must know his COWS.
They, like individuals of the human
race, have each disposition of their
own, and each cow must be studied
and her peculiarities and wants ca
tered to. This, in our first year, with
about 40 head of new stock, was not
easy to do, especially as the COWS
looked nearly alike, and many days
passed before their names could be
learned. But these difficulties were
soon mastered after fashion.
Our feed was pretty good We had
ensilage talmost indispensable in feed
ing dairy cows, clover hay, ground
oats, corn, bran and oil meal The
cows were fed ensilage in the morning
after milking with their grain. oil
| meal, etc, mixed with it. After break
fast the COWS were watered and then
fed light feed of clover hay, which
sufficed until the middle of the day.
At noon feed of millet hay was
given and at one or two o'clock. if
the weather was pleasant, the COWS
were turned out in an eight-acre pas
ture east of the barn. We use no COW
yard, as | have found that it is next
thing to impossible to keep a cow yard
clean around the buildings in all kinds
of weather. They were never permit
ted TO be out more than two hours,
and upon returning TO the barn We're
:al,t nf no and
milking was commenced at five
o'clock.
We always milk at five in winter
and summer. and no work in the fields
or anywhere else changes this rule.
Twenty-Five COWS MIXED more or
less, and were kept through the year,
and two more started, but did so poor
ly at the end of the first six months
they were sold.
The 30 head gave an average of s.
OPT 1-3 pounds of milk each for the
milking period ranging from four 10
II months, or an average of nine
months and II days for each COW,
counting out the four cows that We're
not in calf at the line of beginning
the test, and the average would be 81
665 AS pounds each. Taking our ay=
erage test at the creamery at 3.74 ana
we would have 320.6 pounds of butter
fat for each COW in the %. Adding the
four farrow cows and we would have
297 pounds of butter fat for each COW
in the herd, or considerably over 800
pounds of marketable butter.
It must be remembered that ten of
this herd were wo-year-olds. milking
on first calf, and only three were six
years old.
We received in actual cash for milk
sold an average Of Sill for each OF
the 80 head. besides using three gal
ions or fresh milk daily at the houses
and feeding all calves raised fresh
milk for three weeks after they came,
This year we propose to go still fur
Their with our work and have pur~
chased al eight-bOttle BabcOck tester
and use it every Is days on each cows
milk. Thus a record is kept of each
individuals butter fat. We hope 10
know more of what each member CT
the herd is doing in another year. The
work is extremely interesting and in
structive, and what cannot be found
by ones own observation can be read
lily attained by reading good dairy lit
erature