The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1908-02-07

added to supply the butterfat taken
out, and the hogs just grow big on
the skim milk with a little ground
feed added 1the screenings will de-
for the summer which, by the way,
ought to be left on the farms and not
freight paid them and then given
away in the Eastern grain markets)
and then have them finished in the
fall with corn. Third, where dairyine
is carried on in connection with grain
raising, and it always ought to be,
there the land will yield a better av.
erage of all kinds of grain as is easily
proven by the fact that a rotation OF.
crops is necessary. Fourth, with a
herd Of we'll cared for dairy cows you
are bound to get lot of very valuable
manure, which, with the use of tho
manure spreader, will keep the fer
tility of the soil and insure better
crops. Fifth, if so arranged that the
most of the cows in the herd will
come fresh in the fall, say from Oct
to Dec. 1, harvest time will find us
with but little milking to do.
years ago nearly all of our COWS
were of the range stock type. and. as
rule, came fresh about April or
May. With good pasture they would
give good supply of milk during
the summer months, but when fall
came with its dry pastures and no
feed but prairie hay and not much
of that until the ground was covered
with snow, the cows, of course, dried
up and remained dry until fresh
again. Now most dairymen try to
have good supply of feed for winter
such as corn fodder, millet hay, and
in some cases root crops, and in ad,
dition ground oats and speltz mixed
with bran, and as cows are now often
bred to freshen, say about Sept 20
to Dec. /, they are kept in comforta-
BILE barns and fed long before any
snow falls. In this way they produce
flow of milk during the winter, and
otter spring comes with green grass
they keep It right up the most of the
summer months.
Il would like to tell you now what
we have and what we are trying to
do to improve our herd, and by that
means the profit therefrom. Our first
method was by raising the heifhM
calves from our best cows, trying to
raise them as dairy stock and with
better care and feed have doubled
the yield Of milk from each COW ev-
cry morning and evening, taking sam
pies of their milk and testing for the
per cent of fat each month. In this
work we were considerably assisted
by Assistant Dairy Commissioner
Flint, who supplied us with milk
sheets and instructed us how to do
the testing. AS result of our one
years weighing and testing for our
herd of nineteen cows we found that
they averaged 6,62S pounds of milk
and 2O9 pounds of butterfat, which, if
made into butter, would average 244
pounds per COW. We found that we
had one COW that gave US SPIT
pounds of milk that contained 1882
pounds Of butterfat; another that
gave 7,494 pounds of milk with 275.8
pounds of fat. Our poorest COW that
lived to cor>plete the years work
gave 1911 pounds of milk that con-
tanned 1854 pounds of fat. This last
COW. though, as near as could
figure paid for the feed she ate. but
was not as profitable cow as
wished, and she was disposed Of
We are continuing the test, and be.
lieve it is profitable labor.
"Now you will likely want to know
what one can expect a good COW to
bring you in return for feed and la
Dor. This, of course, depends on diff
ferent' things. The kind of cows you
have, the pasture, care and feed that
is raised on the farm the time they
come fresh and also the help you
have at home to do the work. From
$50 to $40 is about the average profit
from reasonably we'll kept cows in
this neighborhood. There is a big
difference in the profit of different
cows as we found by weighing and
testing ours. The years results
proved that while few of the best
procured butterfat to the value of $50
above all feeding expense, a number
of the poor ones did not do half SO
we'll and one just paid expenses. The
latter kind get off the farm quick.
While our herd Of nineteen cows
which gave 1O6,93O pounds of milk
with a fat content Of 3.974.1 pounds,
was composed wholly of grade stock,
principally Of Durham breed, there is
in this neighborhood more than
dozen Of registered pure bred Hol.
stein-Friesian sires at the head Of as
many different herds. also about
twenty. females of the same breed
being used as foundation herds. and
they are giving good satisfaction.
This pure bred stock was purchased
about two years ago in Southern Wis
consin from noted breeders. and many
Of the individual animals came from
noted families Of this breed. The
animals were all treated for tubercu.
losis and found healthy before being
shipped to this state. We are also
agitating the building Of silos and
feeding our fodder corn in a more