Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1909-05-11
Developing q Dairy Cow.

II
might be bred on right lines, If we make
a mistake in growing her and developing
her she may sadly disappoint us. First,
to insure success, the calf must not only
be born of parents that are we'll bred,
but from mature parents, to insure the
best results. No matter how good q
male we use, If he has not something al
least of maturity he will not, or at least
is not apt to, transmit his good breeding
to bis get. A sire to be prepotent must
be mature.
Supposing the young heifer calf to be
born right, the critical point in her life
is from the time she is taken from the
COW until she is we'll started on to skim
milk. Nearly always We overfeed the
young calf, and especially Is this true
when we change from the whole to skim
milk. We naturally say to ourselves
that skim milk is not as good as new
milk, and therefore we must feed more
of it, when really the young calf cannot
take as much. When calf's bowels
get derauged 1t is not an easy matter to
get them back into good working order,
and a cow without good digestive tract
is invariably failure; hence the neces-
sity of keeping the calf's stomach in
good, healthy trim, 80 that when II
grows to maturity it may have that good,
strong stomach 30 necessary in a dairy
COW that has to consume such a large
quantity of feed as is necessary to yield
good flow of milk.
Overlooking is not the only cause OF
weak stomachs and indigestion in calves.
Il IL nc Il tn Shatr 10 1lo O
fruitful source of bowel trouble among
calves. Good fresh air and sunlight are
two necessary factors in building up a
good healthy calfho0d. Regular exer-
else is also another essential factor.
A dairy cow when giving good flow
of milk must have good pair OF lungs
in order to purify the great amount Of
blood that goes through the lungs every
twenty-fo hours. No animal that has
been brought up confined in filthy pen,
shut away from the pure sunlight and
denied proper exercise, can develop
good lung power. This, with good
heart action, is absolutely necessary.
In our northern latitude the dairy cow
must of necessity be confined In the
barn the most Of the time in winter.
She cannot Withstand this confinement
if she has not had the opportunity
earlier in life of plenty of outdoor air,
sunlight and exercise. do not mean
by this that the young beifer should be
neglected and allowed to stay ont In the
cold. Simply give her an opportunity
for reg liar outdoor exercise every day OF
her life, when the weather conditions
will admit. 1t not only requires good
judgment but experience, to know just
how much and what to feed so that she
may reach good degree of develop
ment and still not be overdone. Every
one knows as soon as heifer begins to
take on fat, that it is to her disadvan-
tage as a milk producer.
Even when the heifer is carried up to
the point when she first freshens, the
story is not all told. Her development
must be steady from this point until
fully mature If she is to do her best
later on. Many two-year old has been
crowded to make a great record, and
afterwards disappoints her owner. A
case of simply OVERRIDING. While a
heifer should be we'll fed, do not overdo
it. The other extreme, OF underfeeding
so as not to properly develop her, is
nearly as great an evil.
1t takes greater amount OF good,
hard sense to properly raise calf and
then develop her into good cow, than
to do anything else on the farm. 1t has
been said that eternal vigilance Is the
price of good stock. would say that
eternal vigilance and lots of good COW
sense are necessary to develop a first
class dairy COW.
This is why really good dairy COWS
are so scarce and hard to get, but 1t Is
no reason why one should not keep on
striving. Everything that is really good
comes hard. If diamonds we're as easy
to gather as pebbles they would not be
worth any more. There never was a
brighter outlook than at the present for
those who are really in earnest and are
willing to work for success along dairy
lines.-Forest Henry.