Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1909-03-09
Developing q Dairy Cow.

Good BREEDING alone does not give us
the good dairy COW. She comes largely
by development. Even though she
might be bred on right lines, II we make
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 a
male we use, il he has not something at
least of maturity he will not or at least
is not apt to transmit his good breeding
to his get. A sire TO be prep0tent must
be mature.
Supposing the young heifer calf to be
born right, the critical point in her life is
from the time she ia 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 whole to skim milk. We
mutually 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 safely take as much.
When calf's bowels get deranged 1t is
not an easy matter to get them back into
good working order and cow without a
good digestive tract is invariably a fail
ure, hence the necessity of keeping the
calfs stomach in good healthy trim, 30
that when it grows to maturity 1t may
have that good strong stomach 30 neces-
sary in dairy cow that has to consume
such large quantity of feed as is neces-
sary to yield good flow of milk. Over
feeding Is not the only cause of weak
stomachs and indigestion in calves.
Lack of cleanliness in their pen is also a
fruitful source of bowel trouble among
calves. Good fresh air and sunlight are
two necessary factors in building up a
good healthy calfhood. Regular exer-
else is also another essential factor. A
dairy COW when giving good flow of
milk must have a good pair OF lungs In
order to purify the great amount of
blood that goes through the lungs every
twenty-four 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 most
of the time in winter. She cannot with
stand this confinement II she has not
had the opportunity earlier in life of
plenty of outdoor air, sunlight and exer-
else. do not mean by this that the
young heifer should be neglected and
allowed to stay out in the cold. Simply
give her an opportunity for regular out
door 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 a
good degree of development and still
not be overdone. Everyone knows as
soon as heifer begins to take on fat 1t
is to her disadvantage as milk pro-
ducer.
Even when the heifer is carried up to
the point where she first freshens the
story is not all told. Her development
must be steady from this point until
fully matured II she is to do her best
later on. Many two-yearold has been
crowded to make a great record and
afterward disappointed her owner-a
case of simply OVERRIDING. While
heifer should be we'll fed, do not overdo
it. The other extreme-of underfeeding,
so as not to properly develop hers
nearly as great an evil. It takes great
er amount of good, hard sense to proper
ly raise calf and then develop her into
a good COW than to do anything else on
the farm. 1t has been said that eternal
vigilance is the price of good stock. l
would say eternal vigilance and lots OF
good COW sense is 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 were as
easy to gather as pebbles they would not
be worth any more. There never was a
brighter outlook than at present for
those that are really in earnest and are
willing to work for success along dairy
lines.-Forest Henry.