The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1910-04-08
HOW TO HAVE
The BEST COWS.
Must Watch Each Individual, Find
Out Her Habits and What
She is Doing.

good when measured by their profits;
but it is not always possible to get
the best, or even very good; hence we
have been content to make the most
possible out of what we have had AL
though we have had all along been
aware that we ought to have done bet
ter. The idea that poor cow is bet
ter than no COW has much to be said
in its favor, but do not intend to say
it here. However, the average farmer
is not so stubborn minded as some
men seem to think. for he is usually
willing to learn better ways than he
has been practising, although he right
ly asks for proof to sustain theory,
says a writer in the New York Trb-
une Farmer. Conservative the diary
man is from necessity, but he is at
the same time enterprising and pro-
gressive. The widespread interest in
the new move for making dairying
more profitable through wedding
out process by means of the cow-test-
ing associations that are now being
organized in several sections of this
country, as we'll as in other nations,
furnishes ample proof that the COW
owners of the present are alive to
their needs.
These associations are a new thing
here and, like all new things, more
Is probably claimed for them than
experience will prove true. Be that as
it may, they are a good thing, and If
their lessons are rightly interpreted
and applied to practice much good
may result. But a note Of warning is
always in order as regards enthusiasm
for the new, because there is danger
that disappointment in some things
may cause disgust with the whole pro-
ceeding, and we thus lose whatever
good might be found. BY the test
we may know what each COW is doing,
but, as it seems to me, this is not
enough. Some way needs to be devils
ed by which we may also know what
each individual in the herd is capa-
BILE of doing Up to the present there
has been no way of determining this
except by actual experiment with the
cows. But If the newer theory of
feeding Is correct, then We have
basis from which to work upward wi
our cows. If it be true that our cows
should be fed not in proportion to
their weight with regard to what we
want them to do, but in proportion to
what they are actually doing, then
many so-called poor cows are undoubt'
eddy good ones when rightly fed. If
a 6 per cent cow and 3 per cent.
COW are each being fed alike and the
one giving the richer milk is being
fed enough protein, then it is evident
that the other is getting twice as
much as she needs. Reducing her ra-
ton to her needs might effect saw
ing large enough TO throw the balance
on the right side of the account, and
she might be a really valuable animal !
instead of poor one, as new regard !
ed
Here is a phase of the subject not |
to be lost sight of if the progress de- |.
sired is to be made. 1t may not be
the cows fault that she is unprofita-
BILE. There are probably fewer real
poor cows now than there are poor
feeders. Because a man feeds LIBERAL |
ly that is no evidence that ne is a |
good feeder. When our good friend |
DR.. Smead fed his first COW peck |
daily of bran and meal until he turne
a good dairy COW into more or less
bad beef he was liberal feeder, but
he admits he was not good one.
One lesson taught him, while some
have failed to learn as much from
twenty. In a discussion following an
institute lecture one farmer said it
uiuH udhe iuuCu uillclclpCC WudJ
kind of grain the cows had If they
only had enough of 1t. ! admit that
a liberal quantity of most any grain
will give good results for a while, but
those results will not be continuous
unless the ration is balanced we'll
enough to meet the needs of the
cow.
Most farmers feed all their cows
alike, for two reasons. One is for the
of the feeder, and the
other and more binding one Is that
the idea Is nearly universal that what
Is good for one COW must necessarily
be good for all other cows. The first
reason Is excusable but the other Is
wholly unwarranted, and should be
rooted out of our minds, even though
It requires strong and steady pull
10 get 1t out. When a COW possesses
the dairy type to reasonable degree
and isn't proving profitable. there is
sov,,a .yood raason for II In theory