Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1911-09-05
The Dairy Herd.
THINGS ALL CATTLE MEN SHOULD KNOW
BUT SOME DON'T.

To increase the profits from our herd
or decrease the profits of production We
must eliminate the cows which indi
vidually run US into debt.
In the second place We must feed oul
cows more intelligently. The feeding o
dairy herd to produce profits NOR,
economically is a hard proposition e
put to man at the present time. I'm
der the present conditions the only way
to produce butter fat at less cost thar
We did last year is by increasing the
efficiency Of our home grown dairy
foods.
The feeding value of our home grown
foods will depend largely upon their
palatability. By feeding variety OF
feeds we make our rations more appe
thing and pslatable than few foods.
Ensilage and roots are more palatable
than dry folders. Cows that are fed
these appetizing feeds with clover hay
will eat more hay than when confined to
clover alone.
Early cut hay Is more suited to the
ration than late cut hay and the cows
will consume larger quantities of it. In
feeding homegrown feeds We must
feed such foods in practical way, as
will induce the cows to eat more.
The more easily digested the ration,
the larger the milk flow. A certain
amount of energy is required to prepare
these foods for assimilation. In feeding
coarse foods we find this is large per
cent.
Tender pasture grass is more easily
digested than dry folders. Again we
see that succulent foods are more easily
digested than dry folders; that early
cut hay is more easily digested than late
cut hay and that grain and concentra tes
are more easily digested than hay and
coarse folders.
We can make balanced ration from
corn ensilage and alfalfa hay, but such a
ration contains an excess of coarse fiber
and requires too great an expenditure OF
energy to digest and assimilate it.
Such ration may be greatly improved
by the addition Of few pounds of con-
centrates.
Cows that are giving milk must have
an abundance of protein. The more
protein we feed up to a certain point
the larger the milk flow. 1t is the
amount of food over and above that re-
quired to maintain the body that goes to
stimulate the milk production.
The German standard of feeding calls
for one and one-quarter pounds OF pro-
tein for every ten or twelve pounds OF
milk.
Another principle is that feeding con-
centrates, rich in nitrogen and mineral
matter, increases the value of the ma
nure and much of the profits from high
feeding must be made through the fer
tility brought on to the farm by the in
creased value of the manurial fertility.
But, high feeding is not always the
most profitable. This is a matter that
must be worked out by the man himself
&C ording to his farm and conditions.
Conditions are not the same on two
farms. The difference in cows, the
kinds and amount of available home
grown foods, the market prices of dairy
products and dairy foods, compel each
man to work out the problem as it ap-
plies to his own particular farm, always
watching the milk flow, increasing the
foods and protein until point is reach
ed that yields the most profit.
Cows must have good care and COM
Portable surroundings If they ara to re-
spond to intelligent feeding. The great
problem in connection with the stable
is to keep it warm and we'll ventilated at
the same time. Pure air is just as
necessary to the COW as food. Sunlight
is another essential. Dark stables
where sunshine never reaches breed
disease. Sunlight Is q tonic, a stimu-
lator and invigorator to all animals.
There seems to be wide diversity OF
opinion among dairymen as to how
much exercise the dairy COW should
have, and wish to say that ! am not a
member of the class who believe in shut
ting iu the cows from October until
June without turning them out for exer-
else.
There is a muscular tone and vigor
that must be kept up to maintain health.
With all our present-day systems of
ventilation and improved methods OF
tying the cows, We must give the cows
some out door exercise il we secure the
best results Of production and procrea-
ton.
IL we look upon the COW as milk
producing machine alone and do not
place q value upon her ability to bring
a strong and vigorous calf, 1t may be
more profitable for US to keep her in
side all the time, where she can turn all
of her energy toward the production Of
milk alone and be discarded in two or
three years and another COW take her
place.
Such practice may pay the producer
but not the man who is trying to build
mp herd of economical butter makers.
IL any man thinks little exercise a
waste of energy let him shut himself up
in a close room kept at the right tenn
perature all winter and confine himself
to just such kinds of food and see ii he
comes through the winter in condition
to start a hard springs work.
II the experiment worked well BY him.
self why then he might be justified in
trying 1t on the cows.