Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1913-08-12
Care of the Dairy heifer.

HER USEFULNESS AS COW DEPEND
ENT ON TREATMENT FROM BIRTH.
A correspondent writes me concern
ing my article in the Tribune Farmer q
April 10 on the making of COW, an
assures me that l recommend entirely
too much fussiness with the calf. Il
says he allows the calf to suck the dan
till the milk is Dit for use; gets the cal
TO drinking lot of skim milk by tn
time the calf is two weeks old, anC
raises his hefer calves into good, husk.
cows. This correspondent further sug
gests that say something about hand
ling the heifer.
My early breeding operations wer,
| along the lines of easiest performance
| On one occasion | bought ten tinel.
| bred, registered, beautiful heifers will
calf, and sat up nights to figure the
big herd l would have when those heif
ers dropped me heifer calves that woulc
grow into splendid cows and give M
more female calves. But with th'
calves came the scours, and before
learned how lost many beautiful regis
tered calves that if grown to cows will
their arithmetical increase would hav.
made me cow king. | consulted emf
nent veterinarians, breeders, editors anC
doctors, but about all any of them then
could tell me was to use sub-uifrate o
blsmuth-which, of course, didn't cure
PREVENTION BETTER THAN CURE
Now try to prevent, as we who have
had experience with the calf disease are
PEI fectly willing to take the ounce oi
prevention rather than have to depend
upon tubs full of cures.
Iwaut to say further in passing from
this aspect of the calf that in estimating
the kind of COW / have produced
without fussing, probably know only
the kind of cow l have produced by
these methods, and do not know how
much better one might have had IL
had been somewhat more "fussy," par
ticularly watchful and generous in the
building of her. The element of chance
is an unwise outcrOss in the pedigree oil
any COW.
NOT MACHINE.
The COW is not machine, out 10
living, sensitive, dependent individual
not to be considered, fashioned or useC
by any inflexible rule that any man
however wise, may establish concerning
her. Her natural tendency under care
less management is to revert and not ad
vance. When wise owner takes wei
bred heifer and develops her into work
of art as a beautiful, high producing
COW, her usefulness is an expression
from her of the Intelligent hsndiwork OF
the man who regarded her as potentia
| life and not machine.
SELECTION OF THE SIRE.
Hence, want my heifers we'll bret
from good cows-good at producing rict
milk; strong in vigorous constitution
that has enabled them to consume prof
itaby large quantities of the products
of nv own fields. l want the sire oi
sires of the heifers to be so rich in in
herited excellences, brought down from
dairy kings and queens, to be 80 prepo
tent, SO masculine, that l have almost
absolute assurance that my heifers, Civ
gu liberal, sensible care, will in theil
perfor nance express the royalty OF USE
fulness which is their birtbright.
The owner of such heifer would bt
unwise if he would jeopardize that birth
right by withholding the full feed by
which only she can grow. ln the calf,
nature gives US merely life and tenden
cies; onward from those the cow is feeo
and care. Therefore, through all the
DAYS of the life of the calf aud the heif
or there should be no periods of insult
cient feed, no times of suspended devel
opment; constitution must never oi
| sacrificed to beauty. She should be al
animal of the constructive Out-ot-dUors
full of red blood, warm with the sun
shine, but sheltered always from sucf
exposure aud hardships as reduce vital
| ity by drawing upon constitutions
yigor that shall be the foundation Of he
mature usefulness.
FOR CONTINUED IMPROVEMENT.
The heifer, having been kept growing
will be old enough to be bred at a6ou
fifteen months. Assuming that her slr'
| is the excellent animal he should be IN
diyidually, and by inheritance possess
| ing the robust constitution desirable II
all animals. and having proved bis aoil
| ity to sire daughters Of merit, his daugh
| ters are bred to him for the purpose o
| further reliable fixstion OF all the goot
| he embodies and represents. Of course
| in such plan of breeding study u
made of individuals; and the sire is o6
served TO possess those superior qualitie
| desirable TO perpetuate in the breed ant
TO have the power to transmit them. :
Ii his offspring show any physical de
| fects the daughter is not bred to her sir
i but another male of similar blood lines
| IL possible, is mated with the heifer.
There is no manner of doubt that vic
| lent outcrosses within the breed are Ut
| ten as destructive to both type and per
| formance as cross Of breed; aud, TO N.
mind, the fact that 80 many unsettled
breeders rush from pillar to post II
breed outcrosses fully explains VII.
breed improvement often appears &c
slow, aud accounts, along with poo
feeding and ignorant care, for the man!
Registered scrubs" to be found in al
breeds.
CARE OF THE PREGNANT HEIFER.
After the heifer is bred, more tha
ever before, she must DO fed. She u
| Young and is growing, and she is takin
on the sxacting functions OF maternity
To meet the growing and maternal DC
mands she must consume, digest and al
simulate sbundantly. Now she will b
using the good constitution We hav
worked to give her. Her feed must NJ
ONLY be abundant, out proper also. Sh
will never need we'll balanced, easy ra
tiou more than now. There must be
strawstack feeding at this time. Their
needs to be more than "corncob mea
and corn fodder" True, she may cor
sumo plenty of corn, in both silage an
meal, but there must be liberal supple
ments of the more nitrogenou, feed
also. Pasturage, If very luxuriaut an
| easy to get, may suffice for while; 6u
even pasture, with all the feeding yalu
| we accord it, is often Alusive, and tn
careful ow ner of this valuable heifer wi
assure himself regarding Its sufficiencJ
Nv. r. McSparrau, in Tribune Farme
Il Al N~k In a q n