The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1915-01-29
FARMERS INSTITUTE.

pSAHdpo uO1S 81, IudI COW 10 just
as choicy about her surroundings as
you are and that loud talking is OBJ
noXious to her ears?
And did it ever dawn upon you
that she can take revenge for dis
tasteful annoyances SO subtilely that
you are unaware of it by simply cut
ting down for you by not giving her
full capacity of milk"
This was one of the many "cow
truths" told to Middletown Valley
farmers who packed the Myersville
hall TuasI"y last, 10y Lowell kodenbush,
of Marion county, Ohio, an expert ON
dairy COWS, at the second day of the
farmers institute in Frederick county
THE dairy animal is over-sensi-
tive concerning her surroundings"
Mr.. Roudebush told his audience
You must make her comfortable if
you expect to get profits. Chasing her
with dogs and loud talking while she
is being MIXED, annoys her to such
an extent as to influence the yield.
Comfort not only means these things,
but also that the air she breathes
must be pure and not stuffy. The more
fresh air the better, provided it is
not accompanied by currents. In this
respect the COW is like the up-to-date
hen"
There are four factors in any bust
ness" he said, describing them as fol-
lows: First, Is it legitimate; second,
Will it be permanent; third, Will It
be profitable; fourth, Is it congenial?
1.-The dairy industry, as old as the
race, has all of these" he said. 1T
must ever be profitable because whole
milk and its by-products, cream and
butter, constitute part of the daily
rations of every farm and urban
home"
Speaking of the requirements of the
successful dairyman, he said IF you
don't love the COW, let the other fell
lew keep them. If you do love her, and
she is your star boarder,' dairying is
a losing game. The only safe way of
knowing whether cow is star
boarder' is to weigh and test her
milk with scales and the Babcock
tester"
He then made the startling asser-
ton that half the COWS in Frederick
county do not pay for their keep. No
cow" he said, should be retained on
a farm that does not give 5000 pounds
of per cent. milk or $50 pounds of
butter fat per year. When we began
dairy work our COWS averaged $50
pounds of butter per year. We want
ed to increase that amount and
thought we could do it easily by buy
-, fho hn,
mixers in our own and adjoining
communities.
This method proved failure and
we next tried buying the best COWS
III our community. We should have
known better. No one is going to sell
his best COW unless he is financially
embarrassed. This latter method was
worse failure than the preceding
one. Next we tried sane method.
We purchased a sire whose dam and
granddam and all other dams so far
as we could learn, were large produc-
ers of milk rich in butter fat"
"Why did we do this?"
Because in the production of milk
the sire's influence as compared with
the DANES is in the ration of to 2.
OF course you want good dam. BY
the rearing of the best heifer calves
and the use of the scales and the Bah
cock tester, we have been able to in
crease the annual average production
of each COW from $50 to 401 IL pounds
in 1914 For four years we have been
above the $50 pound mark
Mr.. Roudebush then branched off
along the line of food for the dairy
COW. mo plant or animal can make
something of nothing" he asserted,
hence, the COW must be fed god
palatable, healthful and nutritious
food and in sufficiently large guam
titles to enable her to produce max
imum quantity of milk. The standard
nutritive feeding ratio of the Germans
in our opinion, is too narrow. One to
five is quite expensive and not so
healthy as one to six, which we haze
adopted. A safe rule is to give one
pound of mixed grains to each three
pounds of milk, and as much forage
as the COW will readily clean up.
On most farms in Frederick county
it is unnecessary to purchase much of
the dairy cows food. In corn we have
an ideal part ration, both in grain and
silage. The coming of the silo has
been a great blessing to dairymen and
general stockmen, in and out of the
corn belt proper. Silage is palatable,
succulent and hence laxative. Though
out of balance in nutrition, it form
the basis of the economical as we'll as
the productive ration possible for the
cow"
with silage, you can use cotton
seed, the. cheapest carrier of digest
ible protein on the market What use
is there in paying from II 1-2 to
% IL cents per pound for digestible
protein in other by-products when in
this carrier it can be purchased for
Alp cents? OF course cotton seed
meal must be fed in limited quanti-
ties, not over four ponds per day and
then in connection with roots or 81
lage. Alfalfa hay and silage for young
stock. and grasses, make splendid
combination and many dairymen re-
port good results from feeding these
fxx<, ;t,r al 20 hot hut rx,a