The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1925-04-30
Blue Valley Farm Service
By M. A. Nye

By M. A. Nye
The early grass is very palatable
and the cow does not eat her dry
food well once she has taste of
grass. She becomes restless for the
outdoors once she has been out. Al
though this early grass is palatable,
it is quite watery and the cow does
not get enough sustenance from it.
This is reflected in a weakened con-
idition of the animal and a lessened
milk flow. The reason for this will
become apparent when we consider
how hard a mixing COW is working.
A cow that produces as much as forty
pounds of milk day is working hard
er than any team on our farms. Our
teams work about ten hours per day
for five or six days a week, while the
dairy cow works "a hours a day for
seven days a week. No one would
think of trying to sustain his work
teams on grass, especially the early
grass. Any COW giving more than
20 pounds of milk per day cannot
keep up her flow on the very best of
pasture much less on the early pas
ture grass. This early grass is near
ly all water. For the cow to try to
live on it and produce milk is some
what ike you pitching hay all day
on a diet of strawberries. Yes we
like strawberries but we do not think
of trying to subsist on them and do
hard work.
When COW is producing milk she
is making product rich in minerals,
as lime and phosphorus, rich in
starches and sugars, rich in fats or
energy and heat producing material.
When the food she eats is not rich in
these same things, the cow must take
them from the only other source she
has available, her body. She will do
this for while and maintain her milk
flow, but she cannot keep it up for a
very long time. She soon falls away
in flesh and the milk flow decreases.
When we. are expecting the cow to
produce milk and we do not give her
the proper feed, we are treating her
very much as the Egyptians of Biblical
days did the Ishmelites when they re-
quired them to make brick but gave
them no straw. This improper feed
ing leads to many disorders that only
recently we have suspected to be re-
lated to feeding. The best investi-
gators now blieve there is close re-
lationship between contagious abor-
ton and improper feeding. lmprop-
er feeding cannot of itself cause it,
but it is now beloved that it makes the
animals more susceptible and ag-
-gravates the disease once it is pres
emit.
If we remember that the milk cow
is one of the hardest working animals
on the farm and feed her according
-ly, seeing to it that the feed she gets
contains the elements found in the
substances her body is required to
produce, we will avoid many of the
troubles incident to the dairy business
and dairying will be more profitable.
The tendency is to feed the poor
mixer too much and the good mixer
not enough. No COW can continue
indefinitely to produce about 20
pounds of milk daily on grass. She
should have one pound of grain per
day for each four pounds of milk she
produces in excess of twenty.
The grass as well as the cow suffers
from too early grazing. Oftimes we
wonder why certain pasture does
not produce more. The cows may be
turned on it too early. The roots
gather the food materials from the
soil and send them up to the blades
to be manufactured into plant food
by the action of the sunshine on the
leaves. Some of this food is stored
in the roots. The plant without
leaves. Some of this food is stored
in the roots. The plant without leaves
is like the farm home without kit
chen, it cannot long exist. Without
the leaves the roots cannot increase
in number and the plant is at stand
still. If we wait until there is an
abundance of leaf development, there
will also be a strong root develop
ment and when the grass blades are
then nipped off there is an abundance
of food at hand with which to grow
more laves. Pasturing too early
never lets the plant get food re-
serve stored up. Pasturing too early
does the cattle very little good. In
some instances it does them positive
harm. 1t will pay to hold the cows
back until there is heavy carpet OF
green covering the pasture and the
DAYS have become quite warm.
~
Alfalfa Seed Having Big Sale
More than twice as much Alfalfa
seed is BEND sold in Sank Centre this
year as compared with last year. This
is a splendid record. We will have
10000 acres of Alfalfa around Sank
Centre before we know it.
M. A. Nye, Blue Valley Farm Ser
vice, estimates there will be close to
1000 acres within ten mile radius
of Sank Centre after this springs
seeding is completed.
The rains we have been having
lately are fine for starting this years
alfalfa seedlings.
Genuine Grimm Alfalfa seed has
been largely sold by Sank Centre
merchants which is fine thing.
Grimm seed costs little more but
it is a sure variety for this north
country. 1t rarely winter kills.
Scores of farmers living around
Sank Centre are starting in with AL
falfa this year in a small way with
one. two and three acres. This is a
good way for the beginner to start.
Practically all seed is being inocu-
lated. Frank Pangburn reports a
record sale on incubator for Alfalfa
and Sweet Clover this year.
Several farmers who are putting
Alfalfa on Sandy ground are finding
a way to pack the seed bed, which
a IL