The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1925-05-07
By M. A. NYE
Blue Valley Farm Service
HARD WINTER ON GRASS AND
HAY CROPS

HARD WINTER ON GRASS AND
HAY CROPS
AS the smoke of battle of grass
and hay crops against old man winter
clears away, we realize it was hard
winter on meadows and alfalfa, Glow
er, pasture, etc.
There was quite lot of freezing
and thawing the latter part of the
winter. There was not much snow
most of the time to protect vegetas
ton.
There are several men finding
patches of their alfalfa killed out {.
This is very unusual for a good hardy
kind of alfalfa. 1t very rarely hap
pens but we must make the best of
it when it does. Most fields of alfal-
ia that have been affected by the
winter have just patches killed here
and there mostly on western slopes.
These in most cases are spots where
the ground was bare. A good way
to take care of these patches is to
field in the usual way.
Don't be discouraged if a little al
falfa has winter killed for you d.
When you compare hardy kind of
alfalfa with other clovers over a per-
iod of years there is no plant more
hardy. 1t is only the unusual winter
such as we have just had, that will
kill any of it.
Grow alfalfa on your highest
ground. Carver county farmers have
grown alfalfa for 70 years and there
you see the hillsides and knobs COW
cred with alfalfa. Never the low
places or places that need drainage.
Alfalfa always seems to do better on
clay hills and knobs probably be-
cause clay contains more lime than
other soils, and alfalfa is slime hun
CRY" plant.
Vacation for Cows Urged BY Pro-
fessor Reed-"A cow should have a
vacation on full feed every year. In
stead of being turned into the back
pasture or the stalk field and forced
to rustic for herself, she should re-
ceive a balanced ration including
legume hays or pasture, just as she
had to have to produce the maximum
flow of milk when fresh"
This is one of the ideas that Prof.
o. E. Reed of the Radio Farm School
of the Blue Valley Creamery Insti-
tute, is trying to get across to farm
ers. Since a 100 per cent efficient
cow is the result only of calf prop
erly grown and fully matured 1t is
important that farmers acquaint
themselves with the essentials OF
raising good dairy calves, says Prof.
Reed, who is a widely travelled, thor
oughly experienced dairyman at the
head of the dairy department of the
Michigan Agricultural College.
"The time to begin to raise good
calves is before they are born" says
Prof, Reed, "and poor calves are
calves that were not right when they
were born. We are told that from
the time the egg cell is fertilized un.
till the calf is born 95 per cent OF
the power of growth has been eX-
pended. This makes it plain that
everything possible be done to turn
ish the necessary nutrients Tor de-
yeIopment and growth during this
period. A cow cannot produce good
strong calves year after year With
out having proper care and feed and
being given a rest from producing
milk each year. In some herds the
cows have plenty of vacation but
they are not fed properly when dry.
This is too important time in the
calf's life for the mother to be so
treated. The cow must be properly
fed at this time and the ration
all possible.
Natures plan of having the COW
raise her young is good, but modern
dairy practices are even better and
more economical. Raising the calf
sby hand and making the diet large
ly skim-milk is the most practicable
and desirable. Experiments con-
Quoted at the Indiana Experiment
station showed an average daily gain
of 1.67 pounds per day for lot of
IL calves as compared with 1.S8
pounds daily for the same number of
calves on whole milk. So while the
skim-milk calves will not look quite
as thrifty for the first few months
as compared to the others, the end
of the year will generally find the
skim-milk calves better, provided
they had been properly fed. The
skim-milk calf becomes accustomed
to eating grain and hay early in
life, and does not suffer a setback
when weaned. The calf that has
been fed on whole milk has not been
accustomed to getting very much of
its nutrients from grain and hay,
invariably does not gain as rapidly
as does the skim-milk calf for the first
two or three week after it is
weaned."
Big Eggs Make Strong Chicks,
Says Institute-Big eggs make big,
strong chicks, says Blue Valley
Creamery Institute in urging farm
ers in this locality to use only large
eggs for Matching purposes. Exper-
iments show that IL. 5 per cent of
the weight of an egg at the beginning
of incubation is the weight of the
live chick Matched from the egg, ac-
cording to the Institute. Eggs used
in Matching should therefore be large
and smooth-shelled, measuring at
least one and five-eights> inches cross
wisewise. These eggs may be picked
out by means of ,calipers or by use
of stiff card board having a one
and five-eights inch opening cut on
one edge. The egg should be held
up with the thumb and forefngers
at the ends, and all eggs rejected