10
THE OKLAHOMA FARMER, WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 1910
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' Itnim *r thi Oklilmni Fuav m t"lt^ t  Contrikit* ltemj  f Intnwt t  tki« DeHrt™**1- Jj
economic milk production.
I lake it ti.at most people arc in the
dairy business to make money, ami in
my experience few are milking cows
for pleasure. There is, however, as
much pleasure in profitable dairying
as there is in the conducting of any
successful business, it is enough to
say, therefore .that to make the dairy
business prolitable is 'to make it also
pleasant.
The study of economic milk and
cream production should be in the
mind of every milch cow keeper in our
land, for without such we can expect
little progress or advancement in the
business. We cannot be content with
average conditions, for the average is
quite poor, whether it be the average
cow or the average profit derived from
her. The common cow has done much
for our country, but it is high time we
started her improvement as well as lied
care. The time has come when we
need more uncommon cows to meet
the conditions of high' priced land
high priced stock food, and the in-
creased cost of living. I he aveiage
inid-west milch cow produces about
j40 pounds ol butter per year, and it
costs what 100 pounds of butter will
bring io keep her. Therefore with
butter at 22 cents per pound her profit
would be about $8.80. Those who are
content with such a return need not
bother about improvement, but few
would care to milk cows with such a
reward. It always seemed to me that
it was easier to milk a good cow than
a poor one, and I know the good cow
is more profitable. It has been said
that the greatest need in the dairy
business is more good dairymen and
that the average dairy cow is a better
specimen of her class than her kecpei.
1 think it can also be said the aver-
age cow is enough to discourage the
average dairyman and cause him to
quit ti e business. To be content with
the average means reaction; to im-
prove means progression. If the avei -
age man Is content to keep the aver-
age cow, he has little to boast of for
we must admit the average is quite
poor.
By better methods In care and feed
ing it would not be difficult to double
the milk yield of our common cows
and no doubt this is .the easiest meth-
od of lowering the cost of production
As advanced dairymen, however, we
should not be content with the limited
production of the common cow, but as
fast as possible improve our herds
with dairy blood. The dairy stock
feeding business has a splendid future
in our country, for the demand is far
greater than the supply and it will re-
quire many years to produce enough
good cows to fill the wants of our
dairies.
exercise for the cow,
Our best dairymen, at least the ma-
jority of them, keep their cows in the
barn during the winter, about all the
exercise they get coming from their
trips to and from the watering tai k
which is near by. These dairymen do
not worrv about the exercise which
their cows do not get.
Other dairymen want their cows to
run out when the weather is not too
severe, so that they can get exercise
A heavy milker does not need very
much exercise other than what she
gets in manufacturing milk. The cow
is a living machine for the manufac-
ture milk If she required exercise of
her food, and the process of manufac-
ture is a serious drain on her ener-
gies. Notice the cow as she is grazing
in the pasture. She never moves
around very much if the grazing is
good and as soon as. she is satisfied
she lies down in quietude to manufac-
ture milk. If she required eereise of
limb she would certainly avail l.erself
of the opportunity. Cows that are
milking heavily thrive best and give
the most milk when kept quiet anil
comfortable. This is but following out
Nature's law after all and is not at
all surprising.
THE HEIFER'S MILK FLOW
If a heifer is allowed to go dry in a
short time after her calf is born she is
practically ruined for a first-class
dairy cow. While long milking periods
are bred into first-class dairy stock
if the heifer is not kept up to a good
flow for a long time, part, if not all. of
the breeding has been lost. If a heifer
has her first calf in the spring and is
allowed to go dry in the fall it will re-
quire hard work to keep her from dry-
ing up at the same time ever after .
On the other hand, if she is not fresh
the next year but is kept in milk, the
long milking period will have become
fixed in her to a great extent.
Age to Breed the Heifer.
A heifer intended for milk should be,
bred at an earlier age than the beet
and allowed to become cold before be-
ing tilled with milk.
g. Wash and return all milk or
cream bottles daily.
9 Have a separate quart of milk
for the baby; and what he or she does
not use others may have.
ALFALFA AND DAIRY COWS.
When alfalfa is cut and fed green to
dairy cows its entire value is saved. A
dairyman writing to the Country Gen-
tleman says:
If the cows are fed ordinarily the
following ration, 4 pounds of wheat
bran, 2 pounds of distilers' grain, 1 1-2
pounds of cottonseed meal, and
changed to 60 pounds of green alfalfa
and one-half the above grain ration
they will give the same results in the
milk pail and probably gain in flesh
Again, assuming that alfalfa, corn
meal, cotton seed meal and wheat
bran cost $20 a ton each and fed to
cows of 1,000 pounds, giving 20 pounds
of milk daily as follows: Com meal 2
pounds, cotton seed meal 1 pound
wheat bran or dry alfalfa 4 pounds
the alfalfa ration ought to produce 100
pounds of milk for 44 cents, and the
bran ration for 46 cents. But as the
bran costs $28 per ton and the alfalfa
hay only $16, this cheapens the cost
of the production on the alfalfa ration
and increases it on the bran.
spiling of milk and cream will be
avoided. All of the water pumped for
stock should first be made to pass
through the milk cooling tank The
inlet of the water pipe should be at
one end of the tank and the outlet to
the stock tank at the other. Milk and
cream should be put into this water
in the winter as well as in the sum-
mer. This quickly cools the milk and
prevents it from freezing. This can be
weighed down, so that the surface of
the milk in the can is a few inches
below the surface of the water in t*1'
tank.
FEEDING DAIRY COWS.
Prof. Eckles of the Missouri agricul-
V.£'V>
i
t*Km
KEEP A COW.
It beats the Dutch how small farm-
ers. men who should be engaged in the
most economical use of their land, says
T. A. Bowman of Kansas, and who
should be saving every vestige of fod-
der and grain and converting it by the
cheapest and quickest means Into the
most concentrated and highly valu-
able product of the farm, will hang on
to the old notion that the supreme
service of a good cow is to rear a calf
or two for the feed lot and in the
end sacrifice her own body on the
butcher's block.
This beef idea is an extravagant
one. It is far from economy, and we
must admit that we should be Inter-
ested deeply in the most economical
method of handling our lands.
I would not have it understood from
this statement, however, that I would
convert every farm into an exclusive
dairy farm. I would, however, have on
every farm a herd of 8 to 10 cows
which can be handled with very rrreat
profit to the farmer, and which wil'
add very largely to a system of main-
taining soil fertilitv, together with a
sensible use of the land in the growing
of crops.
The number of cows which a farme*
should milk is dependent entirely upon
his help. The measure of thfc dairy
herd should be taken from the stand-
point of help alone. Every farmer in
my state can very easily maintain all
the cows his help can milk. T think
this will apply in most other states as
well.
Vf
going to the creamery.
animal,.but many make a mistake and
breed altogether too young. The best
dairymen claim ti.at if a heifer is
fresh for the first tme at the age of SO
months that the very best time has
been selected. TI.is is six months ear-
lier than the beef heifer should pro-
duce her first calf. The heifer is
stunted if she produces her cair at a
much earlier age.—Missouri Valley
Farmer.
how to keep milk.
At a meeting held in Boston in the
interest of pure milk, nine good rules
for the care of milk by housekeepers
v ere given by P. M. Harwood:
1. Take m milk and cream as soon
as possible after being left at your
door and place it in the refrigerator.
2. Keep milk and cream cold until
ready for use. The bottom of the re-
frigerator is colder than the ice con-
tainer above.
3. If ice cannot be had, wrap the
bottle in a wet cloth and stand it hi
a dish of water by an open window
out of the sun; evaporation of the
water will cool the milk.
1. Keep milk or cream covered un-
ti' wanted, and in the bottle in which
il is delivered. If placed in open bowls
or pitchers milk will absorb odors
from other food and collect flies and
. dust.
5. Pour from the bottle only what
milk or cream is needed for emmedi
ate use.
6. Milk or cream that has become
warm should never be poured back
into the bottle of cold milk.
7. I'tensils used for hiilk should be
first cleansed with cold water and then
with boiling water, thoroughly drained
tural college has this to say about
feeding dairy cows:
1. Feed all the roughness they will
eat up clean at all times.
2. Feed one pound of grain per day
for each pound butterfat produced per
week, or one pound of grain daily for
each three pounds of milk.
3. Feed all the cows will take with-
out gaining in weight.
The rule regarding the amount of
grain to feed per day for each cow
applies best when based upon the
amount of butterfat produced per
week, as this makes it applicable to
any breed. The second part of the
rule, in regard to feeding one pound
i f grain for three pounds of milk
would not work out in all cases, since
in a heavy milking Holstein cow this
gives a little too large a quantity of
grain, and with a Jersey giving very
rich milk it is a little too low. It ap-
plies best to cows producing milk of
about average composition."
keep the milk cool
Cooling the cream at once as low
as possible without freezing will re-
tard the growth of germs in a vary
marked degree, and thus preserve the
quality of the cream. C.erms are like
ti e plants that we see, cold retards
their growth, extreme cold entirely
stops their growth. In certain locali-
ties the temperature of the well water
Is higher than that of the atmos-
phere. Under such conditions it is
Impossible during the summer to prop-
erly cool the milk without the use of
ire. A small combined milk and ice
house maj be built at sftiall cost.
Tils will ore vent tipping and the
the future dairyman.
The ever increasing interest shown
in dairying in all sections of the coun-
try is no mere fad of the hour, says J.
M. Turner in Hoard's Dairyman. This
interest has its foundation upon the
fact that dairying will in the future
be more and more relied upon by the
successful farmer. If, then, dairying
is to have such a prominent place in
our agricultural life, what of the fu-
ture dairvman?
The dairyman of the future is to-
day the average hoy on the average
farm. Now this boy, to whom ti «
future dairy interests are to be in-
trusted, is not receiving impressions
that will inspire in him an ambition
to make a success of his future call-
ing. Johnny, as this boy may be call-
ed, is unconsciously growing up in the
belief that the half dozen nondescript
Shorthorn cows that father keeps are
really dairy cows. lie drives these
cows to the back-forty in the morn-
ing, and brings them hack in the even-
ing. The cows are kept in the lot
back of the barn. Johnny has learned
to milk the old roan cow. Witli father
and big brother, he goes forth morn-
ing and night to his task. All is well
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