MAKING A DAIRY COW.

Feilding Star, Volume I, Issue 281, 1 June 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

MAKING A DAIRY COW.

To make a first-class dairy cow, let the heifer calve in autumn, milk through the winter, giving plenty of nutritious food ; then, when the early grass becomes plentiful, she comes back to full profit, and will milk on to the end of the season, a period of twelve or fourteen months. By following this plan during the first milking period, we educate the cow to her business, and establish or fix the habit of milking as long as we like. If they are allowed to go dry too early in the first year of milking they will do it in the second year, and so form the habit. We want a cow that will not only give a good record of herself in December, but will do so for five or six months afterwards and if the plan suggested is followed it will develop the milking habit, and render it practicable to secure in a season that large yield of butter-fate which alone should give satisfaction. thelSilking period. An important point in dairying is the length of the milking period. It has been laid down that a not obnormal shrinkage varies very much ; some cows will give a good flow for some time, while with others the yield of milk falls off very rapidly. Sometimes the shrinkage is as high as 15 per cent. That is too high altogether. i The object of feeding is that the cow may produce milk through a reasonable period. To do this we should give the cows plenty of succulent feed — any quantity of it. The cow needs plenty of juicy material out of which to make milk. Peas and oats cut green are very valuable, and roots, but do not give them turnips. Every dairyman should have a silo; two tons of ensilage costing about 12s 6d are equal to one ton of hay, which would cost from £1 5s to £1 13s 4d. In summer let the cows have plenty of shade, and see that they are well protected from flies. Nothing will cause greater shrinkage than those two things — exposure to the hot sun and letting the flies worry the animals. The cows should get plenty of water, and there should be no excitment, because that tends to lessen the yield- of milk. Give the cows access to salt. By those means, and by looking after their comfort in every way that we can, and milking ■ regularly and cleanly, we may maintain the flow of milk.