Winter Food

Northern Advocate, 30 July 1938, Page 6 (Supplement)

Winter Food

It is impossible to over-emphasise the importance of cows having a run of half an hour to an hour a day on good succulent grass in the leaf stage for at least a month before calving, it is then that a cow wants the best treatment she can have, and if she had good treatment then there would be much less disease. Obviously it is the time when a cow should have palatable and easily-digested food, food that will not only provide the special nourishment she requires, but that will keep her system in good order. One often hears the argument that if a cow is brought to calving in nigh condition there is trouble with calving or with the udder. It is not the high condition that is responsible, but condition brought about by the wrong type of food and especially by the animal not having received the mineral matter she needs. Many cases are reported where trouble at calving time only occurs with the cows that have given high production in the previous season. Strange to say, the natural reason is consistently ignored. This is that cows that have given twice and even three times as much milk as other members of the herd get only the same food and treatment as the unprofitable cows. No attempt is made in many cases to build up their vigour after their very exhausting season, or to replenish the mineral matter they have had to provide in their exceptional production. “Yes, my orcmer Tiac very Pad luck, Just as his business was turning the corner, the crash came.” “What was his business?” “Taxi-driver.”