THE DAIRY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 915, 13 September 1889, Page 18

THE DAIRY.

HOW MANY MEALS FOE, THE COW?

It may seem a small matter to discuss, whether a dairy herd should be fed twice or three times a day, yet if fed twice is enough, as many believe, it is not so very small a matter. No doubt that instance could be cited on either side, which, taken alone, would seem to settle the question. If a cow is underfed in two meals, or if her two meals are void of nourishment, even if in full quantity, the addition of a third feeding may increase the flow of milk or add to her weight of flesh. There is no doubt that cows may be fed so they will do about all they are capable of doing by either two or three meals a day. Both systems have been practised, and it can hardly be said that there is so very much difference so far as the cow is concerned. She can take her food in two meals, or in three, according to the convenience of the feeder, and will do well either way if the food is sufficient either in quantity or quality. It is a great convenience to have our stock accustomed to the two-meal system. It is especially convenient in the winter season, when the days are short and the cattle are taking but little exercise. In a very cold barn, possibly, cattle might need to be eating most of the time to get food enough to keep warm, but dairymen have no use for cold barns for their cows. Stables should be so warm that no excessive amount of hay and grain will be required for maintaining animal heat. The cow has a stomach made to hold a large quantity of coarse, partially masticated food that can be remasticated at leisure. When confined to the barn, we are fully satisfied that two meals for average dairy stock are fully as acceptable to the cow and fully as profitable to the owner as three meals. We have been surprised to see how quickly the cows would adapt themselves to the two-meal system, and would lie and chaw the cud at noon when persons were about the premises. They not only learn not to expect feeding, but soon learn not to care for it. The morning or night meal is not necessarily given at once, but it is better given in small feedings continuously till enough is given.—Hoard’s Dairymen.

FEEDING DAIEY COWS(Agricultural Gazette.)

In the last number of the Gazette there appeared an article, quoted from Hoard’s Dairyman, discussing the number of times a cow should be fed in the day when in milk in the winter time. The conclusion arrived at was that, whila t.vice was admissible, three times a day would be much better. This cannot but be somewhat of a surprise to those dairy managers on this side of the water who are in the habit of giving food of various kinds at least twice as often. On the first look at the thing, one must acknowledge that three times appears quite enough—morning, noon, and night—corresponding to the breakfast, dinner, and supper of animals higher in the scale of life. Of course, a great deal, depends on what is considered a ‘ meal.’ It is. a wise policy to give the animals as many different kinds of food is available; and as it is not always possible to give these mixed they must be given at a corresponding number of times. Again, if a ‘ second helping ’ of some other kind of food is given immediately on the first being finished, it may all be counted as one feed. Thus, a foddering, of straw immediately on the first being finished is a good plan to follow, as an antidote to the coldness and washiness of the latter, while both are practically one meal, and the cows are only disturbed once. For our part, we do not see how the animals can be fed less than four or five times daily, and this not because they could not .take food enough at three times, but because we have at least five different things to give them, and cannot very well give them all on the top of one another. The cow is an animal with a very large stomach, or rather a series of stomachs, adapted for dealing with bulky food, so that a certain amount of hay and straw must be supplied at least twice, and perhaps three times a day. If roots are used, they will constitute another meal, cake another, while those of us who believe in. a mash containing meals of a different kind will want a separate feed for this mixture. Thus the number mounts up, and it becomes a trouble to know how to give them all the different things without disturbing them too often, or making the work too heavy for the attendants. There is, of course, not the least doubt that many animals are overfed in the. anxiety to produce a large flow of rich milk, a fact proved by the amount of deaths from milkfever all over the country, a disease induced by over-feeding, and that, therefore, the arranging of matters so as to give only three ‘square meals’ daily would be not only a saving of food, but also of labour and of the lives of the animals. Cows acquire habits very' quickly, so lhat they very soon settle down, and do not expect food if is ceases to be given at a particular hour. They will lie contentedly chewing their cud, and are all the better for not being disturbed, Ws must of necessity disturb them twice for milking purposes, and an each occasion we can feed both before and after this operation, thus being able to give two or three kinds of food without unduly prolonging the time, so that two, or even three, may count as one. It is almost necessary to give something the first thing in the morning before milking begins, and cake, or a handful of straw after these is desirable. All these are given practically at the one period, and may be put down as equal to one meal. At midday a full foddering of hay should be l given, or mash, or roots, again followed by a little hay, while in the. evening, mash may be I given just before milking, to be followed by a

foddering of straw after to wind, up with. Thus fodder may be given three times, cake once, roots twice, or mash three times,, and still be only three meals, leaving the animals undisturbed from 8 a.m. to 12, and fioml p.m. to say 4 each day. This gives them a large variety of foods, while overfeeding can be prevented by giving a smaller quantity of each.

AN AMEEICAN DAIRY BOOHMr Henry Stewart, an American, has just published a book, called the Dairyman’s Manual: which seems to us to be likely to be likely to come into general use on this side of the Atlantic also. This book is to be obtained of Triibner and Co, in London, and costs 10s. The writer gives an account of his aim in writing, and it is that such a book was wanted to meet the wishes and requirements of a large class of cowkeepers and those whom the pleasure and profit of having a small family dairy tempt into the suburbs instead, of the crowded streets of our cities. There, with a plot of an acre or more, they undertake the task of supplying their own households with milk and butter. To encourage more of these home-dairies —by showing how the work is to managed—is the writer's object. A cow may be kept with profit upon an acre of land under cultivation with the clippings of the lawn, or the surplus vegetables from the garden. The writer knows this is possible, for he has done it for several years; choosing the cow for its docility and productiveness. Mr Stewart’s volume is freely illustrated with working drawings, from which could be constructed a little cow-house, a little dairy; even a milkc'oset (where no special room, for milk is available). The whole of the instructions are. of the most workmanlike kind. And, in addition to what may be called the practical side of the book, there are, here and there throughout it, little touches of sentiment, which are thoroughly good and wholesome. One of these is really pretty. Being asked how one ought to treat a cow, the writer rejoined, ‘ Treat her as you would a lady, i.e.. with a gentle tone, of voice and manner, with patient consideration of her peculiar idiosyncrasies. Give her treatment as considerate, and let her belongings be as dainty and neat. ‘ I remember,’ writes the author—‘my mother’s dairy fifty years ago, the old brick stable with smooth stone floor so clean that the mistress could go about, in the dainty satin slippers of those days with silk dress and lace cuffs and pet her favourite cows.’

In our dairy—writes Mr Stewart, for besides the cow at his residence he seems to-carry on a farm at a short distance from the town—every milk pail is of precisely the same weight; made so purposely by the addition of solder on the bottom inside. A spring-balance, hung in the stable, is used to weigh each meal as soon as drawn. This .should be done constantly ; for the practice is very useful in discovering anything that may have gone wrong with the cow, and gives an immediate opportunity of rectifying what has been done amiss, or checking disease. A special test for butter should be made from time to time, where more than one cow is kept, as the revelations which these afford is the farmer’s chief help against loss from the herd of cows. But for regular resort to these methods, bad milkers, or cows giving poor milk, cannot be detected ; yet a very few of either one sort or the other will convert a dairy from a sort of profit into a drain and heavy source of loss. In speaking of the amount of food to he obtained from a small plot of ground, a correspondent writes : —‘ I had rye sown in the end of September —quite a fortnight too late. This was mown in April; and the land as cleared sown with mustard. This was dug in during the end of the first week in June, and more sown, which yielded abundantly throughout September and the first half of October. As fast as a spot was cleared I dug it, and dibbled in winter tares with oats ; and I do not at all doubt that I shall get fully five crops of cattle food, and two grass, if not three. crops in a year. A cleansing crop to dig in, between those manured from the stable and cow-house, seems to me to keep, the . produce wholesome ; for I never found my own cattle to scour with home-grown food, though, purchased forage and roots often, brought this on.