AMERICAN DAIRY NOTES.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 3436, 18 May 1898, Page 2 (Supplement)

AMERICAN DAIRY NOTES.

Successful dairy breeding and feeding is the subject of a letter to Hoard's Dairyman (Wisconsin) by Mr F. A. Roberts, whose cows are stated to average 3001 b. of butter this year. “My stock at present,” writes Mr Roberts, “consists of 1 Jersey bull, 14 milkers and 9 heifers not yet in milk. The i>ull is a little over 4£ years old. Of the 14 milkers. 6 are heifers with first calf, 5 of the 6 being daughters of the above bull. Of the 14 milkers, 1 is a grade Ayrshire; the others are grade Jerseys. Of the 23 cows and heifers, 17 are descendants of the first cow I owned after buying my farm 17 yeses ago This cow is of medium siz“, had a large storage capacity for fodder, a good shaped a fair sized udder, a pleasant face and a gentle disposition. In short, site was what we would call now a good general purpose cow.. Of my 14 milkers, 10 are her descendants. Previous to 1592 I sold my milk and took little pains about breeding or thought little about it, except I to -keep only the best heifers. Had I i begun early to breed to the best sires, I I am confident I should have more productive cows now. My milkers i

are all medium siie, and hapjiy. I say happy, because it always seemed to me that the cow of gentle disposition) well ca'fed .for, is an emblem of contentment. Until iws years ago I was obliged to feed at the barn in the summer, owing to the lact that my pasture was better adapted to grow pules than grass. I bought an adjourning farm, and now, have a nice pasture, in the autumn I feed second crop clover, maize cobs from the canning factory, maize fodder and green barley. The latter is sewn early in autumn on ground from which a crop of hay or grain has been taken, and Is cut and fed daily the lust pas’ of autumn and the first part of winter. Throughout the winter X feed hay and ensilage. My idea is to have some kind of succulent food the year round. It goes a long way in keeping the animal in health) and without good health a cow is comparatively Useless. My grain ration varies with the season, the animal and the price of the different feeds. The past summer I fed maige meal, gluten feed and barn, from 4 to 71b per cow, according to her size, time due the calf, &c; The mixture was made Up of two parts by bulk of bran, ono each of maize meal and aluted feed. In the winter I feed bran, gluten feed, gluten meal and bottoiiSeed meal, with U little liiiseed meal. Each cow gets from 6to 81b a day. The mixture is made of four parts by bulk of barn, two gluten feed and one each cottonseed meal and Chicago gluten meal. When I have plenty of it, I feed 25 to 301 b ensilage and two fair sized feeds of bay. This year, owing to the untoward season, I am short of ensilage, and shall have to content the cows with more hay, keeping the measure of grain a little higher. I feed morning and night, but not at noon, Water once a day, about 11 o’clock, Feeding, watering, and milking must be done at the same hour each day. Cows are to be kindly treated at all times. Petting them pays in the milkpail. Each cow should hare a little exercise each day.” An interesting visit to the dairy farm of Mr E. W. Tratt, of Whitewater, Wisconsin, is described in Hoard's Dairyman of 2nd January : “ We called the other day,” the report states, “on this noted breeder of Guernsey cattle, and obtained a lesson in the difference in profits on the use of skim milk between good heifer calves and pigs. The lesson was considerably emphasised by the fact that we met, tho same day, several butcher’s waggons scouring the country for young calves, and we noted several very likely heifers in them, which had been sold for a trifle by farmers who don't figure profit and loss very much Mr Tratt owns several farms, which he leases to tenants, supplying each one with a herd of cows and a good registered Guernsey bull at the head. In his yard were a lot of nice grade Guernsey heifers, 6 and 8 months old, which he had lately brought in from the tenant farms. He had bought of the tenants their half share in the young things, and the average price paid was lldol. (4a 2d to the dol.) That made the heifer worth 22d01. Suppose we figure the calf worth, when two week old, the butcher’s price of 5 dol,, that would leave 17 dol. as the amount to be credited to the growth. Suppose that for 150 days the heifer was fed 10lb a day of skim milk or 15,0001 b of skim milk ; 50 o. worth of outs and 50 c. worth of Unseen meal. We have for this outlay the sura of 17 dol. The parturage will practically amount to - nothing. We have then 16dol. for 15,0001 b of skim milk. But it should be remembered that this value only came when the milk was fed to heifers sired by a registered bull of pronounced dairy breeding. There is a grand chance for dairymen of intelligence to, raise the future cows of the country, if they will only establish the foundation right.