DAIRY, SEED IMPROVEMENT, STOCK BREEDERS' MEETINGS. 349 



An important point in the management of the herd is getting 

 the cows into good physical condition before calving. You can- 

 not expect a cow, that is in a run-down condition when she 

 freshens, to produce heavily, and any cow of good dairy tem- 

 perament will be greatly aided by having a considerable surplus 

 of flesh tO' draw upon while in full milk. A cow that is strongly 

 inclined to put on fat is another story. 



There was a time when it was considered unsafe to get a 

 cow into the pink of condition before calving, because of the 

 danger of milk fever, but now the air treatment has made that 

 a disease little to be dreaded. We have several cases each 

 year, but have never lost a cow from it, and the cows usually 

 make a quick recovery, witli no apparent decrease in the follow- 

 ing year's work. As we are now familiar with the symptoms, 

 we can sometimes give the air treatment before the cow goes 

 down, making it a preventive agent instead of a curative. We 

 plan; to give each cow a drench of a pound of Epsom salts, an 

 ounce of saltpetre and two ounces of ginger, a few hours be- 

 fore calving. After calving, we give a warm slop, of about a 

 pound of bran and half a handful of common salt, scalded by 

 pouring hot water on it, allowing to stand a few minutes, and 

 then filling the pail with water, making the temperature about 

 as high as the hand will bear with comfort. This is followed by 

 all the blood-warm water the cow will drink and plenty of good 

 hay. After two days we begin the grain feeding by giving a 

 httle bran, gradually adding ground oats, Ajax, feed flour, oil 

 meal, and after six or seven days, beginning with the heavier 

 concentrates, taking three or four weeks to get upon full rations. 

 Our general rule is to feed about one pound of grain to three 

 pounds of milk produced, in winter, and one to four in sum- 

 mer, but we vary this widely with individual cows. If our 

 pastures were adequate, we might feed considerably less grain in 

 early summer. 



In conditioning dry cows, we almost always feed some bran, 

 corn meal if the cow is pretty thin, and oil meal, ground oats 

 and Ajax Flakes as conditions demand. We do not feed corn 

 meal within two weeks of calving, nor when the cow shows any 

 tendency to udder troubles. Usually we also give a small feed 

 of silage, or sometimes a few beets; laxative feed of some kind 

 is important during the conditioning period. 



