REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURIST 59 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



Water is given between 6 and 7 in the morning, at noon, at 6 o'clock, or as the 

 horses come in from work, and in winter at about 8 p.m. The water is given at 8 

 o'clock at night in the winter for the reason that the horses come in an hour earlier 

 at night and go out an hour later in the morning. 



DAIRY CATTLE. 



The herd of dairy cattle during the year 1910-11 consisted of 75 milch cows all 

 told. They were : — 



Ayrshires 21 



Guernseys 21 



Canadians 15 



Shorthorns 14. 



Grades (various breeding) 14. 



feeding; the dairy cows. 



The year 1910-11 has been a very satisfactory year from the dairy farmers' point 

 of view. Grass started fairly early in the spring, and continued good throughout the 

 remainder of the year, the fall months especially being very moist. 



SUMMER FEEDING. 



As during the previous four years, the dairy cattle were allowed only a small area for 

 pasture. They depended for the most part upon soiling crops and corn silage. As pas- 

 ture there was available only eighteen acres. Fourteen acres of this had been seeded 

 down the previous year with a mixture per acre of, Red clover 10 lbs., Alfalfa 6 lbs., 

 Alsike, 2 lbs. and Timothy 6 lbs. This seeding made such a strong growth in late May 

 and early June that it was considered advisable to pasture only six acres, and to cut 

 the remainder for soiling purposes. Four acres were seeded down in the spring to an 

 annual pasture mixture of 60 lbs. oats, 25 lbs. sorghum, 5 lbs. Red clover and 20 lbs. 

 vetches. This mixture made rapid growth, and proved very acceptable to the cows. 



For August, provision had been made by holding over a supply of corn ensilage. 

 This material was fed more or less every day during the summer. During August, 

 however, it formed the staple part of the ration. In September, grass was again plenti- 

 ful, so very materially lessened the quantity of forage required to supplement the 

 grass. 



Practically all farmers require more or less feed to supplement pasture grass, 

 unless the area down to grass is, relative to the number of cows, very large. Corn 

 silage is, no doubt, for most parts of Canada, the best forage to use for such a purpose. 



In many cases, however, silos are not yet in use, and for such farmers a good plan 

 would be to make use of the information contained in a ' Notice ' or leaflet of instruc- 

 tion sent out very widely from this Division the last few years, a copy of which appears 

 below. 



Notice from the Experimental Farm to Dairy Farmers. 



Every year every dairy farmer loses much money on account of the scarcity of 

 grass or by reason of the unprofitably large area of land that has to be used to insure 

 good pasture during the months of July and August. 



If the average dairy herd is to be profitable, every cow must be kept up to her full 

 capacity during those two months, as well as during the preceding and succeeding 

 months. 



