Tlic Country Gcntlcmaiis Magazine 



153 



FOOD OF THE TOWN-FED COW 



H.WIXU got your cows well purchased, the point 

 of next importance is to feed them pro- 

 perly. Their invariable food in London cow-sheds 

 is grains (bi ewers' or distillers' grains, the spent barley 

 or other grain after being well washed or "worked 

 out" in the process of brewing and distilling), with 

 mangolds and hay in winter, and grass in summer. 

 AVhen first the cow is received into the shed it is im- 

 portant that she be gradually accustomed to her ne\\- 

 food. She should therefore receive during the first 

 week little but green food, grass, or clover, or vetches 

 in the summer, and mangolds and hay in winter, with 

 bran mashes, into which grains may be gradually in- 

 troduced, until, as she takes to them, she may at 

 length be treated as the others are. What this 

 management generally is, I take from the statements 

 of two men, neither of them very large dairymen, but 

 Ijoth of them successful managers. Mr Sumpton, of 

 Little Warner Street, Clerkenwell, who usually milks 

 about thirty cows, describes his day's work as follows : 

 —The cowmen enter the shed at 4 a.m., and proceed 

 to milk. In the case of the wholesale milk trade, when 

 the dealers who buy the milk do the milking, one 

 good man suffices for thirty cows. The co\^'man then 

 only helps if necessary at milking-time, and sees that 

 the ^vork is thoroughly done, his main business being 

 to feed and tend the cows. If he has any reason to 

 suspect that a cow is not milked out, it is his duty to 

 his master to "strip" her, for nothing injures a cow 

 more than imperfect milking ; and if he succeeds in 

 getting another half pint from her his master will give 

 him 6d. or Is. for it, and fine the dealer that amount 

 for his servant's default. When not only milking, 

 Ijut serving the customers at shops and houses has to 

 be done, three men are required for 30 cows. They 

 begin milking at 4 A. M. , and finish between 5 and 6. 

 About a bushel and a half of grains is then given 

 between each pair of cows, and they are partly cleaned 

 out, and when the grains are done, a truss of hay 

 (^ cwt. ) is divided amongst 12. In the meanwhile 

 the men have been serving the milk ; after which they 

 liave their breakfast (about 8 a. m. ). After breakfast 

 time a bushel of chopped mangolds, weighing 50 or 

 60 lb., is given to each two cows, and the cows re- 

 ceive another truss of hay amongst 12. The cowshed 

 is then cleaned out, and the cows are bedded and left. 

 At I 1'. M. milking recommences, and very much the 

 same feeding as before is given. At 2.30 grains are 

 given as before, followed by the same quantity of 

 hay, and then (and only then during the 24 hours) the 



' An extract from Mr J. C. Murton"s paper in the Jo. 

 the Royal Agricultural Society. 



cows are freely watered. They again receive a truss 

 of hay amongst 12, and are left for the night. The 

 grains are either brewers' or distillers' grains ; the 

 former are as much inferior to the latter in value as 

 they are in price — the one at present costing 3d. to 

 4d. a bushel, and the other 8d. and gd. In the case 

 of cows in heavy milk — also in the case of those 

 rapidly losing their milk, which must be sent to 

 market as quickly as possible— it is common to give 

 2 or 3 quarts of pea-meal mixed np with the grains 

 morning and evening ; each cow thus receiving 

 that quantity daily. And when the milking is 

 coming to an end, for three or four weeks before 

 the cow is sold, she may receive 2 or 3 lb. of oilcake 

 in addition. A full bushel of grains, half a bushel 

 of mangolds, one-third of a tmss of hay, and 

 5 or 6 lb. of pea-meal in the case of the fatting cow, 

 are thus the daily ration in a London cowhouse. 

 The grains at 2s. a quarter, the hay at ;,^5 a ton, 

 and the mangolds at 20s. a ton, cost is. 3d. a day, 

 and with meal or cake the daily allowance may cost 

 from IS. 6d. to is. Qd. per cow — los. to 12s. a week. 

 In summer time the food is grass with grains, and 

 meal if necessary. Most cowkeepers, except the very 

 smallest men, either have a small suburban farm, or 

 buy a few acres of vetches, clover, or grass, and cart 

 it in themselves. When it is bought daily at the cow- 

 house it costs from is. to Is. 3d. a cwt. during the 

 summer, and the cows receive about that quantity 

 daily, given to them as fast as they can eat it, morning 

 and evening, with their grains. 



Of course the proper feeding of the cow after she has 

 been well bought is the very essence of the business of 

 the cow-keeper. It is a proof of good management 

 when she is so treated that no kind of food which she 

 receives shall pall upon her taste. The maxim is— 

 never "overdo" a cow with any kind of food. Some 

 cows are exceedingly greedy for distillers' grains, and 

 they yield a very large quantity of milk upon them. 

 But it is easy to " overdo " a cow with grains; and she 

 should be always stinted of her favourite food, or she 

 will get sick of it, as I have seen often enough in the 

 case of this very article— distillers' grains. 



The suburban cow-keeper, though more favourably 

 situated than the London dairyman as regards the 

 bulk of the food he consumes— the gi-ass, the mangolds, 

 and the hay— is less favourably situated as regards 

 grains; and this disadvantage combined with the other, 

 of distance from the consumer, is such as at least to 

 balance, often to overbalance, any advantage he pos- 

 sesses over the town dairyman in respect of labour, 

 rent, and cheaper farm produce. Going further afield, 

 as for example, to Swindon, and beyond it, or to 



