VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 49 



on all right, while if growing poor she is liable to have 

 trouble. 



If she has dropped her calf, give her warm drink for a few 

 days at least. (I do all the time in cold weather). Increase 

 her bran and linseed. If her udder cakes give i to \% pounds 

 Epsom salts, i pint molasses, i ounce ginger. If this does not 

 relieve give 20 drops tincture acconite two or three times a day. 

 Bathe udder in hot water. Give the best hay you have and 

 ensilage if you have it, if not get it as soon as you can. If ever 

 you keep a cow well, do it the first ten days after calving, not 

 with corn and cottonseed meal, but with cool and loosening 

 feed. 



I believe that much depends on this first ten days, for once 

 you get them up to a large flow of milk you can keep them up 

 easier and the time to do it is at the start of their milk flow. 



Feed, water, salt, and milk regularly. They are creatures 

 of habit, and if you are regular with them they will be regular 

 with a large pail of good milk for you. You will find them 

 ready and waiting for you every time you come and the less you 

 disappoint them and keep them waiting for you, the better they 

 will respond to your wants, and fill your purse with shining 

 gold. Give them warm quarters and if the old barn is cold, 

 batten it up with boards and straw till you can make it perma- 

 nently better. Keep the cows bedded and clean and you will 

 not only grow proud of their looks but proud of their products 

 and of the better price you are able to get. It does not pay in 

 any sense to sell the fertility of the farm mixed with your milk 

 and butter. If they reject any feed take it out and feed them 

 less till they will eat it all every meal. Study each one's 

 wants and cater to them. Care for them as well and as care- 

 fully as you can in your circumstances. Care for them like 

 mothers and not like an automatic machine left to run itself, 

 and their increased product will repay you many times for your 

 painstaking care. 



Last but not least and in no sense an unimportant part of 

 the dairyman's work is the feed. The coarse feeds such as hay, 

 ensilage, peas and oats and corn stover, are usually produced 

 easily upon the farm, and I believe we should produce all our 

 feed that we can upon the farm and thus save sending our hard 

 earned money west. But many of us are so situated we have 

 to buy some if not all of our grain feed. When we buy we 

 should not buy the same elements we already have in our coarse 

 feeds, namely carbohydrates or fat and heat producers, but buy 

 protein in the form of bran, cottonseed, gluten and linseed and 

 so balance the feed you already have and furnish what the cow 

 needs not only to maintain herself but also maintain yourself 

 and family. 



