300 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



shipped in that will not grade and it is not fit for the dairy cow. If 

 feed is slightly musty it is not fit for dairy cows. At this time of the 

 year I supplement the pastures by wheat. Sow wheat each year early 

 and at this time of the year it makes a very fine pasture and it pro- 

 duces a good flow of milk. 



Mr. : Does it not spoil the flavor of the milk? 



Mr. Shephard : Not at this time of the year. If cattle are turned 

 on it suddenly in the spring, it will make quite a change in the flavor of 

 the milk, but after they have been on it two or three days the milk has 

 no objectionable flavor. I think it is mostly in the change of flavor, 

 there is nothing bad about it as soon as one gets accustomed to it. 



Mr. Erwin : Is not this flavoring due to the indigestion of the ani- 

 mal rather than to the feed? If you do not permit them to take full 

 feed, but only partial feed so that there is no scouring, you will not ob- 

 serve it at all. 



Mr. Shepard: I think they will observe the flavor anyway. It is 

 different from the flavor given by the winter feed and that is why they 

 notice it ; but as soon as the customers become used to it it is all right, 

 but they are apt to be suspicious of a sudden change. 



I never use the milk of cows far advanced in pregnancy. A cow 

 should be allowed to go dry at least two months before calving time. 

 The flavor of the milk is bad several weeks before calving. A cow will 

 give more milk and better milk by milking her ten months and allowing 

 her to go dry two months than by milking her the whole twelve months 

 and you can get a stronger calf and one less liable to sickness. 



Mr. : A farmer I knew pastured wheat right down to the 



ground. Could he do that every year with success ? 



Mr. .Shepard: I do not think it hurts it much. Two years ago I 

 pastured till the first of May and the result was good, I took the cows 

 off the wheat and got twenty-six bushels to the acre. That is the larg- 

 est yield I have ever had from wheat pastured. The way I do gener- 

 ally is to pasture it to the loth of May, then plow it up and sow it to 

 cow peas and get the cow peas off by the first of September. The 

 ground is then in fine condition for wheat, and by simply sowing with- 

 out working it you can get a good crop of cow peas and pasturage for 

 several months. 



Mr. : Don't you think there is a way to overcome the 



flavor of grass or rye in milk. Give them dry feed a couple of hours 

 before milking. I do that way. m 



Mr. Shepard: My practice is to put the cows on it just after milk- 

 ing in the morning and let them stay one hour, the cows will fill and 



f 



