348 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



THE SPECIAL PURPOSE COW. 



But let me say right here that I am a firm behever in the special pur- 

 pose cow. I would no more think of breeding beef cattle for the dairy 

 than I would think of putting a fine Belgian draft stallion on the track 

 in an endeavor to beat the time record of Dan Patch. You want a cow 

 for the dairy that will convert your feed into milk and butter, and that 

 will not get over fat just because you feed her well. If you are in the 

 dairy business you can't afford to raise calves to sell at beef prices. 

 Stick to one of the pronounced dairy breeds or one of the pronounced 

 beef breeds, and produce milk and butter or meat and hides. You are 

 not rich enough to mix together these widely different types, pull out a 

 few lottery tickets in the shape of heifers, and wait two or three years to 

 see whether you got one of the few prizes or not. 



Now, a word about feed. This is a subject you will have to give 

 special and careful attention. You must not only look to the needs of 

 your cattle, but you must endeavor to get their ration as nearly as possi- 

 ble from products of your own farm. Economy is one of your watch 

 words. I strongly recommend to you all the address of Mr. Patterson 

 on this subject. But you must make it a study, and it will take you sev- 

 eral years. Look first to the needs of your cows, and next to the cost 

 of the feed. Your heifer calves should be fed sweet skim milk for 

 about six months, and can have mixed with it a little corn meal and oil 

 meal — or these can be fed separately. After six months, if on good 

 pasture, they will require no feed, but as fall comes on they should not 

 be allowed to run down and get poor before winter feeding is begun. 

 This should consist of bran, shorts, oil meal, etc., with fodder, hay and 

 straw for roughage. I would feed no corn. A few weeks before your 

 heifer is due with her first calf you should begin feeding her a mixture 

 of food rich in protein. Do not overfeed her, but gradually increase the 

 feed until by the time she drops her calf she will be getting about all she 

 wants to eat. You will find she has made a very large udder and will 

 start off with a large flow of milk. 



For a few days after calving feed lightly, gradually increasing, and 

 you will find her responding well to your attention. Keep her in milk 

 for ten or twelve months. There is no danger from milk fever with the 

 first calf, but from then on, and especially with the third and fourth 

 calves, you cannot feed so heavily before calving, but neither will she 

 require it, for by then the habit of milk giving has been well formed. 



Always have a good warm stable, well ventilated ; keep it clean and 

 the cows well bedded. Always keep the same cow in the same stall ; the 



