S8 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Record of Beauty for December, 1898: i 



Pounds. 



December 1 to 4 — 6 milkiugs 97 



December 4 to 11 — 1-4 milkiugs 287 



December 11 to 18-^14 milkiugs 224 



December 18 to 25 — 14 milkiugs 297 



December 25 to January 1 — 14 milkiugs 207 



Total 1,062 - 



According to Babcock test, she made 68 pounds of butter. 



We have had to cut this cow on her grain ration to 12 pounds of 

 grain per day, and yet ihis cow has gained in flesh. 



The cause of shrinkage in these two cows the past two weelcs is 

 change of feed from corn silage to siloed stalks and hay. 



The ration I am feeding my cows at present is 25 to 32 pounds of 

 ensilage, 9 to 11 pounds cut corn stover, 12 to 15 pounds wheat bran 

 and buckwheat middlings, equal parts. This ration is varied according 

 to the size of the cow and what she is producing. 



I will give you a record of two of my cows, one a shorthorn, No. 36 

 in barn, weighing 1,250 pounds, and the other a Jersey, weighing 1,000 

 pounds, for the month of November : Shorthorn, Sleepy, freshened the 

 15th of October, gave last month 1,202 pounds of 4 per cent miliv, accord- 

 ing to Babcock test over 56 pounds butter. While this cow was dry 

 she weighed 1,450 pounds. One week after freshening she weighed 

 1,350 pounds and December 3d slie weighed 1,250 jtounds. The other, 

 a Jersey, No. 8 in the barn, named Beauty, weighs 1,000 pounds, gave 

 1,127 pounds of 514> per cent milk in November; according to Babcock 

 test, made 72 jjounds of butter in thirty days. This cow is fed the 

 same ration as the shorthorn, and has not shrunk a pound in thirty 

 clays. You can readily see by this the difference between feeding a 

 large cow and a small one. While the shorthorn cow has not pro- 

 duced as many pounds of butter fat, she has been losing in flesh, and 

 in order to keep her to her limit of production we will have to add 

 more grain to her ration. 



I have another shorthorn cow tliat I have a record of for one year. 

 She is from the Young Mary family, weighs about 1,400 pounds. The 

 sixth month of her milking period, in May, she ga^e 1,306 pounds and 

 in August, the ninth month of her milking, she gave 706 pounds, and 

 November, th ■ twelfth month, she gave 340 pounds, or over 9,000 

 pounds in one year. Her test has run from 3.4 to 4.4 per cent, on a 

 good average of 4 per cent making over 400 i)ounds of butter in one 

 year. Our cows are fed a grain ration every day in the year, no matter 

 liow good the feed, and nine months of the year they were fed on en- 

 silage. My dairy is run entirely to milk for the city market and the 

 milk is well liked by my customers. We make no tests except such 

 as a practical dairyman makes to decide for himself whether a heifer 

 is worth keeping or not, and very few are rejected. 



I have never attempted to boom any breed, but have always kept in 

 mind that to make dairying jDrofltable you must keep good cows. 



