56 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



CARE OF THE COWS. 



There is one, and only one, way to care for cows, and that is to make 

 them comfortable. It doesn't require a costly barn^ but the barn must 

 be warm, light, dry, clean and well A^entilated. A cow is not comfortable 

 when any one of these conditions is wanting. A cow should never be 

 turned out of the barn when the weather is freezing, for she will not be 

 comfortable. This is the rule on our farm. They stay in the stable day 

 after day unless the weather gets warmer than freezing; when it does we 

 let them out for exercise unless it rains or the wind blows severely. To 

 adhere to this rule requires that we have some way of 



WATERING IN THE STABLE. 



If we are obliged to turn the cows out to drink, if only into the yard,, 

 then some days they must go out when they ought not to. We had some 

 dear experience several years ago along this line. Two of our best cows 

 were turned out to drink on a very cold day and were chilled. The re- 

 sult was a shrinkage of nearly one-half of the flow of milk and they never 

 recovered. But we have later evidence. Only this winter. The water 

 pipes froze up and before we could get them thawed out we were com- 

 pelled to let the cows out to drink, Avith the result on one herd of 24 

 cows of a loss of 100 pounds of milk per day. This loss has never been 

 fully recovered and never will be this season. 



DISCUSSION. 



A. M. Welch, Ionia: Too miioli stros.s cannot l)e laid upon having the water in 

 the barn. The s(K?ret of snccess in cow keepins; is to keep the animals comfortable. 

 Tliis is forg-otten when a man drives his coavs 'AO or 40 rods to a spring to drink. 



Q. At what temperature ought water to be for cows? 



C. C. Lillie: Not real warm, but the chill taken off. Cows should be watered 

 in a place where they will not shake and not be driven away from the barn -vritli 

 the thermometer 35 degi-ees below zero. 



U. D. Watkins, Jackson Co.: I believe that there is more nonsense to the square 

 inch in this silo business Than in any other tliat avc have heard discussed at this 

 Institute. Some one is laboring under a mistake. I believe that corn, to be fed 

 most economically, considering the labor involved and all, must be fed from the 

 shock. The best feeders in the State, like F. Hart Smith of Hillsdale county, have 

 fed that Avay successfully, and I have followed their example. I have fed steers 

 for almost sixty years, feeding shoclv corn too, and have fed successfully, makiug^ 

 money out of the business. 



F. W. Dunham: It is not possible for cA^eryoue to have Avater in the barn. My 

 ■method is to turn out two at a time when the Aveather is cold, let them drink and 

 come in, and then turn out tAA'o more. 



Mr. Campbell: Why not use caustic potash on the heads of young calves and 

 stop the groAVth of the horns V It is then mucli less trouble to care for them, to 

 AA'ater and feed them. 



GILT EDGE BUTTER AT HOME. 



G. H. TRUE, AGRICULTURAL, COLLEGE. 



With reference to the manufacture of butter on the farm, butter makers 

 should ask themselves the questions: Can we, from the same milk, make 

 as much butter as would be made at a creamerv? Can we make butter 



