THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART XI. ()4i 



THE COW PASTURE. 



J. J. Taylor, before the Winnebago County Farmers' Institute. 

 In keeping stock on the farm there is no one thing of more import- 

 ance than the pasture. Cows will give more milk, young cattle will grow 

 faster and give us better returns for the expense than any other feed. 1 

 will not undertake to tell what constitute the best pastures. The most I 

 want to do is to set the farmers to thinking, to take notice of their own 

 pastures and that of their neighbors. When riding through the country, 

 notice the condition of pastures in general. Some will be low, wet and 

 marshy, with nothing but coarse grass; others with part dry land eaten 

 so close there seems to be nothing left, and then there is the upland pas- 

 ture that is covered with weeds, so much so, that grass will not grow to 

 any extent. Now how long would it take a man with a pair of shears to 

 clip off enough grass for a cow a day in some of these pastures? Is it 

 any wonder that cows do not give much milk? This is too common, right 

 in June when there should be a surplus to help out later in the season. Did 

 any of you ever have the cows get out some night and get in the garden, 

 or where there was plenty of feed, and see what an increase there was in 

 the flow of milk? Now, that is just the condition our pastures should be 

 in all summer, having an abundance of good feed and then you would see 

 what a profit there would be in cows. When the pasture is not eaten close 

 there is a great deal more feed grows on that same land. Take a pasture 

 that has more feed for a year or two than the stock could eat and we can 

 keep more stock on that same land, and have plenty of feed, than we can 

 when it is eaten close every year. 



I believe the best and also the cheapest way to rid the pasture, as well 

 as the rest of the farm, of weeds, is to keep a few sheep. They will do more 

 and also do it better than to have an extra man. The care is not great tc 

 fence a farm sheep tight. Two extra wires, that is a five-wire fence, put 

 up in good shape and kept tight, will be all right to keep sheep. And right 

 here is where so many fail in keeping their cattle in the pasture. They 

 let the wires get slack so cattle crowd through, and soon you have crawlers 

 that a fence will not keep. Never have slack wires and you'll never have 

 crawlers, unless you buy of your neighbor who never fixes his fence until 

 the cattle have learned the trick. 



I think we have men here that can tell us what grasses are best for the 

 different pastures. If we must use the low lands for pasture, get rid of 

 the surplus water and seed with some suitable grass; then it is all right; 

 it makes a good, permanent pasture. But with good, tilable land I think 

 we get better returns with a rotation, besides I think the chances are better 

 for keeping the stock healthy by turning the land over every few years 

 and changing the pastures to other parts of the farm. I know this is so 

 with sheep and I do not see why it should not be with other stock. The 

 great trouble seems to be, that any land not suitable for anything else is 

 put in pasture and also as little land as possible. But this will never do 

 if we are to make any profit on the cow. There must be good feed and 

 plenty of it. We have some low land in our pasture that is well seeded 



