296 DAIRYING PASTURE AND FOOD 



spring. Cows grazing do not, if they can avoid it, eat the 

 flower stalks and heads of ranunculus. A few leaves taken 

 up with grass or other pasture plants act as a relish in a cow's 

 food, though cases of poisoning have been traced to the con- 

 sumption of the herbage of acrid species in too great quantity. 

 Buttercups are said to be an indication of good soil, and it is 

 true that good old pastures always include them, but they 

 appear abundantly in both bad and good pasture. The fact 

 is in a great measure to be accounted for by animals leaving 

 them as it is possible for them to do while browsing through 

 a preference for grass and other similar herbage. As a rule, 

 the quality of land is not indicated so much by the presence 

 or absence of weeds as by their size and habit of growth ; 

 for instance, a well-developed thistle, Carduus, or cowslip, 

 Primula veris> does not grow on poor land ; only small and 

 inferior specimens, though often in great abundance, are to be 

 seen there. 



Extent of Dairy Land. Three acres of good grass 

 (rented at 305. to 353. per acre, including taxes) are sufficient 

 to provide for the keep of each cow during both summer and 

 winter ; rather more than an acre could be cut for hay, and 

 the remainder grazed along with the aftermath of the hay 

 land. About one-tenth of an acre of roots is at times made 

 to replace a portion of the grass area. If, however, roots are 

 given without concentrated food in autumn, before cows go 

 dry, more milk is produced ; but the cows are thus reduced 

 in condition and rendered more difficult to winter. There 

 is danger during spring of milk-fever, if roots are provided 

 along with a full supply of hay, should the latter be of fine 

 quality. The remark is equally applicable to any additional 

 food that would induce the cow to thrive rapidly. 



The average annual return of a well-managed dairy of 

 good Shorthorn-cross cows should be about 550 gallons of milk 

 per cow under the treatment described, with the addition of 

 some artificial food in spring. Good Ayrshires on such land 

 are not behind them in milking power. The ordinary Ayrshire 

 on poorer land should give at least 450 gallons. Pedigree 

 Shorthorns do not, as a class, even taking only milking 

 strains, milk so heavily as their crosses and non-pedigreed, 

 though often well-bred relations, such as are usually found in 

 English dairies. 



