326 DAIRYING COWS AND THEIR MANAGEMENT 



Inferior fodder should be used up when cows are " out of 

 profit" or "resting" from the duties of milk-production. If 

 the fodder be very bad, a few roots require to be given in 

 addition, or it might be necessary to sprinkle it with treacle- 

 water from a rose-can if the taste and smell are not so 

 attractive as they ought to be. 



There are three points with regard to which a farmer 

 should satisfy himself before choosing food stuffs : ist t That 

 the price, according to feeding value of the food which he 

 selects, is as moderate as that of any equivalent material he 

 could find in the market. This rule is too often neglected by 

 the farmer, and accounts for the prices of certain well-known 

 feeding stuffs being at times far above their real feeding 

 values. Farmers in this country are slow to learn and loth 

 to make changes, especially in matters where scientific advice 

 should be called in to determine the quality of a new material, 

 and they consequently suffer from the results of this state of 

 inactivity when they come into competition with the more 

 progressive foreigners. 



2nd, He should employ those foods that do not produce a 

 disagreeable taste in milk or butter such as cabbages, 

 mangels, and the more common meals and cakes and avoid 

 as far as possible the use of turnips. Swedes are not quite so 

 objectionable as common turnips, which when given to cows 

 induce a disagreeable taste and smell in their milk and its 

 products. The proper time to use turnips in dairy manage- 

 ment is when the cows are dry, or in a case of necessity, as 

 when other descriptions of succulent food are not available, in 

 small quantity immediately after milking, being it is thought 

 at that time less injurious. It is asserted that cutting off 

 the crown of the bulb close to the base of the leaves is a 

 preventive of the worst results. Palm-nut cake or meal, 

 unless given in small quantities, flavours milk, but not very 

 objectionably. 



$rd, He should use the proper foods to suit the condition 

 under which an animal is placed ; for example, cotton-cake 

 given in excessive quantities to cows in calf will at times lead 

 to the death of calves when they are about ten days old. 

 Three Ibs. per day may be given with safety undecorti- 

 cated cake, if the animals are on grass, as it possesses 



