396 REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



But to come back to our milk dairy farmers. While they raise but 

 little grain, and that chiefly Indian corn, they feed grain heavily, espe- 

 cially in winter. From their proximity to the cities, brewer's grains 

 are a cheap food, and they have a very marked influence on the flow 

 of milk. They are consequently fed fresh, dried, or preserved in silos 

 in as large quantities as is considered safe; but from their bad effect 

 on the quality of the milk and the health of the cows, when fed to ex- 

 cess, they have always to be used with caution. Large quantities of 

 wheat bran, linseed-oil meal, and cotton-seed-oil meal are also used. 

 Roots are not used to any great extent either by the milk farmers or by 

 any other class of dairymen in the United States. The great objec- 

 tion to them is the cost of raising, and ensilage, as furnishing a suc- 

 culent food in the winter time, very nearly fills their place. 



A large number of the butter dairymen are beginning to learn that 

 the winter is the most profitable season in which to make butter. 

 In making winter butter the cows are bred to drop their calves in 

 September and October. The cows are well fed during the fall and go 

 into winter quarters with a full flow of milk. With care and good 

 feed the flow of milk is kept up during the winter and the cows go on 

 pasture in the spring in good condition, and will give nearly as much 

 milk during all the early part of the season as a cow that has lately 

 calved. They go dry during July and August and calve again in Sep- 

 tember, and are ready for another season's work. Some of the ad- 

 vantages of this system are: 



The cows are dry at the period of the year when flies and other in- 

 sects are most troublesome, when it is most difficult to make butter 

 of a good quality, and when the butter brings the lowest price in the 

 market. 



Numerous experiments have shown that a cow calving in Septem- 

 ber or October will give more milk and make more butter in the 

 course of a year than will one calving in April or May. 



The calves having an abundance of skim milk during the winter 

 are ready when spring comes to make a vigorous growth, and will at- 

 tain a better development at a year old than will calves born in the 

 spring. 



The labor is more evenly distributed through the year, and last but 

 not least a large part of the butter product of the year is made in the 

 months when fresh butter is scarce and commands a high price. 



But winter dairying requires something more than ordinary meth- 

 ods in order to insure success. Some of the more important requi- 

 sites are given below: 



Intelligent ancj. liberal feeding. Not only must the cows be well 

 fed but properly fed. It is easier .to make a cow grow fat in the win- 

 ter than it is to make her give milk. Winter dairymen have found 

 that it is important that their cows must have plenty of nitrogenous 

 food. 



The animals must be comfortably housed, not only at night but in 

 all but the very pleasantest weather. Many of the best of the winter 

 dairymen are finding it profitable to artificially warm the water for 

 their cows. 



Watchfulness and painstaking care on the part of the owner. A 

 man will not make a success of dairying in the winter unless he is 

 willing to sacrifice his own comfort, when occasion demands, to the 

 welfare of his cattle. 



The feed and management during the winter does not differ greatly 

 from that given by those who make milk for market. A large num.- 



