FARMERS' REGISTER— MANAGEMENT OF MiLCH KINE. 



555 



led in houses ; and, where the practice of keeping 

 them m stalls, does not j)revail, it will be proper to 

 have warm sheltered yards, furnished with open 

 sheds, in which they can Iced witiiout exposure to 

 the severities of the weather. The latter is the 

 preferable practice ; fijr piu'e air is indispensable to 

 health ; but if stalls are used, the cow-houses 

 shouKl be well ventilated, and situated rather ad- 

 joinino^ a pasture, or a yard into which the cows 

 should be frequently turned. 



In the management of milch kine, it is essential 

 that they be, at all times, kept in high health and 

 good condition ; lor, if they are sutlered to fidl in 

 flesh during the winter, it will be impossible to 

 expect an abundant su|:»i)ly of milk by bringing 

 them into high condition in the summer. Hence, 

 if cows arc lean when calving, no subsequent ma- 

 nagement can bring them to yield, lor that season, 

 any thing like the quantity they would have fur- 

 nished in caf=e they had been well kept throughout 

 the winter. Farmers cannot indeed be easily per- 

 suaded to adord high feeding to unjK'oductive 

 stock ; nor is that requisite for cows that are dry ; 

 but the common practice of keeping them during 

 that period, on straw alone, or on the worst hay, 

 is very improvident, and the injury to the future 

 produce of the cow, Avill be more than equal to the 

 savincr in provender. During that inclement sea- 

 son, therefore, some nutritious food should be pro- 

 vided for them, and the animals be kept moderate- 

 ly warm ; for beasts will thrive more and yet not 

 eat so much when kept warm, as when they are 

 shivering with cold. When fed on straw, or 

 coarse hay alone, without any green food, till to- 

 wards the time of calving, their milk vessels be- 

 come dried up, and they will not afterwards yield 

 either much milk, or of good quality, until they 

 are turned out to pasture. The milk of lean cows 

 is always thin, and as deficient in quantity as nu- 

 triment ; it is therefore important that milch kine 

 should be maintained, at all times, not only in 

 good condition, but in what may be termed a 

 milky habit. ^ For this purpose, a small quantity of 

 any of the succulent roots will be found sufBcient 

 in "addition to their usual dry food: even a very 

 few Swedish turnips in a day will be found essen- 

 tially useful in preventing costiveness, binding of 

 the hide, and the drying up of the juices ; and 

 will be conducive, not only to the present health 

 of the animal, but to her preservation in that state 

 of body in which she will be most fit to profit by 

 the sui)crior nourishment to be obtained in the 

 epring. 



In Holland, where it is well known that the 

 management of cows is carried to the highest per- 

 fection, they are curried in the same manner, and 

 kept as cleanly, as horses in a stable.* Such, in- 

 deed, is the attention paid to cleanliness, that it is 

 by no means unusual to see cows, when housed, 

 kept with their tails suspended, in the same man- 

 ner as that of horses after they have been nicked, 

 in order to prevent them from being soiled with 

 the dung. This, perhaps, is carryingthe minutite 

 of neatness rather far, but if an error, it is at least 

 one on the right side, and the invariable high con- 

 dition of all Dutch dairy stock is the surest proof 

 of their superior management ; the chief features 

 of which are — care in keeping them dry as well 



* Baion d'Alton in Communications to the Board of 

 Agriculture, Vol. I. 



as clean, and attention to the purity of their water. 

 This last is considered of such importance that it^ 

 is not even suffered to be tainted by the breath of 

 the beasts ; and yet, it is a fact that cattle li'e- 

 quently prefer the water in ponds impregi:iated 

 with the urine of other animals : but this proba- 

 bly arises ti-om its containing salts, which instinct 

 pohits out as beneficial to their health. 



It has already been intimated, that the best 

 summer food for cows is good grass, spontaneous- 

 ly growing on sound meadows ; hut when these 

 are shut up, tares and clover, either cut or pas- 

 tured, may be very advantageously substituted. 

 There is a prejudice against tares, as they are 

 supposed to render the milk ropy : but we have 

 been assured by a farmer who kept twenly-one 

 cows of a mixed breed on the verge of Epping 

 Forest, that he soiled them night and morning, 

 during a great part of the summer on tares, 

 without any other assistance than the common 

 pasture of the forest, and that not only there was 

 not the least appearance of ropiness in the milk, 

 but that it was fiir richer than when the cows 

 were fed on meadow grass, and that the butter 

 was always of the finest qualit}-. The other ad- 

 ditions to hay for winter food are those most com- 

 monly employed for fatting cattle : — parsnips and 

 carrots, which roots not only render the milk 

 richer, but also communicate to the butter made 

 from such milk a fine color, equal to that produced 

 by the most luxuriant grasses :* — the mangel-iviir- 

 zel, which, on the continent, is preferred to every 

 other vegetable for feeding cattle in general : — 

 potatoes, on which cows will thrive well, so that 

 with one bushel of these roots, together with soft 

 meadow hay, they have been known to yield as 

 large a quantity of sweet milk, or butter, as they 

 usually afford v\dien fed on the finest pastures ; 

 but alone, it has been proved by various experi- 

 ments that potatoes will not support a cow in milk ; 

 tliey may add to the flow of it when given with 

 ha}-, but the chief dependence must be upon the 

 latter ; carrots are fiir superior -.t — cabbages are 

 likewise of eminent service in this respect, but 

 ihey require to be given with a good portion of 

 fine hay ; and, as well as turnips, the utility of 

 which is too well known to require any particular 

 detail here, they are apt to impart an unpleasant 

 flavor to butter, unless great care be taken to re- 

 move all the decayed leaves '.—fog, or roiven grass 

 reserved for Vy'inter use, which is cut and carried to 

 the animals : — pulve/ised oil-cake, linseed-jelly, 

 and grains. By the judicious use of these various 

 articles, together with a due admixture of dry 

 food, considerable nutriment is thrown into the 

 svstem, while the regular secretions will be ex- 

 cited, and the quality of the milk very materially 

 improved. 



Mr. Cramp's cow, mentioned inthelast chapter, 

 was soiled during the summer, on clover, lucerne, 

 and roots — chiefly carrots— three or four times in 



* In the Island of Jersey, about 33 pounds of par- 

 snips are given daily to the dairy cows, with hay. 

 They are found to improve the quality of the cream, 

 which is more abundant than from an equal quantity 

 of milk from cows differently fed. Seven quarts pro- 

 ducing as much as seventeen ounces of butter — and the 

 flavor of the latter is superior. Quayle's General View 

 of the Norman Isles. 



t See the AgricuUnrql Snrver of Sttsjex, p 259. 



