556 



FARMERS' REGISTER— FOOD FOR MILCH KIN^. 



the clay ; and had four gallons of grains and two 

 gallons of bran mixed, given to her regularly at 

 noon. The same allowance of grains and bran 

 was continued throughout tli^, winter, when she 

 had hay in addition, with occasional roots: she 

 was fed five or six times in the t\venty-four hours ; 

 and always when she was milked. Groat care 

 was also bestowed on the cleanliness of her stall 

 and trough ; and her udder was daily washed with 

 cold water. 



In some parts of Flanders, after the corn crops 

 have been reaped, the ground is lightly ploughed, 

 and sown witli spurnj. The cows are tethered on 

 it in October, and a space allowed to each pro- 

 portioned to the quantity of food that is necessarj^. 

 The batter from the milk thus obtained, is called 

 spergule hiitier, and is not of equal quality with 

 that produced from the common food.* 



'J'he ibllov^ing mode of feeding milch kine is 

 practised, to a great extent, in the county of Mid- 

 dlesex, from which the inhabitants of London 

 chiefly derive their milk. During the night the 

 cows are confined in stalls, and about three o'clock 

 in the morning each has a half-bushel basket full 

 of grains given to her ; when the operation of 

 milking is finished, each I'eceives twice that quan- 

 tity of turnips, and shortly after one truss of the 

 finest, softest, earliest made, and greenest mea- 

 dow hay is divided among ten cows. These va- 

 rious feedings are usually made before eight o'clock 

 in the morning, when the animals are turned into 

 tlie cow-yard. Four hours after, they are again 

 tied up to their stalls, and supplied with the same 

 allowance of grains as they had received in the 

 morning ; on the conclusion of the afternoon milk- 

 ing, (which generally continues till near three 

 o'clock,) they are served with a similar quantity 

 of turnips ; and in the course of another hour, 

 with a like allotment of hay. This method ol' 

 feeding usually continues throughout the turnip 

 season, that is, from November to March : during 

 the remaining months they are fed with grains, 

 tares, cabbages, and the proportion of rowen, or 

 second-cut meadow-hay, already mentioned ; and 

 are fed with equal regularity until they are turned 

 out to grass, when they pass the whole of the 

 night in the field ; and, even, during this season, 

 they are often fed with grains, witli which some 

 cow-keepers mix common salt, with a view to 

 preserve them longer in a sweet state. But this 

 practice has much declined, as the proprietors, 

 who tried the experiment, did not meet with an 

 adequate return for their labor and expense ;t 



* Sir John Sinclair's hints on the Agriculture of the 

 Netherlands, 8tc. 



t Middle ton's A2;ricultural Report for the County of 

 Middlesex, 8vo. This intelligent reporter further states, 

 that brewers' grains may be preserved, in a sound 

 state, fiom March till summer, when brewing is dis- 

 continued, by tiglitly treading them down in pits be- 

 low the siu-face of the ground, and covering them with 

 a layer of earth, in order to exclude the air and pre- 

 vent fermentation. They are in fact, preserved during 

 a much longer period, and are said to have been found 

 sweet, and in good order after a lapse of years. The 

 grains increase the quantiiij at the expense of the 

 quality of the milk ; but this answers tiie purpose of 

 the London cow-keepers, to whom the quality is a 

 secondary consideration. The same may also be said 

 of common turnips, though Swedes may be used with- 

 out disadvantage. 



though it has been asserted, that ihe mixing of 

 salt with the food cf cows (which will eat it with 

 great avidity) both increases the quantity and im- 

 proves the quality ol" the milk, while it contributes 

 to promote the health of milch kine. 



In Yorkshire, milch cows are allov.-cd t]ie best 

 pastures during summer, and are usually housed 

 about Martinmas, when their food is generally 

 turnips and straw, or where turnips are not culti- 

 vated, hay; but a difference is made between 

 those cows which are rather fresh of ndlk, and 

 those which are nearly dry, the former having a 

 larger portion of turnips, with the addition of hay, 

 whilst the latter are put off' with little else than 

 straw until within a fev/ weeks of calving, when 

 hay is allowed.* In Essex the system is nearly 

 the same, except that the produce of the dairy be- 

 ing chiefly butter, turnips are seldom given : row- 

 en hay, as being the softest and the greenest, is 

 preferred, and the consumption is calcuUded at 

 two loads (of eighteen cwt.) in the winter, with 

 two acres of summer pasture, and some straw 

 while drying ofl'.| 



In the course of the preceding statements, the 

 slall, or house-feeding, of cows cluring the winter 

 in Holland has been mentioned ; and, from the re- 

 marks of Baron d'Alton,J it appears that this 

 method of feeding is there adopted throughout 

 the year with greater profit than can be obtained 

 from pasturing. The Baron indeed says, that 

 cows must be early trained to the confinement of 

 stall-feeding, otherwise they do not thrive ; but, 

 as the advantages of soiling and stall-feeding are 

 so great, there can be no difficulty in adopting it, 

 and executing it where it is intended to keep 

 calves of a (^articular breed, as they maybe easily 

 reconciled to the confinement. 



Sea-weed has of late j^ears been given to cows 

 by way of condiment. Mr. Macallum, a cow- 

 keeper of Edinburgh, gives his milch cows sea- 

 weed in lieu of turnips, Avhen these roots are 

 scarce and dear, particularly^ in the months of 

 February, March, and April. He uses Xhefacus 

 digitatus, or digitated sea-wrack, and the fucus 

 serrahis, or serrated sea-wrack, but not the fucus 

 vesiculosus, or common sea- weed, lest it should fill 

 the animals with ivind. Mr. M. begins by par- 

 boilmg the sea-weed, and giving the cows some 

 of the liquor : at first they sometimes refuse it, 

 but when they drink the water, they are then of- 

 fered some of the parboiled weed itself ; and , when 

 they eat it parboiled, it is aftejwards gradually 

 given to them raw. He gives each cow, once or 

 twice a day, as much as a person can neatly carry 

 at once betv/een his two hands. These marine 

 plants operate as a gentle laxative, and Mr. M. 

 thinks that their use promotes the health of his 

 cows, and consequently mcreascs the quantity of 

 milk they yield. || This is an interesting fact, well 

 deserving the notice of the attentive farmer on or 

 near the sea coast, particularly in the vicinity of 

 the numerous large and populous places of resort 

 for sea bathing, where cows are numerously kept ; 



* Agricultural Survey of the Nortli Riding of York- 

 shire, p. 257. 



t Agricultural Survey of Essex, Vol. II. p. 271. 

 X Communications to the Board of Agriculture, 

 Vol. I. 



II Sinclair, Vol. II. Appendix 29. 



