288 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



The younij cows are disposed of as soon as pos- 

 sible ; but the old ones are kept as long in autumn 

 as their milk will pay (or their keep. 



3fanagement of cows. — The cows are jrenerally 

 turned out to grass in the end of April or bep^in- 

 ning of May, upon those grounds which Mr. 

 Hayward has found, from experience, to produce 

 the most and the richest milk. These grounds 

 are nearest to the home-stead, and have always 

 been pastured. The driving of the cows before 

 milking, and the carrying of the milk to any con- 

 siderable distance, are found to injure the quality 

 of the cheese ; and to avoid this consequence, the 

 paslure-grounds should always be, as on this (arm, 

 near the homestead. 



The cows, on this farm, are divided into three 

 lots, the young and weak ones beins in one lot. 

 Each of these three lots has two fields of pas- 

 ture, and they are generally kept a week at a 

 time in each field ; so that they have fresh pas- 

 ture every week — an advantage much greater 

 than most farmers are aware of. Great care is 

 taken never to overstock the pasture of the cows. 

 They ought, at all limes, to have a full bite of 

 close, short, fine grass. Lonir overgrown grass 

 gives a rank flavor to the cheese, and should al- 

 ways be avoided. 



In dry seasons, when the pasture has cni too 

 short, some of the fields that were intended f^ir 

 mowing are given up to the cows (or pasture. 

 When the hay is all cleared off the mowinir 

 grounds, and the after-grass bcirins to irrow (it 

 generally takes several weeks to make much ap- 

 pearance,) the cows are shifted in these grounds. 

 Land which is long pastured b_y any animal gets 

 foul or unsound (or it, and the after-ora^s always 

 makes the cows spring their milk. They are, 

 therefore, generally moved from the pnsture 

 grounds into the after-grass belbre there is much 

 of it for them. 



It is very essential for cows to have a shade and 

 water in every field. The shade of large trees, 

 however, is the only shelter from the sun and the 

 storm, which they have on this farm, and indeed 

 in the whole vale. 



Cows should, in winter, be kept as warm and 

 comfortable as possible. Every dairy should he 

 provided with sliades and warm courts for the 

 cows; but in the vale there is scarcely an instance 

 of accommodation of this kind (cir onp-(burth of 

 the cows, and there is not more on this (arm. 

 Hence most o( them are foddered in the driest 

 and warmest grounds; and belbre calving, they 

 get hay served out to them morning and evening ; 

 but after calving, they are fed three or four times 

 a day, and with the best of the liay. 



Calves. — The calves are allowed to remain with 

 their mothers fiir about a week after they are drop- 

 ped, because the milk, durtna this time, would not 

 do (or making cheese. Tlie best of the heifer- 

 calves are selected for breeding. Such of the re- 

 mainder as are dropped before March are fattened ; 

 those that are dropped after that time tire sold 

 young, as, then, veal generally l)ecomes cheap, and 

 milk is of more value (or making cheese than for 

 feeding calves. 



Alter the first week, the calves that are to be 

 weaned are parted from their mothers, and put on 

 the calves' stage, a sort of crib erected in the 

 calves' houses, which beinir raised one font from 

 the ground, and being open in the bottom, keeps 



them dry without the lielp of litter. Here they 

 are allowed two quarts of sweet milk in the morn- 

 ing, and the same quantity in the evening, (or the 

 first six weeks. At the end of this period ihey be- 

 gin to eat liay, some of the best of which is given 

 to them ; and, instead of milk, they get a mixture 

 of sweet milk and water. They are turned out 

 into some of the earliest and best pastures, aa 

 soon as there is any (or them. 



The whole breeding stock are distributed into 

 lots, according to their ages, and kept apart sum- 

 mer and winter. They are kept either on the up- 

 per field of this farm, or taken to another farm on 

 the hills, where they are treated in the same way 

 as the breeding slock are on Beverston farm. 



Sheep. — There are upwards of three hundred 

 sheep kept on this farm. They pasture the upper 

 field in summer; and in autumn and winter they 

 eat up the rouuh grass left by the cows. The 

 management of the sheep is the same as that prac- 

 tised on Beverston farm, to the account of' which 

 we refer the reader. 



Pigs. — Upon this and every dairy farm, a num- 

 ber of pigs are necessary to consume the whey — 

 one pig to two cows in summer, but not so many 

 in winter. Their food in summer, is grass, clover, 

 vetches, and whey ; in winter, raw potatoes, with 

 tailmg corn, whey, and skimmed milk. When 

 ihey are being firttened, l)ean or harlcj'-meai is 

 mixed with ()oiled or steamed potatoes, in the pro- 

 portion of a bushel of meal to two cwt. and a half 

 of potatoes. The lireed of pigs kept on this farm 

 is the Berksiiire, with a small mixture of the 

 Hereford. Some of them are sold in a store state ; 

 most of ihem are fattened. Five or six breeding 

 sows are always kept, which are regularly fatten- 

 ed oflf, when one year and a half old, and fed to 

 about three cwt. 



Management of the dairy. 



It is acknowledixed by every one, at all ac- 

 quainted with thesubject, that the quality of cheese 

 does not depend upon the superior richness of the 

 the soil or llie fineness of the herbage ; (or cheese 

 of the first quality is fie(}uently made from land of 

 an inferior description, and li-om herbage of a 

 coarse nature. Nor does the quality of the cheese 

 depend on the breed of the cows, lor cheese of the 

 best quality is made from the milk of" cows of all 

 the different breeds that are to be (bund in the 

 country: we think it principally depends on the 

 manairemeot of the cows as to their (bod, &c., of 

 the milk in converting it into cheese, and of the 

 cheese, till it is fit for market. 



The (bllo\i^ing circumstances are injurious lo 

 the quality of cheese : allowing the cows to get 

 rank or ill-flavored grass or hay, these conveying 

 a bad flavor to the milk and cheese — allowing the 

 cows to run and heat themselves — driving them 

 fiir to be milked, which makes the milk (i-oth much 

 in milking — carrying the milk from the place of 

 milking to the dairy; and allowing it to remain 

 long after it is milked, belbre it is set with the ren- 

 net. 



The greatest dependence is upon the dairy- 

 maid ; and the chief art of making cheese of the 

 finest quality lies in her management. The super- 

 intendence of the dairy invariably devolves upon 

 the farmer's wife. Mrs. Hayward attends to every 

 minute circumstance in this department, and the 



