MILK. 



MILK. 



-hough for very different purposes. On carse 

 and pastoral farms they are merely useful in 

 supplying milk to the fanner and his servants. 

 On dairy farms, they afford butter and cheese 

 for sale. On some farms near large to-u-iit, they 

 chiefly supply milk for sale. And on farms of 

 tni.n/l husbandry, they are kept for the purpose 

 of breeding young stock. 



On carse and pastoral farms, cows receive 

 only a few turnips in winter, when they a^e 

 dry, and are kept on from year to year ; but 

 where the farmer supplies milk to his work- 

 people, as a part of wages, they are disposed 

 of in the yeld state, and others in milk, or at 

 the calving, bought in to supply their place, 

 and these receive a large allowance of turnips, 

 with perhaps a little hay. On these farms, 

 little regard is paid to the breed of the cow, 

 the fact of being a good milker being the only 

 criterion of excellence. 



On true dairy farms, the winter season is 

 not a favourable one for making butter and 

 cheese for sale ; for, do what you like to neu- 

 tralize the effect of the usual rooted green crops 

 on these products, and especially butter, they 

 remain unpalatable to the taste. The cows 

 are therefore in calf during this season, and 

 receive the treatment described above until the 

 period of calving in spring. 



In and near large towns, the dairy-man must 

 always have milk to supply his customers, and 

 it is his interest to render the milk as palatable 

 as possible. For the purpose of maintaining 

 the supply, he buys cows at all seasons, just 

 calved or about to calve. He disposes of the 

 calves, without attempting to fatten them; and 

 to render the milk he sells palatable, he cooks 

 all the food partaken of by the cows. When 

 the cows run dry, they are fattened for the 

 butcher, and not allowed to breed again. 



The cows in the public dairies in Edinburgh 

 are supported in winter on a variety of sub- 

 stances, namely, turnips, brewers' and distil- 

 lers' grains, called draff, dreg, malt-comins, 

 barley, oats, hay-seeds, chaff, cut hay. One or 

 more of these substances, with turnips, are 

 cooked together, and the usual process in doing 

 this, and administering the cooked food, is as 

 follows : Turnips, deprived of tops and tails, 

 and washed clean, are put into the bottom of a 

 boiler, and covered near to its top with a quan- 

 tity of malt comins, cut hay, hay-seeds, chaff, 

 or barley, or more than one of these, as the 

 articles can be procured. Water is then poured 

 into the boiler sufficient to boil them, and a lid 

 placed upon it. After being thoroughly boiled 

 and simmered, the mess is put into tubs, when 

 a little pounded rock-salt is strewed over it, 

 and chopped into a mash with a spade. As 

 much dreg is then poured upon the hot mash 

 as to make it lukewarm, and of such a con- 

 sistence as a cow may drink up. From 1 to 1 

 stable-pailfuls of this mixture, from 40 to 60 

 pints imperial, according to the known appe- 

 tite of the cow, is then poured into the trough 

 belonging to each. The trough is afterwards 

 removed and cleaned, and the manger is ready 

 for the reception of fodder hay or straw. This 

 mess is given 3 times a day, after the cows have 

 b^en milked, for dairy-men understand that 

 animals should not be disturbed while eating 

 816 



their food. The times of milking are 6 A. M., 

 12 noon, and 7 P. M. The sweet milk and 

 cream obtained by these means, and received 

 direct from the dairy, are pretty good. The 

 former sells in Edinburgh at Id., and the latter 

 at Is. the imperial pint. Dr. Cleland states the 

 price of sweet milk in Glasgow at l^d. the im- 

 perial pint. 



It will be observed that none of the articles 

 usually given to cows are so expensive as oil- 

 cake, cabbages, kohl-rabi, or cole-seed. These 

 products were employed by the late Mr. Cur- 

 wen in his experiments to ascertain the cost 

 of raising milk for supplying the poor, and the 

 results show they left him very little profit. 

 (('urn-en's .Agricultural Hints, p. 47 52.) 



Cattle are fed on other substances than tur- 

 nips, either with themselves or in conjunction 

 with turnips. Oil-cake and potatoes are the 

 most common substances used for this purpose. 

 Linseed oil and linseed have been recommend- 

 ed, and many are fed at distilleries on draff and 

 dreg, as the refuse of distillation are termed ; 

 and these are also sold to the farmers for the 

 purpose of feeding. Oats, barley-meal, and 

 bean-meal, have also been pressed into the 

 service of feeding cattle. 



The potatoes used in feeding cattle are either 

 the common kinds known in human food, or 

 others raised on purpose, such as the yam and 

 ox-noble ; and they are given either alternately 

 with turnips, or together. In feeding cattle 

 with potatoes of any kind, and in any way, 

 there is considerable risk of flatulency and 

 choking. To prevent the latter, the potatoes 

 should be smashed with a hammer, or with 

 an instrument like a pavier's rammer, and 

 though juice should come out in the operation, 

 no loss is incurred, as it is considered of no 

 service in feeding. To prevent flatulence from 

 potatoes is no easy matter; but a friend of 

 mine used a plan which completely answered 

 the purpose, which was, mixing cut straw with 

 the broken potatoes. The straw obliging the 

 cattle to chew every mouthful before being 

 swallowed, may prevent such a large quantity 

 of gas being generated in the paunch as bruised 

 potatoes alone would. do, and it is this gas 

 which occasions that distressing complaint 

 called hoven. A farm-steward, who had con- 

 siderable experience in feeding cattle on pota- 

 toes on a led-farm, always placed as many 

 potatoes, whole, before cattle as they could 

 consume, and they never swelled on eating 

 them, because, as he conjectured, ftnd perhaps 

 rightly, they do not eat them so greedily when 

 in their power to take them at will, as when 

 doled out in small quantities. This fact con- 

 firms the propriety of mixing cut straw amongst 

 potatoes that are given in small quantities, in 

 order to satisfying the appetite, and filling the 

 paunch with unfermentable matter. The only 

 precaution required in giving a full supply of 

 potatoes, is to give only a few and frequently 

 at first, and gradually to increase the quantity. 



Oil-cake has been long and much employed 

 in England for the feeding of cattle, and it is 

 making its way in that respect into Scotland. 

 It consists of the compressed husks of linseed, 

 after the oil has been expressed from it, and is 

 formed into thin oblong cakes. The cakes ar 



