NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



A FINE HERD OP COWS. 



It was our good fortune the other day to step 

 into the barn of the Hon. Elmer Bkigham, of 

 Westboro', Mass. We call him "Hon.," not be- 

 cause -we are particularly fond of giving or re- 

 ceiving titles, but partly because it is the fashion, 

 and because Mr. B. has fairly earned the distinc- 

 tion in two ways. First, by a Icfng life of integ- 

 rity and honorable conduct every where and in 

 every thing ; securing for himself an enviable rep- 

 utation, and proving how much pm-ity and dig- 

 nity there may be found in man. And secondly, 

 because his fellow-men have frequently elevated 

 him to those positions which give him the legal 

 distinction which we have used. 



Mr. Brigham understands just as well how to 

 raise good cows, and feed and tend and milk 

 them, and obtain great products, as though that 

 little prefix had never been appended to his name ; 

 and he understands these matters no better, prob- 

 ably, for that distinction. 



Mr. B. "makes mUk for the market," and so 

 there was a fellow-feeling between us. His cows 

 were of mixed blood, peculiar to his own man- 

 agement, and had been bred in that mixture for 

 nearly tliirty years. They were coiv-Uke, every 

 where, head, back, barrel, bag and haunches ; 

 they were gentle .as "sucking doves," with large, 

 bright eyes, legs just right for large and rotund 

 bodies ; hair soft and sleek, tails slender, and 

 ought to have had a long tuft of hair on their 

 ends— the only thing, by the way, in which they 

 lacked the true proportions. They stand in wann, 

 clean stalls, and are fed, if we rightly understand 

 him, but twice each day, but are then allowed to 

 eat as much as they will with a sharp appetite, 

 and they usually do not stop until they are pret- 

 ty thoroughly filled. Their food consists of sev- 

 eral kinds of hay, oat-straw and corn stalks and 

 corn butts, all cut and mixed ; this is placed in 

 the feed trough, and two quarts of cob meal or its 

 equivalent in shorts or some other grain added ; 

 a pailful of salted water is then added for each 

 cow to be fed, turned upon the cut hay and care- 

 fully stirred together. The cows are kept eating 

 upon this until about nine o'clock in the morning, 

 when they are turned out, drink heartily, and, in 

 the course of an hour, tied up again, when they 

 soon lie down and alternately sleep and chew 

 their cud during the rest of the day. Mr. B. 

 takes care of the cows himself, and when he en- 

 ters the barn at any time between 9 and 3 in the 

 afternoon, they do not rise, but merely turn an eye 

 and an ear towards him, as much as to say, 'We 

 understand you. Sir, there is nothing for us now," 

 and then they doze or chew again just as they 

 elect. But at 3 o'clock he commences preparing 

 feed again, just as he did in the morning, and 

 places it before them until they are satisfied, turns 



them out to drink and stretch, and ties them up 

 for the night. This is the every-day process, — 

 and Ml'. Brigham states that it is easier and quick- 

 er than it is to feed out long fodder and repeat 

 it several times, as was his former custom, and 

 which is i)robably the present one in a majority 

 of cases. 



This plan of feeding, tried at first as an exper- 

 iment, has so strongly commended itself, in re- 

 gard to the ease with which it may be done, the 

 saving that is apparent in the feed used, and the 

 fine effect it has upon the cattle, that it has been 

 adopted as the time mode of feeding milch cows. 



It will be observed that the grain given these 

 cows each day is equal to two quarts of corn meal; 

 and this, with a few roots occasionally, and the 

 mixed fodder before mentioned, comprises their 

 entire food. With this treatment, these cows, 

 seven in number, gave Mr. Brigham for the year 

 ending in October last, eigJity-one dollars and ten 

 cents each ! The mQk was sold to the Westboro' 

 milk company at the prices which they usually 



pay- 



The prices of meal and hay will vary a little in 

 difi'ereut places, so that no exact statements can 

 be made as to cost every where ; but two quarts 

 of meal per day at $1 a bushel, and twelve pounds 

 of hay per day, at $15 a ton, would feed each 

 cow for something less than $50, thus leaving 

 him over $30 for each cow, beside selling all his 

 fodder at $15 a ton for cash at his own door, and 

 whatever profit there may be in the growth of the 

 cowSj — for he raises those he milks himself. 



KEEPING COLTS IN "WINTEH. 



It is a nice business to raise a colt right. A 

 great many promising animals are so handled, or 

 rather shirked off, during the first years of their 

 lives, that they never come to be what they would 

 with proper handling. To keep colts right, they 

 must be so provided for that they will grow right 

 straight along. If they get a set-back in the 

 winter, it is fatal to their proper development, and 

 if a colt is obliged to lean against the fence, in 

 the spring, with his lousy coat turned towards 

 his head, it is an affidavit of bad keeping, that 

 will out-swear any protestations of "plenty to 

 eat, and well cared for," that any mistaken farm- 

 er can urge in palliation of his neglect. 



In winter, colts want a dry, sheltered yard, well 

 stocked with straw ricks, fixed up on rails like 

 an X, across a firm bearing beam. These will af- 

 ford both fodder and shelter. The yard should 

 be well encircled by open sheds, and kept clear 

 of rampant steers, and all other hooking cattle. 

 It is well enough to handle the colts in day time, 

 and keep the hair straight and clean, but they 

 should sleep at will during the nights, and not 

 be hitched up by a halter, or shut in a narrow 

 stall. 



For feed, the colts should have what hay they 

 will eat up clean, and the hay should be of good 

 quality — none of your rain-soaked and mow-burnt 



