1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FARJklER. 



187 



grade Durhams most profitable to fill milk cans, 

 though he breeds and sells pure blood Short-horns. 

 We need the thoroughbreds to get the grades. 

 They are easily milked, and very docile. When 

 not in milk they take on flesh rapidly. The Ayr- 

 shires he considered next to Dnrhams, but are 

 fractious ; the Dutch are large and coar>e, hard to 

 keep, give much poor milk ; dislikes the Devon for 

 milk, never knew a good one. The Durham and 

 Ayrshire cross is a good stock for milk. 



E. G. Newton, of Bedford, liked the native stock 

 for quantity and holding out. Had several which 

 each average fourteen quarts daily through the 

 winter. He had fed oil meal a good deal and liked 

 it. Had had serious trouble when feeding cotton 

 seed meal by cows drying up, calving premature- 

 ly, &c. 



Mr. Ramsdell said very few farms in Milford 

 have rich grass enough to make it profitable to keep 

 Durhams. 



Mr. Rowell, of Westboro' kept from forty to 

 fifty cows. From practical experience, he believed 

 m grade Durhams ; had one Hereford that gave 

 over nineteen quarts rich milk, Massachusetts 

 measure, some days more, for ninety-two days in 

 succession, on nothing but grass. She sometimes 

 gives two cans a day in winter, but objected to her 

 spiteful disposition towards other stock and the 

 women folks. Has an excellent seven-eighth Ayr- 

 shire and one-eighth Durham that gives a great 

 quantity of milk. 



President Belknap had tried natives— full-blood- 

 ed Durhams, Ay rshires and grade Durhams. Was 

 best satisfied with a crossed Durh.mi ; had some 

 Ayrshires crossed with seven-eights Durham ; 

 liked Durhams because they are gentle and docile. 

 They require rich pastures, but not much better 

 than for Jerseys. Some will give twenty quarts 

 per day six weeks after coming in. Preferred na- 

 tives fjr crossing. Durham calves six weeks old 

 dress from 90 to 120 pounds ; others 75 to 90, and 

 perhaps 100. When through milking Durhams 

 you have a body to feed that will dress 600 to 700 

 lbs. On a butter farm would keep Jerseys, but to 

 produce milk should use crossed Durhams. 



Mr. Haskell, of Still River, Mass., had one 

 Hereford which gives more milk than any other 

 cow he ever owned. Now gives two seven-quart 

 cans daily. A cross of thoroughbred bull with 

 Durham gives best stock. 



Mr. Hawkins, of Lancaster, Mass., stocked his 

 farm with grade Durhams, and he had one which 

 gave over 500 cans in a year. A half Ayrshire 

 and half native filled 502 cans from November to 

 November, and in February, second month after 

 calving, 65 cans. Thought Durham cows require 

 more feed than Ayrshires, because the weight of 

 hay that saiistied an Ayrshire would not a Dur- 

 h m. Preferred Ayrshire and natives crossed. 

 Sent two cans of milk to Boston to be analyzed. 

 One specimen, called skim milk at home, from a 

 Durham, was pronounced superior to yellow fluid 

 from a noble Jersey cow. When testing the hay 

 consumption, he was feeding a peck of roots and 

 four quarts of shorts daily, and ninety pounds of 

 hay per week. 



Mr Pillsbury of Loifdonderry fed five pounds 

 of gjod hay three times a day, and a foddering of 

 poort-r hay at night. A 110 pound calf dropped 

 bv a Durham cow weighed 160 pounds in twenty- 

 five days. 



In the afternoon an address was delivered 



by Dr. George B. Loring of Salem. 



Dr. L. preferred the Ayrshires. The general 

 condition of New England farms requires medium 

 sized animals. Stiort-horns in three or four gen- 

 erations, if haymows are scanty and corn bins not 

 overloaded, will accommodate themselves to the 



situation by dwarfing in size. As to feeding cows 

 in winter, he had tried every mode of feeding, 

 steaming food, feeding dry hay, &c. He would 

 not advise the use of steamed food. The appara- 

 tus is expensive and it takes a good deal of time. 

 His present system was as follows: From 5 to 7 

 A. M., dry hay, equal parts early cut herds grass 

 and "black hay;" l.J pecks Mangel Wurtzels at 

 10 before watering; from 1 to 3.30 P. M., dry hay ; 

 at 4, half bushel chopped hay mixed with 4 quarts 

 shorts. His cows nevtr did better, and they were 

 producing more milk than ever before. Young 

 stock were simply fed with hay from 5 to 7 and I 

 to 3. In spring, when mangel wurtzels are ex- 

 hausted, 2 quarts cob meal with 3 quarts shorts, 

 keep cows right along in the same milking condi- 

 tion as if receiving 1.^ pecks turnips and the shorts. 

 All the grain is incorporated in chopped feed. He 

 had fed 40 cows for two years an average of three 

 pints cotton seed meal apiece per day. After the 

 first winter's feeding, they didn't seem to thrive. 

 At the close of the second years' trial he had no 

 perfect cows ; some had three teats, some two and 

 some one — none four. Four or five years af er- 

 ward, having a half dozen cows from Vermont, he 

 increased the daily ration of cotton seed meal to 

 four quarts. One cow giving 16 quarts dried in 

 July, and never rose above 6 quarts after calving 

 in October. Milch cows should not eat corn meal, 

 oil meal or cotton seed cake. Corn fodder, herds- 

 grass cut just as the bloom is ready to drop, shorts 

 and mangels are all good. The poorest crop a far- 

 mer can raise to feed out in summer is green corn. 

 It unduly stimulates the kidneys and bowels. 

 Three acres of sugar millet will carry from 40 to 

 50 cows through the dry season. It is admirable 

 food. Ruta bagas are excellent for cattle, cows, 

 and young stock. Millet should be sown from 

 May 20 to the middle of June, in order to have 

 crops coming along at different seasons. 



Mr. Adams of Littleton, milks at 6 A. M., feeds 

 enough dry English hay to last 1^ hours ; then 

 meal ; waters at 9 ; quiet until 12.30 ; then dry hay 

 as in morning and quiet till 4 ; then hay ; milks 

 and waters. Allowance per day — 15 lbs. English 

 and 3 lbs. meadow hay, 4 lbs. shorts and 34 lbs. 

 cotton seed meal. Expense 32^ cents. Nine cows 

 give eleven cans per day ; profit per head, $4.95 a 

 month, manure paying for labor. Has always 

 used green corn fodder, and thinks it helps the 

 cows best to let it wilt a little. 



Mr. Pillsbury milks in the morning before feed- 

 ing at 6.30; gives 11 cows 55 lbs. hay three times 

 a day ; shorts and cotton seed meal dry ; drink 

 afterwards very heartily. PYom seven cows with 

 good flow and two nearly dry gets ten cans milk 

 daily. 



J. W. Thatcher of Shirley, Mass., liked cut bet- 

 ter than dry feed, as more natural. In summer 

 his cows feed when the dew is on, and come down 

 to the barnyard to drink about 3 P. M. His stock 

 had not done as well as usual this winter, through 

 not having time to cut their feed. 



Mr. Hutchinson cf Milford, feeds cut hay, four 

 quai ts shorts, and one quart cob meal wtt with 

 warm water, morning and evening. His cows gen- 

 erally drink three times a day. Cuts corn fodder 

 in morning, pours on warm water and lets it stand 

 until noon, without meal. 



Mr. Hawkins of Lancaster, Mass., raises 1000 to 

 2000 bushels roots a year for 20 cows. When he 

 can sell them for 50 cents a bushel, does so and 

 invests the proceeds in shorts. 



Mr. Rowell feeds two quarts oil meal in ctlt 

 feed, shorts, and what hay a cow will eat in three 

 hours, in two fodderings. Had probably handled 

 over as much milk as any man in Bo»ton in the 

 last fifteen years, and could generally tell by test- 

 ing the fluid what cows are fed on, whether man- 

 gel wurtzels, oil meal, &c. Did not believe good 



