496 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



whifh was often of ratber poor qualities of 

 fodder. I used to considsr it unprofitable to 

 cut good hay, or anything that the cattle would 

 eat quickly without waste, but always found 

 it advantageous to cut the second qualities — 

 poorer hay and corn butts. Have gone so far 

 as to weigh the entire feed for weeks. 1 

 found my cows would eat of long hay twenty- 

 four pounds each, on an average, with four 

 quarts of oil and cob meal, and that eightetn 

 pounds of fine cut hay, mixed with the same 

 amount of meal, and moistened with warm wa- 

 ter, would gati^fy them just as well, and insure 

 full as much milk. I continued the cutting as 

 long as I continued the business, and am a 

 firm believer in it, — and steaming too, — pro- 

 vided the stock is large enough to keep a man 

 employed all the time. 



Regularity in feeding is of the greatest im- 

 portance. Feeding only when you happen to 

 be about the barn makes the cattle restive 

 and never satisfied. I commence in the morn- 

 ing after milking, by giving the cut- feed mixed 

 the night before, then pass them the hay or 

 other Ibdder until they are full, (let it take a 

 longer or t-horter time) or about two hours, if 

 the hay is good, — if poor a longer time; wa- 

 ter, and let them remain quiet till noon, going 

 through with the same change again. They 

 mo-t invaiiably drink well after eating, but if 

 suffered to remain two hours will refuse water. 

 Some farmers hardly ever turn their cows out 

 in winter but water in the barn. The water- 

 ing there I approve, because they will drink 

 more from pails if it is pure and of even tem- 

 per aiuie, and their vicious neighbors do not 

 di.^turb them ; but in the yard the inferior 

 ones are driven and hooked about, never hav- 

 ing any peace. Exercise they need, if only 

 for en minutes each day, to give them the use 

 of their limbs. I was convinced of the im- 

 poriance of their being moved each or every 

 other day, from trials at another place some 

 tt-n 3 ears since, whi^re there were no conven- 

 ientes for watering in the barn, but the stock 

 mu.-t be turned into the yard, stormy or not. 

 They came out in the spring looking much 

 better ; in better flesh ; hair glossy and smooth ; 

 while at the home barn, where they were turned 

 O'lt sometimes once in three da} s, sometimes 

 once a week, according to the variations in the 

 wea'htT, they did not hold their flesh as well; 

 their exercise when out was too violent, they 

 run and capered, and tore their hair off with 

 th^ir hornb, making them look rough and fjr- 

 bidding. Too close confinement in the stable 

 creates an itching or disease of the skin very 

 uncomlo' table to the animal, which can be 

 pr. VI ntt'd in part by a little airing every day 

 and \ermin do not trouble as badly. If ashes 

 are silced over.^t ock when they are first con- 

 finei) ill the barn in the fall, and thoroughly 

 carcU (I and ex^icisf^d a little each day, no ver- 

 min will trouble of any consequence. Bed- 

 diig should not be overlooked. Cut meadow 

 Lay or straw, or in their absence fine sand, an- 



swers a good purpose, and also keeps them 

 from slipping when the floor is smooth, pre- 

 venting accidents. 



I have spoken more particularly of milk 

 cows, but rules are just as applicable to dry 

 and growing stock. Most of us are too neg- 

 lectful of the last class, turning them off wi;h 

 the waste, and requiring most of the sum- 

 mer's run to grass to recover flesh in winter. 

 I have been keeping from twenty to thirty-two 

 working oxen for the past six winters and 

 feeding upon corn fodder, meadow hay, mil- 

 let, rowen, poor qualities of Erglish hay, &c. 

 They were such products as do not readily 

 sell. I always looked after the stock myself, 

 and they gained perceptibly, and some of them 

 sold for beef in M:irch. In the mornir.g. at 

 5 o'clock, all the remains of the previous dav's 

 feeding, were cleanly swept from before them 

 — mostly corn butts — and feeding commenced 

 again with husks, three times, a little at a time; 

 stalks twice, a bundle to a pair each time, 

 meadow hay, rowen, clover hay once each, in 

 all some eight or nine times ; watered at 8 

 o'clock, and then let them stand, or turned 

 them out if no other work was pressing. At 

 noon they were fed three times on bay, and 

 watered again at 1 or 1^ o'clock. Flint says in 

 his treatise, that an animal will drink four- 

 thirtieths of its weight in water. My twenty 

 oxen, not worked, out of the twenty-six. drank, 

 to-day, before half-past one o'clock, — three of 

 them, seven pails each, or fourteen gallons, 

 twelve pounds to the gallon, 1G8 pounds; 

 nine, twelve gallons, 144 pounds ; six, ten 

 g dlons, 120 pounds ; and two, fix gallons, 

 72 pounds ; in all, 222 gallons — 2,664 pounds. 



How, or why is it that some farmers can 

 carry their stock through the winter 1-etter on 

 meadow hay than others will on English? Is 

 it not the case? It is owing to the nursing, 

 the regularity, the liberality, the judgment ! 

 Some farmers always have good cows, and 

 others always poor. It is dangerous to recom- 

 mend and sell to the last class, because they 

 are always disappointed. You ought to tell 

 them, when they buy, that you do not sell the 

 keeping. 



The Club need not be told that it requires 

 very little judgment and skill to feed English 

 hay alone, but much of both to make stock 

 thrive on poor qualities of fodder. In the 

 first case they may be f.-d in lar^^e quantities 

 and at long intervals', — in the other, a little at 

 a time and often, requiring much more time 

 and patience. Bat the true rule is, to feed 

 often and a little at a time, of ail kinds of 

 fodder. 



— Now is the time to save the leaves and dis- 

 carded grasses. Do not think they arc valuch ss 

 because so light. There is much sul)staD( e for the 

 weight, or rather much effect. The re.rson for this 

 is that they afford a niuural food for trees, shruus 

 and vines. Then gather the harvest of leaves, aud 

 imitate nature's wisdom. 



