MANAGEMENT or DAIRY Cows. 169 



of the bull in a herd of twenty cows and upwards. And the same re- 

 sult has been reached by using pure bred Ayrshire and Holstein 

 cows in milk dairies and cheese dairies. 



FEED AND CARE OF COWS FOR MILK AND BUTTER. 



Q. You have given the results of the profit derived from your 

 dairy product. Will you now state your mode of feeding and caring 

 for milch cows, that give these results during the entire season, be- 

 ginning at the 1st of January ? Your answer may, in some respects, 

 repeat information you have already given; but as the subject is all- 

 important, and should be given in a consecutive manner, I think 

 our readers will pardon anj r slight repetition in this matter. 



A. As I have before stated, I was formerly a great believer in 

 steamed feed for milch cows; but latterly I have changed to cutting 

 corn stalks, hay or ' ' oats and peas," and mixing this cut feed with 

 T)ran, ground oats, pulped or crushed mangels and salt. Turnips I 

 do not feed to milch cows, as they would flavor the butter, unless 

 great care were used to feed the turnips immediately after the cows 

 have been milked; and, as we find this would entail special trouble, 

 we think it better not to feed turnips at all, as mangels answer every 

 purpose. Besides, mangels give a heavier weight of crop from the 

 ground. If, however, turnips, or any other food, has been used, that 

 taints the cream, it will be neutralized to some extent by putting in a 

 teaspoonful of saltpetre to every twenty quarts of milk. 



I very often feed some ground cotton seed cake meal, as it enriches 

 the milk, instead of, as formerly, feeding oil cake or linseed meal. 

 The cotton seed meal is ground fine, and fed at the rate of two to 

 four quarts per day. If the cow has gone a period of five or six 

 months with calf, I reduce it to one quart. The regular feed that 

 is, the mixture of cut fodder, mangels, meal, etc. is mixed in the 

 barn, enough being cut to last a week at a time. About a bushel 

 "basketful is fed to each animal, morning and evening, and a little 

 hay given in the middle of the day, after the cows have been watered. 

 If the weather is very cold at that season I feed a little heavier, and 

 sometimes mix a little hot water with it. The drinking water given 

 to the cows should be slightly warmed, so as to make it as near blood 

 heat as possible. This method of feeding is continued until the 

 middle of May in this climate. If the cows are coming into calving I 

 avoid feeding ground oats, by which I think I keep them in better 

 condition. I also generally give them a few small doses of salts and 

 sulphur just before calving time. About the middle of May green 



