186 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



them gently and keep them free from excitement and fear. 

 Pet them, make them familiar with your presence, feed them 

 regularly and with good rations. 



When the cows are in winter quarters our practice is to 

 milk them the first thing in the morning, then give a ration 

 of good hay. After breakfast they are turned out for water- 

 ing, and the mangers and stables are cleaned of the night's 

 litter. We then give a feed of corn meal, wheat middlings 

 and cotton-seed meal. We give about two quarts of this 

 mixture to each cow, and place it in their mangers. After 

 this we give a feeding of hay and then of corn stover. The 

 cows are then left to themselves until about three o'clock in 

 the afternoon, when they are turned out for water and exer- 

 cise, and are then given the same course of grain and other 

 feeds as in the morning. You will say that this is not a very 

 extravagant ration, but it has answered our purpose very 

 well. When the cows are at pasture, only a feeding of grain 

 at night is given. 



Great care must be taken in milking to have everything 

 neat and the udders clean and free from dust and dirt. Milk 

 quickly and to the last drop. Carry the milk immediately 

 to the dairy room and thoroughly strain. As to the quality 

 of the butter made, I think there is but little difterence 

 whether the cream is raised by being put in the old-fashioned 

 shallow pans or in deep open pails, in cold setting by use of 

 the submerged process or by use of the separator. To get 

 the most cream from shallow pans or open pails, the tem- 

 perature of the room should be about seventy degrees, and 

 the milk should stand from twenty-four to thirty-six hours ; 

 for the cold setting the temperature should be about forty 

 deoTces, and the milk be drawn oti' in twelve hours; while 

 with the separator you turn the crank and in a very few 

 minutes you have the cream. We prefer the separator, as 

 we get better results with less care than by any other method 

 or process we have tried. 



After the cream is properly ripened it is churned, the 

 buttermilk drawn and the butter washed with salt water 

 and then with clear water. It is then taken out and put into 

 a Reid butter worker, salt is added in proportion of three- 

 quarters ounce of salt to a pound of butter for part, and one- 



