CHAP. II. DAIRY COW CALENDAR 1039 



racks or shed cribs or mangers. Clean out all drinking ponds, and 

 make good their sides and bottoms ; repair water troughs, and see that 

 their supply pipes are in working order. Repair and make good the 

 roofs and walls of shelter-sheds, and remove the dung ; repair cribs 

 and mangers, and see that the fittings of the lock-up provision boxes, 

 &c., are in proper order. In short, make everything ready for the 

 coming winter months. 



CHAPTER II. 



DAIRY Cow CALENDAR. 



OCTOBER. 



rpHERE is no time when cabbage is. more useful for milch cows 

 J_ than at this season, for the grass is poor, and cabbage keeps up 

 the flow of milk, as well as the condition of the animal, better than 

 any other succulent food. The drumhead and cattle cabbages can be 

 relied upon to be ready by this time, and they may be fed whole, or 

 chopped and mixed with other coarse foods the latter course is 

 recommended if the animals are in the yards, the former if they are 

 still on the pastures. If cut and mixed with the straw of the new cereal 

 crops of the season, together with the allowance of linseed or decorti- 

 cated cotton cake, or home-made meals, the food will not only be more 

 economical, but more nutritious. Take the cows into the house at 

 nights, as the night air at this season is cold, and raw and early frosts 

 may set in. Better results in every way will be obtained by giving up 

 the system of pasturing, and housing the cows wholly. If the grain- 

 pits are not already full, they should be filled up without delay, so that 

 they may be in readiness whenever they are required. Should the 

 weather turn out thoroughly wet during the day, the animals even then 

 should be housed, well rubbed down with dry straw, and have a warm 

 mash given them. Do this also when they are taken in at night under 

 the like circumstances. Feed the cows which are stall-fed or soiled 

 with regularity, carefully avoiding long intervals between feeding times. 

 The cows should be fed much on the same principle as the fattening 

 stock, but with this difference, that the aim should be milk instead of 

 flesh ; therefore, more nitrogenous food must be given. Among the 

 foods which increase the flow of milk and its richness, decorticated 

 cotton cake, peas, beans, oats, linseed cake, bran and malt-dust are 

 good ; barley and wheat are too heating, and the former is generally 

 supposed to check the secretion. Brewers' grains, distillers' wash, 

 and silage increase the flow very much, but not the quality of the milk. 

 Keep scrupulously clean all feeding vessels. Whitewash the walls, 



