156 



DAIRY HERD MANAGEMENT 



production. If at this juncture the spring arrives with its 

 warm weather and succulent appetizing grass, the milk flow is 

 greatly stimulated. These and other forces cause the cow to in- 

 crease in milk flow in spring often nearly equal to the maximum 

 produced shortly following freshening. Later, as the pasture 

 grows short and the grass tough and heat and flies arrive, the 

 herd will decline in milk flow rapidly, but if the majority of 

 the cows freshened in the autumn previous, they will already 

 have given milk nearly a year. They may be allowed to go 

 dry at this tima They need a vacation anyway. 



Fig. 57. — A good general farm and dairy barn. On this farm the author was raised. 



The fall-fresh cow will yield about fifteen to twenty per 

 cent more milk in the year than the spring-fresh cows. It is good 

 practice to give them their dry period while the farm work is as 

 pressing as is usually the case in August and September. 



Milk and butter fat also bring higher prices in winter than 

 in summer. Thus the cow producing the bulk of her flow at a 

 time when it is worth most per pound becomes exceedingly more 

 valuable than one producing most liberally when prices are low. 



The time required to care for the cows may usually be more 

 readily taken in winter than in summer. 



Furthermore, since the amount and value of manure pro- 

 duced depends largely upon the kind and amount of feed con- 



