CHAPTER XL 



HERD MANAGEMENT. 



Winter Dairying. Producing the bulk of milk during 

 the winter has four distinct advantages : ( i ) prices for 

 butter and cheese are higher at this time of the year ; 

 (2) cows will milk longer when calving in the fall than 

 in the spring; (3) labor is more plentiful at this time 

 of the year; and (4) it is possible to feed cows cheaper 

 during the winter than summer. 



1. As a rule prices for butter are from 50 to 75 per 

 cent higher in winter than in summer. Prices for cheese 

 average about 50 per cent higher in winter. Indeed 

 prices for milk in general are higher in winter than sum- 

 mer. It is evident that from the standpoint of higher 

 prices alone, it is the part of wisdom to produce the 

 bulk of the milk during the winter. 



2. When cows calve in the spring, they usually 

 have pasturage enough for a good flow of milk until 

 about August. At this time pastures as a rule get short 

 and cows rapidly fall off in milk. By the time stable 

 feeding begins they have dropped off so much that they 

 can not be brought back to a fair flow of milk even on 

 good feed. The result is a reduced yield of milk and an 

 early "drying up" of the cows. 



When cows calve in the fall the expectation is to pro- 

 duce the main flow of milk during the winter and conse- 

 quently the cows are well supplied with feed until they 

 are turned out on good pasturage in the spring. In this 



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