88 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



FEEDING COWS. 



^^' CORRESPONDENT in 



quires how much 

 hay a good -sized 

 milch cow should 

 eat per day, fed on 

 hay alone ? How 

 much, without 

 roots, and how 

 much when not 



e^M^^^W&S^'-^'^S n^ilk? A 

 common guide is, 

 we believe, that 

 animals require 

 about three per 

 cent, of their live 

 weight. But no 

 fixed rules, we 

 think, are reliable. 

 Two cows standing 

 side by side, of 

 nearly equal Aveight, and fed precisely alike, will 

 vary materially in the amount of milk, which they 

 will yield ; or in fatting, one will gain a half or a 

 third more than the other, on precisely the same 

 kind and quality of food. 



Horses should be confined to limited quantities, 

 as, if supplied with the fodder, they will eat more 

 than is healthful or economical. Milch cows may 

 be allowed all the hay they will eat with a good 

 appetite, and to that may be added with economy 

 a little grain, or occasional messes of oats. Of 

 course, a cow that gives no milk, will not require 

 80 much feed as one that has that constant 

 draught upon her. 



The whole matter of feeding stock requires ex- 

 perience, and then the exercise of a sound judg- 

 ment, in order to economize the fodder, and get a 

 profit from the animals fed. 



A sufficient number of reliable experiments 

 have not yet been instituted, to show those feed- 

 ing stock whether it is best to feed hay, grain and 

 roots in a raw state, or to incur the expense of 

 CQoking it. From the experiments instituted, and 

 which have come to our knowledge, we are in- 

 clined to the belief that an economical arrange- 

 ment for ste!lming, soaking, or partially cooking 

 food for all farm stock, will be found, in the end, 

 the most profitable course to take with it. 



Mr. C. H. Waters, of Groton, Mass., a gentle- 

 man who has an inherent love for agricultural 

 pursuits, and who is willing to expend a portion 

 of his means to promote the interests of the far- 

 mer, recently informed us that he had been 

 cooking hay for a herd of twelve cows, and 

 had continued his experiments through several 

 consecutive months. His first trial Avas by steam- 

 m^ the hay, supposing that by subjecting it to a 



pressure of some ten or fifteen pounds of steam, 

 he should so affect the fibres of the hay as to 

 make it soft and palatable, and commence, for the 

 animal that is to consume the food, the first 

 process of digestion. To his surprise, however, 

 he found the steam would not accomplish this 

 desired result ; the hay came out about as hard 

 and wiry as before it was immersed, and without 

 receiving any evident advantage from the process. 



His next experiment was to heat water and 

 pour it upon the hay, covering the box, and allow- 

 ing the hay to soak in the water twelve hours, and 

 feeding only twice a day. Under this process his 

 cattle gained flesh, and the milch cows gave an 

 increased quantity of milk, upon an amount of 

 hay a little less than two i^er cent, of' their Use 

 iceir/ht. 



j\Ir. C. M. Davis, a milkman, in Cincinnati, re- 

 cently communicated some facts to the New Or- 

 leans Price Current which are applicable here. 

 He says, 



"I commenced the use of your steam-boiler on 

 the 7th inst., at which time my ten cows gave 60^- 

 quarts. My daily feed was ten buckets of mid- 

 dlings, and corn and cob meal about equal parts. 



Cows gave in the commencement 60' quarts. 



On the 8th they gave 66" " 



Oih (reclacea feed two buckets) 60.^ " 



inih thor gave , 71 " 



11th " " 73 « 



12th " " 73.1 » 



13th " " 76' « 



14th " " 77i- " 



My milk has improved in quality, and my cows 

 in appearance. I shall make further experiments 

 in feeding the corn and cob meal separate, as also 

 with clear cob meal, and report again in about ten 

 days." 



From this it appears that the gain in seven 

 days was 1 7 quarts, being 28 per cent, gain in 

 milk, with a saving of 20 per cent, in food. 



Rolling Snow on Wheat Fields. — ^A cor- 

 respondent of the Toronto Glohe (C. W.,) ad- 

 vances the opinion that rolling the snow on the 

 autumn wheat in winter would be an eff"cctive 

 means of preventing winter-kill, by rendering 

 the snow less liable to melt on every sudden thaw 

 that occurs. He says the practice is extensively 

 followed in Sweden. A good deal of discussion is 

 taking place in the columns of that paper, on this 

 subject, from which we gather that it yet requires 

 the test of actual experiment to decide whether 

 any benefit is to be derived from the operation or 

 not. 



Making Cheese in Winter. — ^A correspon- 

 dent of the Eural Neiv-Yorker regards the pres- 

 ent practice of making it in the summer both ab- 

 surd and expensive. The winter, he says, is by 

 far the best time to make cheese, because the milk 

 is richer, more easily managed, and there is no 

 danger from flies, or souring of vessels. There is 

 also more time, and milk can be produced cheap- 

 er, and of a better quality than in summer. 



