30 HOLSTEIN-FRIESIAN CATTLE. 



dropped, he joins the two boys, and probably a girl who has just arrived, 

 milking. 



"Meanwhile our first man has finished cleaning out the main stable, and now 

 takes down the big wooden buckets, that have been hung up during the night 

 on slats nailed to the ceiling, and gets ready for the first watering. In the 

 niche behind the pump are setting three or four tubs filled with buttermilk 

 (the whole milk is churned during the winter months, which accounts for the 

 large amount of buttermilk) and one with oil meal gruel, and out of these he 

 partly fills the buckets, the heaviest milkers, of course, receiving the heaviest 

 share. One of the boys fills the pails under the pump. Dry cows get pure 

 water. Thus with two buckets filled with 'half and half or 'straight' as the 

 case may be, our man jumps on the stalls. No light work as you will readily 

 see, when you know that each bucket holds about five gallons. As soon as all 

 have been watered the farmer starts feeding again, the man finishes cleaning 

 out the small stables and the boys the milking. 



"This all done they get ready for the second watering, for I forgot to say 

 that the cows only got one pailful apiece, the young stock none at all. If there 

 are troughs the second watering is very much easier, these only have to be 

 pumped full and the young stock to be watered. Yearlings never get pure water 

 at all, only the mixture described before and never more than from one-half 

 to a whole pailful, according to size and season, however much they seem to 

 desire more. By the time all have been watered the farmer has also fed them 

 all for the third time. Leaving the cows to eat this, all proceed to breakfast. 

 When this meal is finished the cows have also finished their hay, but as soon as 

 the men reappear, indicate by their expectant looks and restless movements, 

 that more is coming. This most usually consists of linseed cake, fed in cake 

 shape, but sometimes it is cottonseed cake, corn meal, bean meal, pea meal, 

 peanut meal cake, etc. Whatever it is, it is always fed in cake shape, corn, 

 pea or bean meal being often baked into bread. Bean Faba vulgaris. 



" While the farmer is feeding them, the boys get their curry combs and 

 brushes, and give each cow a thorough grooming. As this has been done every 

 day since last fall, however, it does not take much time, and half an hour later 

 all of the stalls have been swept up, and one after the other the cows lie down 

 grumbling over their distended stomachs. The tails get washed now, the floor 

 is carefully swept, sand is sprinkled, the watering buckets are carried out to 

 get washed and aired, and quiet reigns. Looking at the watch we find it to be 

 about 8 o'clock. Everybody goes to his day's work, only the farmer or one of 

 the boys stays behind. He throws down the hay for tonight's and tomorrow 

 morning's feeding, grinds the oil cake and mixes the gruel, cleans the stalls 

 whenever the cows dirty them, brushes such ones as need it with a new broom 

 occasionally, and untangles and spreads the hair of the switches, beds and 

 brushes the young calves, which you usually will find in one of the empty hay 

 bins, and which, though they get nothing since they were a week old but but- 

 termilk and hay, look sleek and healthy. If a cow calves he will put the bridge 

 behind her, put the calf in the calf pen, tie it, slip out the cow a little several 

 times a day, and. if she is a good cow, milk her three or four times a day after- 

 wards for several days. Besides, if she is older than three years, he'll blanket 

 her immediately after calving, and keep her blanketed for a week or ten days. 

 Thus he is usually kept busy till 11 o'clock, when the men arrive. They go in 

 to their coffee, followed at 12 o'clock by dinner, after which he usually, after 

 cleaning up, closes the blinds and leaves the cows to their dreams and cuds. 

 Some farmers give a feed of hay at noon, but the majority object to that prac- 

 tice, claiming that it makes the cows restless. Half-past three he reappears : 

 after carefully cleaning each feeding floor, slightly sprinkling each stall, all 

 hands go in for their 4 o'clock tea, after which the performances of the morn- 

 ing are repeated in exactly the same succession, except the currying. Imme- 

 diately after supper, however, a trip is made through the stables, all filth removed 

 from the platforms, and this is repeated at least once more before retiring. 



" Taking a view of the herd, we notice the following things : 1st, that cows 

 older than eight years are scarce ; if there be such a one, she is some excep- 

 tional milker that for some reason or other never could be sold for her full 

 value, and by whose longer keeping nothing is lost, for cows are sold before 

 their eighth year because a greater age unfits them for export, which fact, of 

 course, has a depreciating effect on their market value : 3d, that two-year-olds 

 all drop their calves early in the season January and February ; and 3d, that 

 three-year-olds calve in April and May." 



