FARM DAIRYING 



and toward the last milking but once a day will 

 usually cause her to become dry. Care must be 

 taken when drying up a cow in this manner, to 

 avoid the udder caking. 



Many farmers, as soon as a cow becomes dry, 

 let her hunt her own living or half starve her, 

 excusing their neglect by saying she is doing 

 nothing for her board. Is she not preparing her- 

 self to work again every day, for ten or eleven 

 months, besides presenting her owner with a calf? 



Some stint the food, fearing milk fever. This 

 is not to be dreaded if the cow is properly han- 

 dled after calving. The main cause for this fre- 

 quently fatal trouble is milking the cow out clean 

 soon after calving. Only a little milk should be 

 drawn at a time and this should be done several 

 times a day for the first day or two. This is as 

 the calf would take it, and is following Nature's 

 course. One of the best dairymen I know never 

 touches a cow for the first twenty-four hours, no 

 matter how distended her udder, but just leaves 

 the calf with her. 



If milk fever develops, use the oxygen treat- 

 ment, as advised in the medical chapter. 



The cow's food before she freshens should be 

 of as succulent a nature as possible. The grain 

 ration should be limited. Corn silage or pulped 



[SI] 



