ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. ^, 29 



$45 per COW. I believe any dairyman that will commence this work will get 

 interested in it, and he will think better of his business and better of himself. 

 I found winter dairying more profitable than summer dairying. I would 

 have the cows calve in September or October. Let me say here, that this 

 work had outgrown my wife and the dog, and forced myself and a horse, and, 

 finally, a steam engine, into service, the dairy having increased to over sixty 

 cows. 



There are a number of reasons why winter dairying is preferable to sum- 

 mer dairying. The cow is producing the most milk when of the greatest 

 value. The cow will, if properly cared for in cold weather, produce more 

 milk in the year, to calve in the fall, than she will to calve in the spring. If 

 she calves in the spring, she will naturally want to dry off in the beginning 

 of winter, and nature and the cold weather will beat the best feeder, and she 

 will go dry much longer than she will if dried in the summer on pasture. If 

 she calves in the fall, and is well fed and cared for during the winter, she 

 will give a good flow of milk until she is put to pasture in the spring, and go- 

 ing dry on pasture, she will milk as long as she ought to. Last May, my cows 

 that had been milked all winter, gave as much milk as many of the patrons 

 cows that were fresh milkers. 



A cow that has nothing but corn fodder in the field, and straw at the 

 stack, and a straw stack for shelter in winter, is not in condition to do profit- 

 able work for two months after she goes to pasture, and she will never do as 

 well as she would have done had she been well cared for during the winter. 



We all know if we would stop to think that it requires a certain amount 

 of food to support the system, and the profit is on what she consumes over 

 and above what nature requires for support. Many farmers act as though 

 they did not know this to be a fact. We should study how to grow and pre- 

 pare a palatable and well-balanced feed for all our stock. Even the hog will 

 not long thrive on an exclusive corn diet. 



I am satisfied that it will pay us well to use our knowledge and judgment 

 in preparing a food for stock, that has the right proportions of flesh and fat- 

 forming material. 



I have wandered from the subject somewhat. I was telling the advan- 

 tages of winter dairying. Help can be hired at a less price in winter than 

 in summer. It makes the least milking in summer when the labor of caring 

 for the farm crops is crowding. It gives you an opportunity to turn the 

 cows that you have decided to dispose of for beef at the season that class of 

 beef sells for more than any other season in the year— namely, in April and 

 May. I flnd that with heavy feeding, a cow that calves in September or 

 October can be milked until April 1st and sold May 1st for beef. I have 

 practiced this for several years. Some may think they cannot raise their 

 calves in the winter, but that is not so ; I have raised better calves in the 

 winter than in the summer. They must have warm, clean quarters, as all 

 stock must have, to thrive. I have had grade Durham calves gain two lbs. 

 per day for a month at a time in the winter months. They were fed skim- 

 milk, corn meal, and tame hay. 



My winter feed has for several years been early-cut clover and timothy 

 hay, with wheat bran and corn meal, one-half of each by measure. I prefer 



