The Milk-yields of Two Cheshire Herds. 
177 
Before entering upon a brief discussion of the figures, it may be 
of interest to give a few details concerning the herds, their feeding 
and management. The cows are all Shorthorn cross-breds, very 
like the ordinary Cheshire dairy cows, but containing rather more 
Shorthorn blood than the latter. It is arranged for the cows to 
begin calving in November, and to finish by about May 20. Most 
of them drop their calves in February, March, and April, but as it 
is necessary to supply large quantities of milk, cream, and butter 
during the winter months, a higher proportion of the cows calve 
down in November, December, and January than is the case in the 
majority of herds. 
During the winter and early spring months the cows which 
have calved are fed with hay, and 4 to 7 lb. per day of ground oats. 
Silage, Swedish turnips, pulped and mixed with hay chaff, and 
mangel are also used, but in varying quantities to different cows, 
and some have none. Turnips and silage, unless used very sparingly, 
give a flavour to the milk and cream, and it is found necessary to 
keep these two foods away from the cows the milk or cream of 
which is directly consumed. "When, however, the milk is made into 
butter, the flavour is very little noticed, provided the turnips and 
silage are used in moderation, and not given till after milking. At 
the time the cows are not in milk, during the winter, they have 
a larger quantity of pulped turnips and as much silage as they 
care to eat ; but the meal is discontinued. Hay is given twice each 
day. The crushed oats are used in various quantities according to 
the size of the cows and the amount of milk they may be giving, 
and the quantity also varies according as the quality of the hay is 
good or indifferent. We occasionally use maize meal, bean meal, and 
bran, but crushed oats form the staple purchased food. This feeding 
is continued up to the time the cows go to grass, which is generally 
between the 1st and 12th of May. After this they are fed morning 
and evening with cotton cake or meal for ten to fourteen days, and 
then all artificial feeding is discontinued until the autumn, when the 
cows commence to calve again. 
There is generally, as is especially shown by the summary table 
on p. 176, a considerably larger average quantity of milk given by 
the cows at the Grange Farm. This is in great part to be accounted 
for from the fact that the pastures on this farm nearly all rest on 
the Cheshire Clay, which is doubtless admirably adapted for milk- 
production. Moreover, the pastures on this farm are kept entirely 
for the milking stock and their calves. 
Some years ago I had a turf, two feet long by one foot wide, 
cut from one of the Grange pastures, and sent to Dr. Fream, to be 
included in his series of experiments on the herbage of pastures. 
His report, as given in the Journal (Yol. I., 3rd Series, Part II., 
1890, p. 371), is in effect as follows, and shows that the herbage is 
of an exceedingly grassy character : — 
A turf from one of the best fields on Eaton Home Farm, on the estate 
of the Duke of Westminster. There is no record as to how long the pasture 
has been down, and it is used exclusively to graze dairy cows. It is occa- 
VOL. IV. T. S. — 13 N 
