3003 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
863 
PRACTICAL COW NOTES. 
Poor Corn Crops. —We used to say 
that we could raise a good crop of corn 
for the silo no matter whether the sea¬ 
son was wet or dry, but the last two 
years have knocked the bottom out of 
our boasting, and this yeai-, with 60 
cows and 20 head of young stock to feed, 
and only 40 tons of silage where we 
ought to have 200 tons, the food ques¬ 
tion is quite a problem. We planted 
enough corn, but the elements were 
against us, and like nearly every other 
farmer of this vicinity, our silage has 
cost "us pretty high per ton. We know 
of one farmer who succeeded in getting 
150 tons, but his labor bill for hand hoe¬ 
ing alone amounted to $450. He had the 
satisfaction of having reasonably clean 
fields with a small crop, but paid rather 
high for his corn. We had a splendid 
hay crop, secured in good season; more 
No. 1 Timothy than ever before. This 
we sell at $20 per ton, and shall replace 
it with bran that cost us considerably 
less. While our silage lasts we are feed¬ 
ing it only to the milch cows, about 20 
pounds each evening and hay twice a 
day. As soon as silage is gone we shall 
feed hay morning and evening, and bran 
for lunch about 10 A. M. Our practice 
is to feed grain at 5 A. M., just before 
milking; after milking hay. After 
breakfast tlje stables are cleaned and 
cows bedded, and then they are given 
another feed of hay. At 2.30 P. M. cows 
are let out in yard if pleasant while the 
stables are again cleaned, also the man¬ 
gers. At 4 P. M. grain and silage are 
fed, then milking and all chores done up 
at 6 P. M., and this day we find long 
enough to get thoroughly tired and to 
appreciate an easy chair and some good 
reading after supper. 
The Grain Ration. —For a grain ra¬ 
tion we are at present feeding a mixture 
of about 100 pounds coarse bran, 120 
pounds dried distillers’ grains (22 per 
cent protein), 100 pounds gluten feed and 
160 pounds Ajax gluten (35 per cent pro¬ 
tein, 13 per cent fat). As soon as our 
cotton seed comes we shall replace the 
gluten feed with cotton-seed meal. This 
mixture lasts four feeds, so that we av¬ 
erage to feed only four pounds per cow, 
but as there are a number of dry cows 
that get but little, and those going dry 
but a small amount, the best cows get 
from eight to 10 pounds each. Our cows 
arc all grade Jerseys, and will not av¬ 
erage 700 pounds each. They are now 
giving 385 quarts daily that tests about 
4.8 to five per cent fat. This is not a 
show record time of the year, but pres¬ 
ent facts. 
Time Is Money. —We had been off to 
the farm several miles away after a 
number of loads of hay, and met a good 
many farmers coming into town. Late 
in the afternoon we met the same ones 
on their way home, and one of the men 
well put it when he said: “It beats all 
how some farmers can bring in a few 
pounds of butter to regular customers 
and make a whole day’s job of it.’’ These 
men haven’t learned the value of time, 
and are ready to stop and talk 15 min¬ 
utes or an hour on any topic you may 
suggest. We have two farmers now in 
mind who bring :n twice as much stuff 
as any of the first class, and are but 
about two hours in making their deliv¬ 
eries. Their customers know they are 
busy people, and are all ready for them, 
for they expect them at just about such 
a time. One class spent 15 to 20 per cent 
of their working time while the others 
use less than three per cent to do the 
same work, and really give better satis¬ 
faction, for busy housewives and ser¬ 
vant girls haven’t all day to waste on the 
butter man. 
Shop and Farm.—A good many men 
of our acquaintance have tried to run a 
farm and work in town at the same 
time, yet we have never known one of 
these to succeed. Successful farming 
seems to demand one’s entire time and 
attention, and giving our best hours to 
something else doesn’t work. Most of 
these men who work in a shop, rise 
very early to put in a little time on the 
farm, and at it again after getting home 
at night. They are not up to their best 
at any time, and neither of much value 
to their employer in town or themselves 
on the farm. It is a pretty small farm 
that rightly cared for and worked with 
intelligence will not take care of its 
owner with more profit when he devotes 
his entire attention to it than where his 
energy must be spent largely away from 
the farm. The only exception is where 
there are boys in the family who love 
farming and have experience and intelli¬ 
gence to do work thoroughly and at the 
right time, but somehow the boys’ love 
for farming dies out when father drives 
away in the morning and leaves enough 
“mean” jobs to last the boy two days, 
and then finds fault at night upon his 
return to find they are not all done. Get 
out of the shop and make the farm pay. 
Ci.EANiNG Stabees. —All but onc of 
the seven stables in our barn open out 
directly into the yard, but from this one 
the cows must pass over about eight 
feet of the floor in front of the manger, 
and that eight feet requires more clean¬ 
ing than all the other floor in the barn. 
Were we to plan a barn we should see 
that none of the cows ever passed over 
flooring that was used for feeding pur¬ 
poses. We have gates for each stable, 
so that if a cow accidentally got loose in 
the night she would not have the run of 
the whole barn, and we haven’t any 
meal barrels handy that she might gorge 
herself on and thus find a spoiled cow in 
the morning. In fact, we have not had a 
pound of cornmeal on the farm for a 
long time. The grain is kept in bins 
that are not accessible to the cow. 
Tuberoei.ous Cows.—Without any di¬ 
rect thought of our own herd we wrote 
the note, page 815, on mortality of cows, 
but it happened that the next day we 
took one out in the woods, skinned her 
for the hide, which brought about $3, 
and buried one of our best cows. She 
had apparently been all right until with¬ 
in three weeks, when she began to drop 
off in milk and flesh. We watched her, 
but could see no sign of anything, but 
we made up our mind it was time to 
get rid of her and we do not think much 
of the man who will sell such a cow to 
the bologna man. By the way, we do 
not want any bologna or frankfurters in 
ours; we know of too much stuff that 
goes into them. We examined the cow 
and found her unmistakably tubercu¬ 
lous. We have thoroughly disinfected 
her previous quarters and are now try¬ 
ing to make up for her loss. We had 
not had a case for several years, and 
supposed we were free from it. We 
know of quite a good many cows that 
are sold and killed because of this dis¬ 
ease, but it is kept rather quiet, and the 
world knows little about it. Why worry 
about this or abortion? Take all the 
reasonable precautions you can and trust 
in Providence for the rest. There will 
be enough to worry about if worry did 
any good,^and gray hairs will appear be¬ 
fore we want to see them. 
Separate Mangers. —We much prefer 
a separate manger for each cow. We 
have had opportunity to observe a num¬ 
ber of stables where there was one con¬ 
tinuous manger and have yet to see one 
of this kind where each cow got all that 
was intended for her and no more 'or 
less. The long-necked cow reaches over 
and helps herself at the expense of her 
neighbor, and when hers is gone calmly 
eats her own. It reminds us of the time 
years ago we saw a herd of elephants 
feeding on hay at Barnum’s in Madison 
Square Garden, New York. Not a sin¬ 
gle elephant save the one on the end was 
eating from his own pile, but all feeding 
at ^ the expense of thdir right-hand 
neighbor. u. g. manc'Iie.ster. 
Tommy (inquiringly); “Mamma, is 
this hair-oil, in this bottle?” Mamma: 
“No! That’s glue.” Tommy (nonchal¬ 
antly) : “That’s why I can’t get my hat 
off.”—Tit-Bits. 
DUCK AND CHICKEN QUERIES. 
1. How can a person tell old from Spring 
ducks; both alive and dressed? 2. Will 
the roosting of chickens too young, on 
perches, cause the breast to become crook¬ 
ed? If not. what does this defect indicate? 
Lincolnville. Pa. J. l. 
1. When alive old ducks usually do not 
appear so bright except after moulting. 
They are rather deeper through breast, 
beaks darker in color, and upon hand¬ 
ling the breast bone will be found much 
harder, the breast bone of the young 
ducks being soft, grlstly-like. When 
dressed the old ducks are much coarser 
in appearance, flesh firmer, breast bone 
rather protruding usually, and the skin 
a deeper yellow in color, the above will 
hardly apply if the Spring ducks are six 
or eight months old; in this case there 
will be noticed a difference in the firm¬ 
ness of the end of the breast bone, the 
Spring ducks not being so hard as the 
old. We usually market Spring ducks at 
eight to twelve weeks old, and have had 
them classed as old ducks when they 
were left until five months old. 2. 
Crooked breast bones are undoubtedly 
caused by chickens roosting too young. 
It is a more common defect in the heavy 
than the small breeds. I have seen 
large flocks of heavy capons that were 
never allowed roosts in their house, and 
all have straight breasts. j. e. s. 
Sunday Schoot. Teacher: “We should 
never do in private what we would not 
do in public.” L’Enfant Terribj/e: “How 
’bout taking a bath?”—Princeton Tiger. 
She: “I hear the attempt to run a base¬ 
ball team in the coal region was not a 
success. What was the trouble?” He: 
“All the men went out on strikes.”—Cor¬ 
nell Widow. 
I VKf a Rood apTOnts to sell Keystone Calf 
MLIw I Feeder. Positively best made. 
Good inducements to live people only. Write today. 
M. T. PHILLIPS, Box 18, POMEROY, PAk 
Wilder’s stanchion 
—being an Improvement 
over Smith’s. Lightest, 
strongest, quietest, safest 
Stanchion made. Has steel 
latch and automatic lock. 
Becomes stationary when 
open. Animal cannot turn 
it In backing out. Made of 
best seasoned hard wood. 
Pins for fastenlngwlth every 
Stanchion. Send for testi¬ 
monials. Wi LOBE—Strong 
Implement Co., Box 30, Monroe, Mich. 
EMPIRE 
CREAM SEPARATOR 
Makes the MIloh Cows Pay. 
It’s 
the 
Best 
separator in 
world; simpler in con¬ 
struction, with fewer 
parts, most durable, 
most easily cleaned. Its 
sales have increased 
1,000 % in the 
past four years. Our 
book will interest 
you. Free. 
EMPIRE CREAM 
SEPARATOR COMPANY, 
Bloomfield, N. J. 
Chicago, Ills, 
SHARPIES 
Tubular Farm 
SEPARATORS 
Built on the ScfuarOy 
as everybody knows. Entirely 
different from other separators, 
new in principle. Guaran¬ 
teed more convenient, ef¬ 
ficient and durable than 
any other kind. 
Write for catalog 
No. 153. 
P. M. SHARPLESy 
Weal Chostar, Pa. 
THE SHARPIES CO., 
Chloago, III. 
DE UVAL 
CRUM SEPARATORS 
As much better than imitating 
separators as such separators 
are better than setting systems. 
' Send for catalogue and name of 
nearest local agent. 
THE DE LAVAL SEPARATOR CO. 
74 Cortlandt Street, I Randolph & Canal Sts. 
NEW YORK. 1 CHICAGO. 
PRESCOTT’S S 
WINGING 
WIVEL 
TANCHION 
KEEPS COWS CLEAN 
Swings forward while get¬ 
ting up or lying down. Locks 
back while standing. Full 
particulars free. PRESCOTT, 
69 Beverly St., Boston, Mass. 
THE CHAIN-HANGING 
Cattle Stanchion 
The most practical and humane Fastener ever in¬ 
vented. Gives perfect freedom of the head. Illustrated 
Circular and Price free on application. Manufactured 
by O. H. KOBEKXSON, EorestvUIe, Conn. 
Don’t 
ame the 
low 
you 
probably 
need a 
L34i 
Cream Separator 
If you keep cows and have no U. S. Separator you 
are losing money that might be saved. Without a 
U. S. you cannot get all the cream, besides the product 
of the U. S. commands a higher price. Order at once, 
stop your losses and increase your profits. 
For Western Customers, we transfer our separators from Chicago, La Crosse, 
Minneapolis, SiouxCity, and Omaha. Address all letters to Bellows Falls, Vt. 
IVrtie for illustrated catalogues 
Vermont Farm Machine Co., Bellows Falls, Vt. 
A 
