Vol. LXI. No. 2728. 
NEW YORK, MAY 10, 1902 
$1 PER YEAR 
THE BUSINESS OF BREEDING CATTLE 
CALLS FOR ARTISTIC TASTE. 
A Work of Long Years. 
There is probably no branch of farming that pre¬ 
sents a wider field for advancement than the breeding 
of purebred cattle. No herd is so good that it cannot 
be improved, and no herd is so poor that it has fallen 
below the possibility of improvement. Can one im¬ 
agine a branch of husbandry where one has such a 
chance for expansion and advancement as in the 
breeding of purebred cattle? With horse breeding 
there is connected the unsavory flavor of the race 
track, with its demoralizing influences, but cattle 
breeding is free from this, and I believe that it calls 
for even more knowledge and care than horse breed¬ 
ing. One must aim not only to produce an animal 
that will give a large flow of rich milk, but one that 
shall carry the characteristics of its breed to the 
highest possible degree. It is possibly because I am 
trying to be a breeder of Jerseys that I think the rais¬ 
ing of these cattle more trying than any other. I don’t 
mean to deny that anyone can breed Jerseys; but I 
do say that but few can breed the' best. 
The Jersey is the “family” cow; the cow that is 
owned by the gentleman farmer, the village profes¬ 
sional man, and the city man with a suburban 
residence. These men are harder to please 
than the butcher and the milkman to whom 
other breeders cater. The Jersey cow must 
first of all give a good flow of rich milk, and 
she must keep it up nearly all the year round. 
Then she must be of a pleasing color and sym¬ 
metrical form. Her back must be straight, 
her hips wide and her shoulders thin. Her tail 
must be long and fine, and with a good switch 
(one grab of the dog and she is ruined in this 
respect). Her abdomen must be large, but 
her ribs must be nicely curved, so that it will 
not look too large. Her neck must be long 
and thin, and her head small and lean, with 
prominent placid eyes, which must be far 
apart, while her horns should be near together, 
small, amber-colored and incurving. Couple 
all these with a high-strung nervous tempera¬ 
ment that will send her over a fence if fright¬ 
ened, and an intelligence that will make her 
follow a friend like a pet dog, and you have a 
good Jersey cow. Can anyone deny that a 
person has a chance to use all his faculties in 
producing her? He needs the eye of an artist, ami 
also the cool judgment of any practical business man, 
for the “business end” of the animal must be looked 
after as much as the other. The business will never 
be overdone, and there will always be failures, because 
so many men are naturally unfitted for it. and so 
many more find it “too much like work.” I submit a 
work of art in the shape of a cow’s head, Fig. 125. It 
took me several years to produce the original, but the 
photographer did his part in a very short time. Still, 
lie is a “professional man,” while I am just a scrub 
farmer. J. grant morse. 
CHOP FEED FOR THE BROOD SOW. 
A good many years ago my father, during the crop¬ 
ping time, often fed his horses chopped feed, made of 
rye straw put through a cutting box and mixed in the 
trough with ground rye. It was considered a desir¬ 
able feed, but the work it took to get the feed to the 
horses would now be considered by the careful farmer 
too great.. This mixture was prepared only for the 
horses, and was not passed around to other animals 
on the farm. The rye straw was of no particular 
value except to give bulk to the ration, and act as a 
divider of the rye meal used. The idea had never 
occurred to pig growers of those days to feed their 
swine chop. Then corn for Winter and grass for 
Summer was the extent of their bill of fare. Even 
now to mix a chopped ration for the swine straw of 
no kind would be desirable, as there is so little in it 
that can be used by the animal. It is dawning on the 
pig grower that the pig, to thrive best, must have 
more than grain, or its direct products, for susten¬ 
ance; that the variety ration possible in Summer 
should be made possible for Winter. 
Every Spring some farmer has trouble with his 
brood sows at farrowing time, and more trouble in 
getting the pigs started, and only because the sows 
have not had a sufficient variety in their rations. Re¬ 
cently the farmers in the Middle States have found 
out that their hogs, brood sows, etc., will eat a limited 
amount of clover hay. In the Alfalfa countries of the 
West the hog eats Alfalfa the year around, and thrives 
on it, and can be fattened with a little grain added. 
There is no reason why farmers in the older States, 
who grow corn and hogs year after year cannot give 
more variety to their hogs in the way of foods. More 
and more they are getting to use the by-products of 
the mills and have learned that it is hard to do with¬ 
out them. Soy beans and cow peas can be grown to 
take the place of these mill products, but it is hard 
JERSEY COW IDA’S ORPHAN MAIl) 151980. Fig. 125 
for farmers who have grown corn in large fields to 
fall into the habit of producing these other crops in 
the small way. The outlay for different machinery 
stands in the way of making them regular crops. If 
crops that are already grown can be utilized it will 
suit the farmers much better. Clover should be grown 
on all hog farms, and every farmer should learn to 
make clover hay. Alfalfa will also become a standby 
on many farms, and add to the protein feeds that can 
be used. 
This Winter there has usually been a flat pocket- 
book in the farmer’s pocket, after a purchase of mid¬ 
dlings at the neighboring mill, and a wish that there 
was some way to escape this necessary outlay, or at 
least to cut it down. The writer has had that feeling 
for some time, and has been trying clover chaff to 
some extent, for two or three years. What we mean 
by chaff is the leaves and small stems that are found 
on the floor, after handling the hay. The hogs have 
often been noticed eating clover in the lots where it 
has been fed to the horses and cattle. It is eaten 
from the manure thrown out of the cow stable, and 
relished in a seeming half decayed condition as found 
in the feed lots and manure pile. Acting on these 
facts, as pointing to a desirable ration for the hogs, 
clover in a cured and clean condition has been brought 
into use. There were in their pens four sows with 
their litters, six, seven, 10 and 10 pigs, a few days old. 
A precaution in starting a sow on full feed after far¬ 
rowing is to prevent overfeeding. With a mill-feed 
ration, or this and corn, this is easily done, more so 
than most men think. This time clover leaves have 
made a goodly part of each feed. By using this de¬ 
sirable. feed it has been found that the danger of over¬ 
feeding is greatly decreased. From a mow floor sev¬ 
eral sacks of clover chaff were gathered, leaves and 
stems; these sacks were placed by the box containing 
middlings and bran. A four-gallon bucket is used in 
mixing a feed for two sows. The bucket is filled about 
three-fourths full of the clover, and then about one 
gallon of middlings poured over the clover. The 
clover is pressed down to some extent when put in the 
bucket. With the hand or a small paddle the clover 
and middlings are mixed, and it is quite easily done. 
Then, if obtainable, skim-milk or kitchen slops are 
used to wet the mixture; if these are not in supply we 
go to the hydrant and turn on the water needed thor¬ 
oughly to dampen the dry feed. The temperature of 
the water is about 58 degrees, sometimes lower, no 
doubt. The bucket of feed is divided between two 
sows, 1 y 2 gallon at least to each sow and fed twice a 
day. With this ration the sows are well contented 
because comfortably filled all the time. They 
are also fed after being well started on this 
feed two or three ears of corn each twice a 
day. It is counted that the mill-feed bill is at 
least cut in two by the use of the clover, and 
the sows have done better than if they had 
been fed full on middlings and corn. The pigs 
are starting nicely, and there is not the fear 
from loss by getting over fat, as is the case 
when their dams are fed on an all-grain pro¬ 
duct. The ration is easily and quickly pre¬ 
pared, and is always fresh and clean. It may 
be argued by some that this is “no good” to 
them for this Spring, but it certainly should be 
a prompter to try to prepare clover hay to be 
used next Winter and Spring. Warm water 
can be used, or soak the mixture over night if 
wished. john m. jamison. 
Ohio. 
ASHES AND SALT FOR SWINE.—I have 
been in the hog business for the past 33 years, 
and it has always been my practice to try to 
keep salt and ashes where my hogs could help 
themselves. I think one part salt to nine parts ashes 
about the right mixture. I have sometimes burned 
old rails, corncobs, etc., until thoroughly charred, 
then salt it slightly and throw water on it, and let 
the hogs eat the charcoal. I practice this only when 
feeding hogs for the market. I have never seen any 
bad results from feeding ashes to hogs, but think the 
best way is to keep them where the hogs can help 
themselves at all times. l. l. frost. 
Mirabile, Mo. 
We have never heard claimed before that hogs 
would eat enough wood ashes and salt to hurt them, 
if they could get them whenever they wanted them. 
The best pigs that we have ever raised had all the 
wood ashes with a little salt mixed in it that they 
would eat. We think it is much better to keep a mix¬ 
ture of wood ashes and a little salt in a box where the 
pigs can go to it at will. They will go and eat the 
ashes in the morning before they will eat their feed. 
We do not think it best to mix the ashes in the slop 
or feed, as that would make them eat more than they 
would want and might be more than they ought to 
have. We have found soft lye soap made from wood 
ashes to be good to feed pigs to make them hearty 
and grow well. We think wood ashes and a little 
salt, kept where the hogs can get to it, is worth more 
than all the cholera remedies put together. 
Winchester, lnd. a. c. green & sons. 
