980 
^'HE RURAL NEW^’OHKER 
August 1, 
SUMMER FEEDING OF DAIRY CATTLE. 
T HE favorable influence of early Spring 
pasture on the milk flow is very 
well known. As a rule, the cows will ob¬ 
tain enough food from pasture alone dur¬ 
ing the early part of pasture season to 
make large secretion of milk, but later 
in the season it is absolutely necessary 
to supplement the pasture, which can be 
done by feeding grain, silage, or crops 
that are green. 
The flies are blamed for the marked 
falling off in milk during hot months of 
July and August. It is true that flies 
do worry the stock, but if the animals 
were given some succulent roughage, as 
green crops or silage, they would not have 
to graze for a long time over a large area 
on dry pasture in the hot sun to be pest¬ 
ered by the flies. A good spray of fly oil 
before going to pasture will save feed. 
Some dairymen stable their cows during 
hottest part of day, feeding them inside 
then with green forage crops. 
Most cows will give more milk on 
grain in addition to pasture, but usually 
not enough to pay extra cost of grain and 
feeding it. Grain is only profitably fed 
to heavy milkers, which will make them 
produce a maximum amount of milk. 
Therefore, really the only methods of 
feeding are soiling or giving silage. Soil¬ 
ing consists of cutting crops and feeding 
them fresh and green. Soiling crops are 
succulent, palatable, easily digested, and 
stimulate a flow of milk. They are fed 
in large quantities, GO pounds being fair 
allowance; grain only being fed to heavy 
milkers, in addition to pasture. While 
crops to be used may be varied, a good 
example is the rotation employed on the 
writer’s farm. Oats and peas sown in 
April, cut and fed from middle of June 
to middle July. From middle July to 
August first green Alfalfa is fed to cows. 
From August to October green fodder 
corn is fed which is planted in succes¬ 
sion in Spring. A change is made now 
and then from corn to Soy beaus or cow- 
peas, or any crop as we happen to have. 
While soiling has many advantages, the 
biggest drawback is the increased labor, 
such as seeding, cutting and hauling this 
heavy green food. The feeding of silage 
cuts out a great deal of this increased 
labor and at same time provides a succul¬ 
ent feed, stimulating a large milk flow. 
Therefore a good dairyman should have 
an extra silo filled with corn for Sum¬ 
mer feeding, or have one large enough so 
he can supply his cows with succulence 
during Summer. The feeding of silage is 
the most economical method of supplying 
food for stock during hot. dry periods of 
Summer when pasture is short. 
New Jersey. J. w. G. 
THE HOG A DAIRY PARTNER. 
<< TV /[ANY of us dairy farmers are los- 
1VJL ing good cold cash by neglecting 
to keep a few hogs,” says Edward Will¬ 
iams of Ohio. ‘‘I keep but a few cows, 
and am an average representative of the 
small dairy farmer of Eastern Ohio and 
of other States. I have learned the value 
of a good bunch of porkers, and I have 
$350 or $400 each year to my credit from 
hogs which supplement my small dairy. 
“My milk brings only cheese factory 
prices. I have whey left. My neighbors 
are keeping but two or three hogs for 
family use. They are making poor use 
of the whey product which I am turning 
into hogs. I am not a scientific feeder; 
I do not practice pasturing or hogging 
down corn as is done in the corn sections. 
I have a hog pasture like other small far¬ 
mers ; I buy feed as they do, and I have 
my book here to show they have paid me 
and will pay other dairymen as well as 
myself. In fact a number of my neigh¬ 
bors would be pleased with a $400 annual 
income from a half a dozen scrub cows, 
while it comes my way easy from the hogs 
I sell annually. 
“I sell 20 to 80 hogs each year. I aim 
to have them weigh about 175 or 200 
pounds at five and one-lialf or six months 
of age. The hogs return me about $15 
the head, sold to the local buyer. I do 
not keep careful account of interest on 
investment, or possible loss from disease, 
but what I have done is this: I have 
sold myself May. 3, five pigs for $20. 
That is a pretty good figure. On Sep¬ 
tember 7 I marketed four of the five pigs 
for $59.92, and have one left, which I 
value at $15. I purchased the feed stuff, 
paying $23.92 for hominy and shorts. 
After all I am about $51 ahead on this 
bunch at a total expense of about $24 
for feed. A farm accountant might show 
me in dollars and cents that after com¬ 
puting labor I might be losing money, but 
a $51 margin is pretty good on this 
bunch. I do all my own work, and it 
pays me to keep a few hogs much better 
than a lot more scrub cows. 
“Here is the point. There are farmers 
who have become disgusted with slow 
maturing hogs; they saw no profit in 
them, and quit. I know one instance 
where a tenant declared he had fed 14 
acres of corn to seven hogs. They were 
two years old when butchered, and at 
every stage of the game they were a los¬ 
ing proposition. This is the way the av¬ 
erage farmer has played with hogs, and 
it hasn’t paid. It isn’t paying me as 
well as should I sow rape for Autumn 
pasture, have some rye for Spring and 
Fall pasture and supplement my ration 
with '‘tankage. I do feed green sweet 
corn on the stalk. There is but little dif¬ 
ference in breeds. I have the O. I. C. 
and I find they mature quickly. Hogs 
nowadays mature more quickly than a 
score of years ago, yet there is too much 
of that old blood still kept on the aver¬ 
age Eastern farm. Many farmers draw 
on their income from the farm to pay 
for the meat supply. Keep a few hogs, 
and they will increase the income mate¬ 
rially. Keep two or three sows, - have 
them farrow in March or April and in 
August or September, and they will 
pay.” w. j. 
DO OLD HENS PAY? 
C AN you print any figures showing the 
comparative egg yield of hens in 
their second year? I’rof. James Dry- 
den conducted some experiments along 
this line. Can you get his figures and 
tell us whether it pays to keep old hens 
for laying stock. e. j. s. 
The Utah experiments which were 
made by the writer, and were conducted 
for a number of years, showed average 
pen results from Leghorns in the first 
year of 1G4 eggs, and in the second 12G 
eggs per hen. Of course, this refers to 
averages and it is not possible to give 
any figure that will represent the laying 
of all flocks, as you know they vary so 
much, even in the same breed. In excep¬ 
tional individual cases, more eggs were 
laid in the second year than in the first. 
For instance, a hen laid 201 eggs the first 
year and 241 the second. Instances such 
as this might be given for a number of 
flocks. Forty-one hens of different breeds 
with individual records averaged 171 eggs 
the first year and 125 the second, or 40 
per cent, more the first than the second. 
At the Oregon Station later results 
were secured as follows: A flock of 50 
Barred Plymouth Rocks laid 1G0 eggs 
the first year, and 105 eggs the second 
year. Fifty White Leghorns and crosses 
laid 151 eggs the first year and 130 eggs 
the second year. In these experiments 
the laying year began November first. 
Out of the 100 hens 17 laid more eggs the 
second year than the first. 
The conditions as to time of hatching 
and kind of care and feeding have a good 
deal to do with the number of eggs laid 
the first and second years. Where the 
conditions are more favorable during the 
second year than the first a better egg 
yield will be secured in the second year. 
Again, where the period of maturity va¬ 
ried or where the laying year began in 
the Spring, the second year records were 
greater than the first, but where maturity 
is reached in the Fall and laying begins, 
then, the average flock results invariably 
showed that the first year is the most 
productive, and that there is a gradual 
decrease each succeeding year. When the 
first experiments were made at Utah the 
prices of eggs were very much lower than 
now. On the showing then made it look¬ 
ed on the face of it that it would be pos¬ 
sible to renew the flock each year where 
eggs were produced for market purposes. 
Since then the prices have risen to a 
point where it seems that it will pay to 
keep the flock two years. While the pro¬ 
duction is very much greater the first 
year, the eggs weigh more the second 
year, and if one has a select trade this 
will figure some in the calculation. 
Again, the cost of raising the pullet is 
considerable, in fact the business of 
hatching and raising the stock is probably 
the most troublesome part of the poultry 
industry. If a good pullet could always 
be raised at a cost not exceeding the price 
received for the old hen, then it might 
pay to renew the flock every year. But 
I think it is very doubtful, with present, 
methods of hatching and rearing the 
ch*.ks, whether this can be done. It is 
not a question merely of raising the pul¬ 
let. It is a question of rearing one that 
will have equal vigor and laying quali¬ 
ties with the parent. The great danger in 
the frequent renewal of the flock is that 
through faulty methods of hatching and 
rearing the vitality of the old may not be 
preserved in the new flock. If the poul- 
tryman is very successful in the hatching 
and rearing of the chicks he will, I think, 
find profit in renewing the flock each year, 
taking the flocks as we find them as a 
whole. I hope some time that the pro¬ 
ductive period of the hen may be length¬ 
ened. I have had enough individual cases 
where the second and even third year’s 
production was higher than the average 
of the first year, indicating that it is pos¬ 
sible by proper breeding to lengthen the 
period of profitably laying. If this is 
done it will be a great boon to the poul¬ 
try industry. james dryden. 
Uneven Span Henhouse Roof. 
W OULD there be any disadvantage in 
a poultry house made with a gable, 
one side of the roof being shorter 
than the other, the side toward the 
south? If this short side of the roof 
were made partly of glass, or even en¬ 
tirely, I can see some important ad¬ 
vantages, but don’t care to build a house 
that way if experienced poultrymen have 
good reason for never doing it? 
New York. f. w. b. 
The points to be taken into considera¬ 
tion in building a poultry-house roof are 
economy, durability, and convenience, and 
the type of roof which will best serve 
these ends will vary with the size and 
proportions of the house. For a house 
which does not exceed IG feet in width 
the single slope, or shed roof is usually 
preferred; it is easily built, throws all 
rain water to the rear, gives a high 
front for windows and sufficient head 
room. It is difficult to span a greater 
depth than 16 feet with single rafters 
and consequently a deeper house is best 
built with a gable roof, either the ordin¬ 
ary type with rafters of equal length or 
one having the rafters of one side shorter 
than those of the other, the latter being 
called a combination roof. With the 
same pitch of roof and area of ground 
covered, a shed roof, gable roof and com¬ 
bination roof require the same amount of 
material, but the combination roof re¬ 
quires less height of rear wall than the 
gable roof and less height in the front 
wall than the shed roof; it is, therefore, 
a favorite type in poultry-house construc¬ 
tion. A half monitor roof is one in which 
the short front rafters do not meet the 
long rear rafters but are dropped some 
distance below them. This gives a saw 
tooth effect much used in modern factor¬ 
ies. the vertical space between the ends 
of the two sets of rafters being provided 
with windows for light and ventilation. 
This is an excellent type for very deep 
buildings as it admits sunlight to the rear 
of the building. Monitor roofs, hip roofs 
and A-roofs are also used to advantage 
on buildings of special construction. 
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