1160 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
October 6, 1917 
MERIDALE 
JERSEYS 
O WL-1 merest cows are real 
cows. Their records prove 
it. They are long-lived, and 
persistent producers as well. 
More than that, their blood 
“breeds on.” 
Spermfield Owl’s Eva 193934 
has five authenticated yearly 
records. She produced 16,457 
lbs. milk, 1,168 lbs. butter at 
eight years old. At ten years 
old, she made 11,666 lbs. milk, 
834 lbs. butter, carrying calf 
281 days, and winning Gold 
Medal. At eleven years she 
produced 13,114 lbs. milk, 871 
lbs. butter. She is again on test 
at thirteen years, and hasmijked 
over 63 lbs. a day. One register 
of Merit Daughter, another on 
test, and two sons are numbered 
among Meridale Jerseys. She 
will be on exhibition at the 
coming National Dairy Show. 
The list could be extended to name over 
150 tested cows, including more than a few 
A. J. C. C. Medal Winners. Our confidence 
in the blood is best proven by the fact that 
four Owl-Interest bulls are now in service at 
Meridale Farms. 
20 Owl-Interest 
Heifers 
We can spare 20 heifers of Owl-Interest 
blood from the Meridale Herd this fall. They 
range in age from seven to seventeen 
months. They are well bred and well grown, 
and have been developed under strictly prac¬ 
tical conditions. They will make strong, 
robust, dependable dairy cows of extra 
choice type. 
It has taken us many years to develop 
the Owl-Interest Family sufficiently to 
permit the sale of females in any such num¬ 
ber—this is the first time that as many as a 
car-load lot have been available. 
Full particulars on request. Better still, 
come and see them for yourself at Meridale 
Farms. You will be welcome whether or not 
you wish to buy. 
AYER & McKINNEY 
300 Chestnut Street ^ Philadelphia, Pa. 
Tho day be- ON A 
g;m for me by 
hearing the milk pails rattle as Mr. A. 
(my able assistant that I secured through 
a little “Want” advertisement in The R. 
X.-Y. last Spring) gathered them up on 
starting for the barn. The clock struck five 
.a few minutes afterwards. Five o’clock is 
our regulation hour for rising and. in 
getting up as well as in other things, :Mr. 
A. thinks that it is better to be just a 
little ahead rather than behind. V bile I 
heartily agree with the sentiment, I must 
confess that I am getting a little slow 
about putting it in practice, and I found 
that Mr. A. had fed the horses and got 
the cows into the barn, where they found 
a good feed of freshly cut com with a 
little ground feed on top. 
We are milking only 10 cows this sea¬ 
son. I milk only four, including the two 
‘“worst” ones. By the way, I always make 
it a point to milk any cow' that may be 
difficult or cranky, and then insist that 
the others are milked as they should be. 
As soon as the milking is done, Mr. A. 
takes two pails of ground feed over to 
one of the meadow’s, w’here 10 large 
calves are running in the aftermath. 
Meanwhile I “slop” four younger calves 
with warm prepared calf food, and then 
feed the lot of 10 a ration of the ground 
feed like the others. Not all of these 20 
calves were born on the farm. Higher 
milk prices caused a good many farmers 
to discard their calves last Winter and 
Spring. I took a chance at raising this 
bunch of 20, paying $50 each for young 
registered animals of good breed¬ 
ing. Of course, w’e do not forget to 
feed the pig. A farm without a pig 
would certainly be a funny farm. 
We find breakfast, w'hich Mrs. Morse 
has prepared, ready, and the two high- 
school girls (one our ow'n, and the other a 
friend who has stayed over for the night) 
ready to help eat it. Grant .Tr. (aged 10) 
is also ready to eat his breakfast. He is 
a pretty ready fellow anyhow. But who 
ever saw a boy of 10 who was much 
good until after six in the morning? 
This week is neighbors’ turn to draw 
the milk, so we do not have to bother 
with that. We hitch up the big team 
and go for a load of corn w’hich we 
I’un into the silo. (Perhaps I w'ould bet¬ 
ter say here that I have an engine and 
cutter, and Mr. A, and I are engaged in 
filling a 100-ton silo just for “knitting 
work,” when we have nothing else to do). 
It is now’ time for me to hitch the light 
team to the carryall and take the district 
children a-yay to the village school where 
we contract for the year. There are four 
high-school pupils also to go along. The 
distance is something over two miles, and 
W’e make the trip and Jjack in about an 
hour. In the meantime Mr. A. has got 
another load of corn ready to run into the 
silo. Besides cleaning the barn, w’e w'ork 
at the silo job until three o’clock, except¬ 
ing, of course, while w’e are eating dinner 
and hastily looking over the daily, w'hich 
our mail man kindly delivers just before 
noon. At three o’clock it is time for me 
to go after the “kids” again, and Mr. A. 
gets another load of corn from the field 
alone. He also gets the feed ready for the 
cows and horses. I slip the light team back 
into the barn, and we run in two more loads 
of corn. This makes 12 big loads in the 
day. Nothing to brag about. I hear some 
of the young fellows say. But wait, my 
sou. until you have plugged along on the 
farm for some thirty-odd years, and then 
tell the fellows what you think about it. 
The high-school girl has brought the milk 
pails dow'n to the barn, and Grant'Jr. 
will draw the two pails of calf feed over 
to the meadow’ in his express w’agon. He 
will also go up into the “State corn” field 
and break off a w'agouload of ears for the 
pig. In these days of extortionate feed 
prices we buy no more mill feed than is 
absolutely necessary. 
After milking, Mr. A. feeds the horses 
and beds them dow’n for the night, and 
ices the milk. I feed my batch of calves, 
and we are ready for supper at 6 P. M. 
The high-school girl has helped her moth¬ 
er prepare the supper, and she usually 
washes the dishes. She expects to grad¬ 
uate next Spring, and her studies are 
DAIRY FARM 
rather ardu¬ 
ous. I expect, 
although never having graduated from 
high school. I have to take her word for 
it. 
Mr. A. looks over the daily some more. 
Grant .Tr. reads a thrilling adventure in 
the “Youth’s Companion.” Mrs. Morse en¬ 
joys a book from the village library, and 
I read “Mecca, the Mystic” in the 
“Geographical Magazine.” 
J. GRANT MORSE. 
Cabbage for Live Stock 
Is cabbage beneficial as feed for hogs 
or COW’S? We have the cabbage, but a 
market that does not justify moving them, 
and will feed them to stock if beneficial 
for that purpose. a. b. 
Venango (3o., Pa. 
We have had good success feeding cab¬ 
bage to hogs.' They contain considerable 
nourishment and give a good bulk to the 
feed. The cow likes them, and in the 
cabbage-growing districts they are heav¬ 
ily fed, taking the place of silage or pas¬ 
ture. You must use care in feeding to 
COW’S, or the milk will taste. Feed right 
after milking and there will be little 
trouble. 
Feeding Calves 
‘ How’ should calves be fed. from birth 
to tw’o years of age. so as to obtain the 
best results? w’. b. c. 
New Hampshire. 
There are two general conditions under 
which calves can be raised. The fii-st i.s 
W’here whole milk is sold from the farm 
at a price that makes it too expensive to 
feed to calves, and the second is when 
cream or butter are sold, leaving plenty 
of skim-milk on the farm. It is easier 
to raise thrifty calves w’here plenty of 
skim-milk is available. When this is the 
case, the calf would best be left with 
its mother for tw’o or three days. It 
should then be fed whole milk from a 
pail for two or three weeks. Feed G 
to 10 lbs. per day, depending on size of 
calf. At the end of two or three w’eeks 
substitute a pound of w’hole milk with 
a pound of skim-milk until the calf ^ets 
nothing but skim-milk. Gradually in¬ 
crease the amount but never much beyond 
16 lbs. per day. When calf is three 
weeks old make up a grain ration of 
equal parts cornmeal, ground oats and 
bran, and feed a small handful a day, 
gradually increasing the amount. Grain 
should be fed dry. The calf w’ill eat hay 
at this period also. Give what calf like.s 
to clean up of mixed hay or rowen. When 
calves are put on pasture, they will 
take care of them.selv’es. In Winter 
young stock should be fed silage and hay 
and two to three pounds of grain daily 
to keep them in good shape. The heifers 
should be bred at 18 to 20 months of age. 
If skim-milk is scarce they may grad¬ 
ually be worked on to a commercial calf 
meal and water at three weeks of age. or 
ration heretofore mentioned made at 
home, can be used fed dry, and calve.s 
fed hay and a little silage and given 
plenty of w’arm water with enough milk 
in it to color. The main things to 
w’atch out for in raising calves are to 
use only clean buckets, feed warm and 
do not overfeed. Keep them in good 
condition, but let them clean up what 
is given them before increasing their ra¬ 
tion. n. E. J. 
Milking Heifers 
What is the best balanced ration for 
tw’o-year-old heifers fresh w’ith first 
calves? I want to make all the milk I 
can and not injure the heifers. I have 
no silage, and hay is fair, not the best, 
some is poor. I am anxious to give 
heifers a good chance to do well. I have 
no silage. p. f. 
Connecticut. 
It is going to be a costly proposition 
to feed your heifers without silage or 
Alfalfa or clover hay. If you want to 
feed them well 'to find out what they 
can do, make the grain ration two parts 
cottonseed, meal, one part bran, two parts 
dried distillers’ grains, half a part oil 
meal and one per cent salt. Feed grain 
at rate of a pound to about 3^ pounds 
milk produced daily. Give the heifers 
all the hay they will clean up and see 
that they have plenty to drink. 
H. F.-J. 
