978 
June 14, 1919 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Cow and Her Care 
Ill-flavored Milk 
What is the cause of an unpleasant 
odor and taste to one cow’s milk at night? 
It is only the night's milking, never in 
the Winter, when she is in the barn. We 
had a veterinarian to see her; he advised 
tn take her in two hours before milking, 
which we did. and we have taken her in 
three and four hours before milking; still 
the unpleasant taste and odor. mrs. j. e. . 
Maine. 
From your description of the trouble 
you are having with your milk there can 
be no doubt but that the off flavor is due 
to something the cow gets hold of in the 
pasture. The veterinarian gave the prop¬ 
er advice, namely, taking the cow from 
pasture for some time before milking. I 
note you did not have much success. The 
only other thing I could suggest would 
be that you make a search in the pasture 
to see if there are any undesirable plants 
such as wild onion that the cow is get¬ 
ting. It is not known as yet just how 
long before milking certain strong flavored 
feeds can be fed to a cow and not have the 
flavor show up in the milk. it. F. j. 
Raising Calf Without Milk 
I have two calves about three weeks 
old that I want to raise without milk. 
We have some of our own wheat bran, 
which is very nice ; would you advise us¬ 
ing this, mixed in some other grain? 
llow much should we use? v. A. 
New York. 
You can either secure a ready-mixed 
calf meal or make, one up at home out of 
equal parts, by weight, of linseed oilmeal. 
wheat bran, hominy feed or corumeal, 
middlings and dried blood. If you use 
the latter without milk it would best lie 
fed in the form of a gruel, and at four 
weeks of age calf should get about 1 lb. 
of the meal in S lbs. of warm water, daily 
feed, being given twice a day. This 
amount should be increased gradually 
until four or five months of age, when 
calf may be put on grass and dry grain. 
H. F. J. 
Moldy Cream 
What is the trouble with our cream? 
If taken off the milk or left on in about 
four days it gets moldy. I kept the pans 
of milk in the pantry at first._ but when 
cream became moldy thought it was too 
warm iu pantry, so put in cellarway. It 
did the same there. Then I skimmed 
some good cream off. put that in a pitcher 
outdoors, but that got jnoldy too. I keep 
the pans clean and thoroughly scalded, 
sometimes using bakinfe soda to cleanse 
them. Our man is not a clean milker— 
would that affect it? When cows were 
dry (we have two) Fused the pans for 
lumey. One of our cows is a Guernsey, 
had her first calf last Summer. She has 
never given more than three pints of 
milk at a milking since then. We feed 
cows rye bran, hay and cornstalks. Some¬ 
times the milk will stay sweet a week, 
almost impossible to get it sour; it gets 
bitter instead. ’ MRS. E. S. 
New York. 
Spores that cause molds are present 
about everywhere, more particularly in 
barn dust and dirt. From what you say 
1 presume this is the main source of your 
trouble. It might be remedied by having 
the man take more pains with his work 
in the barn. However, if you will set 
the pans of fresh milk on the stove and 
li Mt to 145 degrees F. or better, scald it, 
as it is commonly called, you will kill 
off the spores causing the mold. 
of course the cow that freshened last 
Summer and never gave over three pints 
of milk at a milking is doubtless giving 
abnormal milk by this time that might 
in part cause the trouble. I am quite 
sure the bitterness that sometimes de¬ 
velops is due to the milk from this cow. 
Fnless she freshened too young, or was 
iu some way abnormal. I should sell her 
at once. The chances are she will never 
be a profitable producer. it. F. J. 
Plan for Square Silo 
Four years ago I purchased a silo, one 
I thought was the best offered by the 
trade, and paid $100 more for it. than I 
could have bought an ordinary silo for. 
owing to the fact that it was supposed 
not to collapse, but. it did. and now I am 
in search of one that will stay with me. 
It is my intention to build one out of 
11x4 in. lumber, laid square, 20x10 ft., 
with a partition in the center, making 
two square silos 10x10 ft., putting the 
2x4’s fiat .side together and spiking them 
securely, matching the ends and allowing 
the ends to extend 0 in. beyond the outer 
wall to avoid splitting when spiking the 
corners. In the partition I intend to 
allow every other 2x4 to protrude through 
the outer wall 0 in., that it may not only 
support the partition, but will also pre¬ 
vent the outer wall from bulging under 
the pressure of the corn. I intend to 
paint all joints as I put them together.' 
If you know of any such structure I 
would like to know how it acts under 
service. n - 
New York. 
I never heard of a silo being constructed 
as you propose to construct one. The 
idea of building the square silo out of 
2x4 lumber is all right, provided you 
saw about a 6x6 diagonally and set it in 
each corner. Your plan of putting a 
partition in the center and making your 
silo only 10 ft. high is not wise. _ Ten 
feet- is not a sufficient depth to insure 
good keeping qualities for the silage. I 
should bv all means cut out the partition 
and build the silo 10x10x20. li.F. J. 
Building a Stone Silo 
Will you advise me regarding the build¬ 
ing of a silo out of stone cleared off farm 
lands? This silo is to be 14x30 It. Is 
this more economical than a wooden silo? 
What would be the approximate cost of 
such a silo, where the la big' must be hired 
and the cement and sand purchased? 
How must the inside be finished? s. H. 
Lew Beach, X. Y. 
Stone silos are not very common, for 
the reason that it is a slow and rather 
difficult job to construct them and keep 
the walls plumb. The foundation below 
ground should be two feet wide and the 
silo wall IS inches wide at the bottom, 
gradually tapering to a foot at the top. 
The inside would have to be plastered 
with cement plaster, so that the walls 
were smooth. To get at the approximate 
cost of this silo for your locality I would 
suggest that you find out the cost of sand 
per cubic yard and the cost of cement, 
and then consult a stone mason. While 
the silo would last, a lifetime if properly 
built. I feel sure it would be about the 
most expensive you could build, with the 
possible exception of concrete, and I 
should also look into the local cost of 
wooden or hollow tile construction. 
II. F. .t. 
Feeding Calf; Mites in Henhouse 
1. I have a family cow with calf four 
weeks old. I would like to raise it: it 
has been fed by the dam. but would like 
to put it on skim-milk. Would you please 
give me a ration of grain I could feed 
with the skim-milk, so as to keep it grow¬ 
ing and in good condition. 2. Also my 
henhouse is full of little black fleas. 
What could I use to get rid of them? 
New York. mbs. k. d. p. 
1. Make up a grain ration to supple¬ 
ment skim-milk out of one part, by 
weight, of wheat bran, one part corumeal, 
one-half part linseed oilmeal and one-half 
part ground oats, and feed this grain dry. 
The calf may be brought to eat it by rub¬ 
bing its nose in the feed. Keep grain be¬ 
fore calf, but never more than what calf 
will clean up nicely. 
2. If you will whitewash the inside of 
your henhouse with ordinary whitewash 
to which a little creolin has been added 
you can get rid of the mites. it .F. J. 
Ration for Cows 
Would-you suggest a ration for cows? 
I have no’ hay. and cows are on pasture. 
I would like a ration that will not set 
them back. It. K. 
Connecticut. 
For cows on pasture use a grain ration 
of two parts, by weight, of bran or ground 
oats, one part corumeal or hominy feed, 
one part gluten feed and one part cotton¬ 
seed meal. Add 1. per cent salt to ration 
when mixing it up. Asjong as pasture is 
good. 1 lb. of grain to 5 or 0 lbs. of milk 
produced daily should be enough. 
ir. F. J. 
Overfed Calf 
We have a fine bull calf about five 
weeks old that will not drink milk unless 
his head is held in the pail, lie ate some 
hay and drank milk all right until two 
weeks ago. He does not seem to be sick. 
At first when it was necessary to hold 
his head in the pail he would drink all the 
milk in a few minutes.- but now lie does 
not seem to care much for it. and will not 
touch hay. He does not act as lively as 
he did. I fed him whole milk until lie 
was about three weeks old. and now am 
feeding him five or six quarts of separat¬ 
ed skim-milk with about one quart of feed 
in the milk, twice a day. The feed is 
mixed as follows: 30 lbs. ground oats. 30 
lbs. corumeal, 30 lbs. wheat bran. 10 lbs. 
oilmeal. W. G. K. 
New York. 
The only reason I can see why your 
calf has lost his appetite is that 1m has 
been overfed. I note you have been feed¬ 
ing five or six quarts of skim-milk and a 
quart of grain twice a day. This is nearly 
twice the amount recommended for a calf 
this age. 1 think possibly a physic of 
about 3 oz. of castor oil would help. Then 
work the calf back on feed gradually, just 
giving what he wants. Your grain mix¬ 
ture is excellent. Six quarts of milk and 
a quart of grain daily would be enough 
for a five-weeks-old calf. n. F. J. 
Grain for Cows on Grass 
Will you advise best grain ration for 
milch cows on grass? 1 have plenty of 
buckwheat. Should the ration be fed 1 
lb. grain to. 3% lbs. milk? C. c. n. 
New York. 
If you want to use your buckwheat, 
make the ration two parts, by weight, 
ground buckwheat, two parts corumeal or 
hominy feed, two parts of gluten feed and 
one part cottonseed meal. You will not 
need to feed 1 lb. of grain to 3% lbs. of 
milk if pasture is good. This is a general 
rule for Winter feeding. A pound of 
grain to 5 lbs. of milk should be sufficient. 
II. F. .r. 
Concrete Floor in Henhouse; Capacity of 
Silo 
1. I am contemplating concreting the 
floor of my henhouse. Can you tell of 
the advisability of a concrete floor iu a 
henhouse? My neighbors tell me that the 
droppings have so much acid in them that 
they crumble the concrete. 2. Can you 
tell me how to find the capacity of a cir¬ 
cular silo? E. B. J. 
Vestal, N. Y. 
1. Everything considered, concrete is 
probably the most satisfactory material 
from which to build a poultry-house floor. 
An improperly constructed concrete struc¬ 
ture of any kind will crumble, and many 
do. That the acid of poultry droppings 
will cause such crumbling is certainly n 
remarkable statement. 
2. The capacity, in tons, of circular 
silos may be determined from tables 
worked out for that purpose. As tlie 
weight of a cubic foot of silage varies 
with the deptli at which it is found in the 
silo, it is not sufficient merely to find the 
cubic capacity of the silo and multiply 
that by the weight of silage. The aver¬ 
age weight of a cubic foot of silage in a. 
silo of 10 ft. depth is about 30 lbs., while 
in one of 32 ft. depth it would be about 
40 lbs., the weight varying from 20 lbs. 
near the surface to 00 lbs. at a depth of 
35 ft. A silo 10 ft. in diameter by 24 ft. 
in height will, if completely filled, hold 34 
tons of silage. Other common sizes and 
capacities arc as follows: 10x20 ft., 26 
tons; 10x30 ft., 47 tons;' 12x20 ft., 38 
tons; 12x2S ft., 61 tons; 12x32 ft., 74 
tons; 14x20 ft., 51 tons; 14x28 ft.. S3 
tons; 14x32 ft., 100 tons. The depths 
given are of the contents of the silo, 
which, ordinarily, should be several feet 
higher to allow for settling. The con¬ 
tents of any silo in which you are inter¬ 
ested will be given if you will state its 
size. M. B. D. 
‘T can't understand,” said Uncle Eben, 
“why some folks think de only way t<> 
show dey’s jes* as good ns anybody as to 
act disagreeable.”—Washington Star. 
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