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JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER.  April  2,  1903.  , 
and,  perhaps,  costly ;  but  when  we  consider  the  quantity  of 
milk  he  gets  per  cow,  and  the  good  price  his  young  bulls  and 
heifers  command,  and  the  difficulty  there  is  to  obtain  one, 
we  shall  not  think  that  he  feeds  in  vain.  When  we  speak  of 
the  difficulty  there  is  in  obtaining  any  of  Mr.  Evans’  stock, 
.  we  mean  this,  that  his  orders  are  executed  in  rotation,  and 
a  would-be  customer  may  have  to  wait  some  time  before  he 
gets  the  chance  of  securing  one  of  these  valued  “Lincoln 
Reds  ”  from  Burton. 
We  must  quote  Mr.  Evans  verbatim  here; — Summer: 
In  May  or  June,  if  grass  be  plentiful,  about  2lb  cotton  cake, 
and  later,  if  grass  is  scarce  or  dried  up,  2lb  or  3lb  of  mixed 
meal  or  bran  with  it,  and  either  Cabbage  or  Lucerne  thrown 
in  the  fields  ;  towards  autumn  change  of  pasture  if  possible, 
eddish  (or  aftermath).  Winter:  4lb  cotton  cake,  2lb  malt 
culms,  2lb  dried  grains,  2lb  bran,  3lb  mixed  meal  (generally 
Oats  and  Wheat).  Very  heavy  milkers  or  fatteaing  cows,  2lb 
linseed  cake  extra.  Autumn  :  40lb  to  50lb  Swedes.  After 
■Christmas  ;  40lb  of  Mangolds  when  ripe,  cut  Oat  straw,  long 
hay  once  a  day ;  salt  water  always  before  them,  a  trough 
between  two  cows. 
Method  of  Feeding. 
Dried  grains  and  malt  culms  steeped  twenty-four  hours. 
Then  these  wet  grains  and  culms,  the  bran  and  mixed  meal 
with  a  very  few  pulped  roots  are  mixed  with  the  cut 
Oat  straw  about  twenty  hours  before  using,  a  few 
handfuls  of  salt  thrown  in.  The  moisture  of  the 
steeped  grains  and  culms  and  the  pulped  roots  softens  the 
whole  lot,  but  this  heap  of  food  must  not  be  allowed  to  fer¬ 
ment  or  it  will  make  the  milk  taste.  Cows  receive  two  feeds 
of  this  a  day  and  one  feed  of  long  hay  at  night ;  this  is 
necessary  to  enable  them  to  raise  the  cud.  The  cake  is 
given  dry,  roots  or  Cabbage  are  given  at  twice,  morning 
and  afternoon.  So  much  for  Burton  Reds.  Now  for  the 
Jersey  menu  which  has  been  kindly  supplied  by  Dr.  Watney 
and  Mr.  Evans  : — 
Winter  Rations  for  Jerseys  in  Full  Milk.  Each  per 
day:  5lb  dairy  cake,  4lb  Oats,  lib  Wheat,  15lb  Cabbage  or 
Parsnips,  hay,  salt  and  water,  as  much  as  they  require  ;  or 
4lb  dried  distiller’s  grains,  3lb  Oats,  lib  Wheat,  2lb  dairy 
cake.  Cabbage,  hay,  and  as  above.  Summer  Feeding: 
Give  a  large  range  of  pasture,  and  if  grass  is  good  and  plenti¬ 
ful,  no  cake  or  corn  during  the  early  summer.  During  July, 
August,  and  September,  2lb  of  dairy  cake  each  per  day. 
Methods  op  Feeding  :  Oats  crushed  and  mixed  with 
grains  and  damped  six  to  twelve  hours  before  feeding. 
Wheat  crushed  and  soaked  twenty-four  hours  before  feed¬ 
ing  ;  Cabbage  (decayed  leaves  removed,  stumps  quartered)  ; 
Cabbage  carted  and  spread  on  pasture  every  day ;  rock 
salt  and  water  always  before  the  cows  in  field  or  shed  ;  dairy 
cake  fed  dry  ;  hay  given  long.  Mr.  Marshall,  of  Riding  Mill- 
on-Tyne,  supplies  us  with  his  food  list  as  given  to  his  Short¬ 
horns. 
A.  — Slimmer  Feeding:  Grass  with  4lb  to  8lb  mixed  meal 
and  cake  ;  in  some  cases  grass  only.  (We  personally  know 
some  rich  grass  in  this  northern  district,  where  cake  cannot 
often  be  wanted.) 
B. — Winter  Feeding;  251b  dairy  cake,  2|lb  cotton  cake, 
5lb  mixed  meal  (Oats,  Peas,  Beans),  |  bushel  grains,  6st 
Swedes,  hay,  straw  ad  lib. 
C.  — 6lb  mange  meal,  3lb  compound  cake,  3lb  decorti¬ 
cated  cotton  cake,  4lb  bran,  2|lb  malt  culms,  hay,  straw  ad 
lib.  for  cows  in  full  milk  and  fattened  off. 
Looking  at  the  winter  feeding  of  the  two  herds  of  large 
cattle  we  find  the  Burtons  get  13lb  per  diem  of  cake,  meals, 
&c.,  which  come  under  the  head  of  carbohydrates,  whilst  the 
Riding  MiU  Shorthorns  get  about  16lb  of  the  same  class  of 
food  per  diem.  The  smaller  Jersey  will  consume  these  dried 
foods  at  the  rate  of  lOlb  per  diem  which,  taking  into  con¬ 
sideration  her  size,  is  at  the  same  ratio. 
We  have  spoken  of  these  three  picked  herds  as  being 
types  of  what  can  be  done  by  first,  careful  breeding  ;  second, 
by  careful  feeding.  This  is  all  so  different  from  the  hap¬ 
hazard,  careless  methods  with  which  so  many  farmers  are 
content.  Many  a  man  will  complain  that  the  milk  trade  does 
not  pay  ;  no  more  it  will  unless  managed  properly.  What  is 
the  use  of  having  an  engine  and  running  her  only  at  half 
speed  ?  It  does  not  take  much  more  fuel  to  get  the  best  pace 
possible  out  of  her.  These  great  dairymen  are  of  opinion 
that  few  farmers  know  exactly  where  the  loss  comes  in. 
They  are  not  particular  enough  in  testing  their  cows  to  find 
out  which  is  the  weak  link  in  the  chain,  and  having  found  it, 
get  rid  of  it  at  once.  By  testing  the  cows  we  mean  weigh¬ 
ing  night  and  morning  the  exact  quantity  of  milk  each  cow 
produces,  and  if  she  falls  below  the  average  she  must  go. 
Mr.  Evans  makes  his  average  600gals  per  annum.  The 
weighing  of  the  milk  need  not  be  such  a  great  undertaking 
if  the  pails  are  all  uniform  weight,  and  a  spring  balance 
hangs  ready  in  the  milking  shed,  with  a  slate  and  pencil  close 
by.  These  records  must  be  copied  out  into  a  perfectly 
arranged  book  each  night  and  totalled  each  week  and  month 
end. 
When  we  consider  that  as  a  nation  our  allowance  of  milk 
is  less  than  half  a  pound  per  head  per  diem,  there  is  great 
room  for  an  increased  supply.  At  any  rate,  no  milk  substi¬ 
tute  has  been  found  that  takes  the  place  of  milk  in  rearing 
young  childi’en,  and  there  is  no  food  so  valuable.  We  do  not 
say  substitutes  have  not  and  are  not  tried  daily  and  hourly, 
for  many  poor  children  hardly  know  the  taste  of  milk.  A 
substitute  would  supply  a* thing  of  equal  value  to  the  one 
withdrawn,  but  in  no  case  can  anything  be  found  that 
approaches  the  value  of  good  sweet,  new  milk. 
At  present  our  bill  for  imported  milk  is  £12,000^  per  year, 
but  it  has  no  need  to  be  one  halfpenny.  This 
milk  is  not  like  corn,  beef,  and  many  of  our  other 
food  products  that  we  cannot  grow  ourselves  in 
sufficient  quantities.  We  have  the  machinery,  some 
of  it  rusty,  some  of  it  perhaps,  antiquated ;  but  still 
it  is  there,  and  by  a  process  of  reconstruction  it  can  all  be 
made  available  and  be  worked  at  high  pressure.  We  make 
one  fatal  blunder,  and  that  is  we  kill  off  good  young  cows 
and  so  reduce  our  breeding  stock.  We  use  up  our  material 
too  soon.  A  few  figures  will  convince  our  readers  that  we 
do  not  complain  without  reason.  In  Edinburgh  alone 
20,000  cows,  young  and  in  prime  condition  are  annually 
milked,  fed  and  killed  off.  In  Cheshire  there  were,  last 
year,  2,500  cows  and  heifers  fewer  than  in  1901.  In  Leicester¬ 
shire  2,000.  Bucks  over  4,000.  Derbyshire  5,000.  Lanca¬ 
shire  over  6,000  ;  and  Yorkshire  25,000  !  This  is  bad  policy, 
foolish  shortsightedness,  and  we  shall  have  to  pay  for  it 
sooner  or  later. 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
Rapid  alternations  of  high  winds  and  heavy  rain  have  been 
rather  trying  to  the  patience  of  farmers,  who  are  anxious  to  be 
finishing  spring  sowing.  It  has  been  all  right  for  the  breaking 
and  pulverising  of  rough  clods,  but  the  rains  have  been  sadly 
hindering.  A  great  many  Swedes  remain  to  be  eaten,  and  the 
heavy  rain  has  made  the  sheepfolds  very  muddy.  The  wind  and 
sun  soon  bake  the  mud,  and  a  great  part  of  these  belated  Tdrnip 
fields  can.  hardly  be  sown  with  grain  in  reasonable  time.  There 
is,  therefore,  a  probability  of  a  diminished  acreage  of  Barley  if 
not  of  Oats. 
We  have  always  warned  our  readers  against  the'  use  of  Swedes 
for  ewes  during  the  lambing  season,  but  it  seems  there  are 
exceptions  to  the  rule.  A  friend  of  ours  with  too  many  Swedes 
has  lambed  his  ewes  entirely  on  them  and  linseed  cake.  He  has 
finished  with  twelve  more  jjairs  than  singles,  and  has  lost  three 
ewes  out  of  100.  Perhaps  with  Mangolds  instead  of  Swedes  he 
might  have  done  even  better,  but  the  Swedes  were  of  less  than 
no  value,  and  his  Mangolds  are  all  in  reserve  for  summer  needs. 
The  pigs  will  benefit  if  the  sheep  do  not.  Pastures  of  all  kinds 
are  very  promising,  and  graziers  must  mind  their  grass  does  not 
get  too  big  before  being  stocked.  Arable  farmers  with  plenty  of 
roots  left  may  be  inclined  to  keep  their  cattle  in  the  yards  later 
than  usual,  but  the  beasts  always  do  better  if  the  pasture  has  to 
grow  to  them.  If  the  grass  gets  too  high,  and  is  trodden  down, 
the  pasture  is  spoilt.  The  young  growing  stock  should  be  out 
now  during  the  day,  and  if  the  weather  continues  mild  they  will 
soon  be  able  to  stay  out  at  night.  But,  of  course,  much  depends 
on  the  field  whether  it  is  a  sheltered  one  or  not.  Many  people 
think  it  does  not  matter  how  far  off  the  grass  fields  lie,  for  the 
stock  only  requires  a  little  more  shepherding,  but  really  the 
convenience  of  having  the  grass  within  easy  reach  of  the  yards 
in  spring  and  autumn  when  the  animals  are  going  out  to  and 
coming  up  from  grass  is  often  worth  quite  a  nice  little  rent. 
Cabbages  cultivated  in  the  same  manner  as  Swedes  should  be 
drilled  at  once  if  they  are  not  already  in.  The  land  intended 
for  Kohl  Rabi  should  be  ready,  and  may  be  ridged  up  at  once, 
and  the  manure  got  on  and  shaken.  Then  nothing  will  remain 
to>do  but  to  sow  the  artificials,  split  the  ridges,  and  drill  the 
seed  when  the  weather  is  fine  and  warm.  A  great  many  PotatO'es 
are  still  left,  but  sowing  time  has  stopped  deliveries  to  a  great 
extent,  markets  are  thinner  of  supplies,  and  prices  of  best  samples 
have  advanced  2s.  Cd.  per  ton. 
