Keeping one cow / Being the experience of a number of practical writers, in a clear and condensed form, upon the management of a single milch cow

by Various

THE FAMOUS JERSEY COW “EUROTAS” (2.454). (Frontispiece.)

KEEPING ONE COW.

BEING THE EXPERIENCE OF A NUMBER OF PRACTICAL WRITERS,
IN A CLEAR AND CONDENSED FORM,
UPON THE
Management of a Single Milch Cow.

ILLUSTRATED.

NEW YORK:
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY,
751 BROADWAY.
1884.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1880, by the
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

• Absorbents in the Stable, [14], [17], [19], [26], [55], [75], [80], [94], [99], [127]
• Accounts, Dr. and Cr., [11], [31], [38], [45], [111], [113], [131]
• Ailments, [28], [89], [115]
• Alfalfa Clover, [97]
• Cut six times, [98]
• Artichokes, Jerusalem, [64-77]
• Feeding, [69], [75]
• Nutritive Value of, [75], [76]
• Barley as an Autumn Crop, [107]
• Barn—See [Stable]
• Barre System of Feeding, [105]
• Butter, [14]
• Buying Feed, [78], [93]
• Brewer’s Grains, [9], [109], [130]
• Calf, Care and Disposal of the, [12], [21], [27], [28], [57], [62], [71], [89], [119]
• Rations for, [21], [28]
• Scours in, [28]
• Teaching to Drink, [12], [22], [28]
• Clover, White and Red, compared, [104]
• Corn (Indian) for Fodder, [12], [17], [20], [25], [29], [31], [44], [60]
• Compost Heap, [19], [81]
• Cow, Care at Calving Time, [21], [27], [41], [50], [72], [83], [87], [114]
• Carding, [37], [56], [84]
• Drying Off, [14], [37], [87]
• Fat at Calving, [110], [114]
• General Treatment, [9], [17], [30], [37], [50], [96], [98], [119]
• How to Select a, [80]
• Kept in the North, [9]
• Kept in New York, [78], [99], [123]
• Kept in the South, [25]
• Kept in the Eastern States, [35], [92], [103], [110]
• Kept in the Town, [108], [130]
• Kept in Ohio, [53]
• Kept in Pennsylvania, [16], [64]
• Kept in Indiana, [119]
• Kept on Cape Cod, [92]
• Kept in California, [97]
• Kept in Connecticut, [110]
• Points of a Good, [9]
• Rations for, [29], [30], [37], [43]
• Stabled in Town, [108]
• Yield of Milk, [15], [42], [57], [72], [114], [132]
• Cow Doctors, [89]
• Diseases—See [Ailments]
• Draining Land, [125]
• Drouth, Effects of, on Milk, [39]
• Dry Fodder for Winter, [87], [108]
• Dung Heap, the, [125]
• Ellsworth’s, System of Feeding, [105]
• Exercise, Need of, [81], [109]
• Fastening for the Stable, [63]
• Feeding, System of, [18], [27], [29], [37], [43], [83], [103]
• Fertilizers, Commercial, [47], [59], [117], [118]
• Food, Am’t Required for a Year, [10], [64]
• Daily, [106]
• Garget (Inflamed Udder), [89], [115]
• Grasses, Mixed, as Soiling Crops, [103]
• Grass Seed Mixtures, [103]
• Ground Feed, Bran, [37], [87]
• Cotton-seed Oil Cake Meal, [29], [44], [87]
• Corn Meal, [37], [57], [59]
• Ground Feed, Oats and Peas, [10]
• Hay, [30], [82], [100]
• Hay Tea, [28]
• Hungarian Grass, [108]
• Land, Area Required, [9], [11], [16], [22], [47], [64-65], [78], [82], [93], [99], [106], [117-118], [125]
• Land, None Absolutely Required, [130]
• Sloping to the South and East, [125]
• Leaves as Bedding, [18], [94]
• Litter for Bedding, [18], [55], [80]
• Manure, [11], [100], [125]
• Care of, [19], [26], [62], [74], [80], [126]
• Liquid, [128]
• Supply Increased by Soiling, [38]
• Milk Flavored by Turnips, [14]
• Weeds, [103]
• In the Family, [11], [14], [58], [90], [130]
• Milking, [13], [62], [83]
• Three Times a Day, [72], [102], [104]
• Prior to Calving, [27], [41], [115]
• Milk-Pail, [50]
• Muck, Value as an Absorbent, [80]
• Parturition, [50], [72], [87]
• Pasturing, [39], [82]
• Peas, Canada Field, [92]
• Cow, [30]
• Pea-Vine Hay, [30]
• Pearl Millet, [21], [31], [116]
• Pigs to Work Over Manure, [94], [127]
• to Consume Sour Milk, [58], [79], [90]
• Profits of Keeping One Cow, [11], [35], [45], [58], [90], [115], [130]
• Rotation, [65-66], [83], [91]
• Roots, Culture of, [19], [41], [98], [107]
• Cutting Up, [18]
• Storing in Pits, [12], [20], [37], [95], [108]
• Storing in Barrels, [95]
• Root Crops, Artichokes, [64], [70], [75]
• Carrots, [20], [43]
• Mangels, [12]
• Parsnips, [37]
• Sugar-Beets, [16], [19], [60]
• Turnips, [42], [93]
• Root Cellar, [128]
• Salting, [122]
• Sea-Weed as an Absorbent, [94]
• Shade in the Yard, [81]
• Soiling Crops, [21], [25], [92]
• Alfalfa, [97]
• Artichokes, [64]
• Cabbages, [32], [94]
• Canada Peas, [92]
• Cow Peas, [30]
• Golden Millet, [25], [31]
• Hungarian Grass, [92], [108]
• Minnesota Corn, [92]
• Mixed Grasses, [103]
• Oats and Peas, [92]
• Peas, [11]
• Rye, [20], [108]
• Stables, Plans, etc., [10], [17], [25], [48], [49], [72-73], [78-79], [94], [121], [126-127-128]
• Stable Requisites, [11], [63]
• Stable-Tie, [63]
• Tethering, [116], [119]
• Tank for Liquid Manure, [128]
• Udder, Inflammation of, [89], [115]
• Vermin, [36]
• Water, [10], [26], [44], [84], [103]
• Weeds Flavoring Milk, [103]

PUBLISHERS’ ANNOUNCEMENT.

We have now, according to the last census, a population pressing close upon fifty Millions. Every one of this vast number is individually interested in the milk question. What is true of perhaps no other element of food and nourishment, milk is consumed in some form by all, old and young. It is because of this necessarily universal personal interest in milk that the publishers offer this volume which aims to show all how to obtain the best milk, plenty of it, and at the cheapest rates. The book embraces the experience and advice of able, well known writers—such, for example, as Professor Slade, of Harvard College, and Henry E. Alvord—elicited in response to propositions presented by the Publishers for articles upon the subject. The editorial supervision of the work has been in the hands of Col. Mason C. Weld and Professor Manly Miles—recognized authorities on Dairy Matters—who would have included many other valuable and interesting papers submitted, were it not that they would have made the volume too bulky. Mr. Orange Judd has added a leaf from his personal experience.

The topics treated are only those legitimately connected with the subject, yet they cover a wide field, and will prove of great interest to all occupied in the culture of the soil, while as a handbook and guide to those who keep one or more family cows it must be of almost daily practical use. The prominent subjects, such as soiling, stabling, care of manure, the tillage of the soil, the cultivation of various crops, care of the cow and of the calf, are each treated in detail, and yet there is so great a variety and such genuine personal experience and sincere conviction on the part of each writer, that his or her way is the best way—as indeed it may be, under the circumstances—that there is little or nothing of sameness or repetition in the book, but the reader’s interest is sustained to the last.

INTRODUCTION.

Every farmer is ordinarily supposed to keep several cows, and there is no reason why most families in villages and very many in cities should not possess at least one. Good milk affords the best of nourishment for young children, and goes a long way in saving butchers’ bills, and in the preparation of palatable nourishing food of many varieties. Two to five families, according to age and number, can readily unite in having one cow kept, dividing the milk and expenses, and thus always have good, pure, rich milk at very moderate cost. The suitable refuse from the kitchens of three or four families would very much reduce the cost of purchased food. In rural villages, summer pasturage can be obtained near at hand, which, with a daily feed of good meal will furnish a large supply of rich milk at a low cost. A boy can be secured at a small price to drive the cow to the pasture in the morning, and return her at night to the stable. A stable or stall can always be obtained at a trifling rent, and be kept clean. There are plenty of gardeners or farmers who will gladly take the manure away so frequently as to prevent it being a nuisance, or disagreeable.

We have no doubt that all residents of villages, manufacturing towns, etc., can, by arrangements like the above, secure an abundant supply of pure, rich, fresh, healthful milk at less than three cents per quart, and at the same time add greatly to their home comforts, and preserve the health if not the lives of their little ones.

In February, 1880, the publishers of this volume offered prizes for three essays on keeping one cow, indicating at the same time their scope. Some extracts from the explanatory remarks accompanying this offer may fitly outline an introduction to the work.

The number of persons who possess but one cow is far larger than those who have ten or more. No doubt many others, living outside of closely built cities, would gladly lessen the cost of supporting their families, and at the same time add to their comforts, and even luxuries, by keeping a cow, did they know how to keep one. There is a general notion that keeping a cow requires a pasture. If a pasture is not necessary, they do not know how to get along without one. Dairymen and farmers learn how to treat herds as a part of general farm management, or in books on the subject. There are books on cows, but none on one cow. It is not a question of dairy farming, but of dairy gardening. The offer was made to elicit information to enable one to keep a single cow with the best possible results. The main points to be considered are: the stabling or housing of the cow; the yard room she requires, and the storage or disposal of her manure; the least area of land that can be safely set apart for the support of the cow, and how can that land be best managed. It is to be assumed that the land will be made to produce all that it will profitably yield, which will bring up the question of manure and fertilizers, of course considering that produced by the cow herself. What proportion of the produce of the land is to be cured for winter? How much food must be bought, and what? How is the cow to be fed, and in every respect how treated so as to give the best returns to her owner? What should be done at calving time and afterwards? milking, etc. In short, the problem is—given a good cow, how to get the best possible returns from the least possible portion of the land through the agency of the cow.

This, we think, is satisfactorily answered, if not by any one writer, certainly by several combined.

We place as a frontispiece the portrait of a most famous and excellent cow—not so much for her beauty or on account of her breed, but as a model of a dairy cow, and one which may be carried in the mind when purchasing.