WINTER FEED AND TREATMENT.
If not previously done, I now procure three thousand pounds of the best early cut clover hay. As my shed is not sufficiently large to store away this amount, I am obliged to stack part of it. I also procure bran and meal. The amount of these which I require for a year’s supply is: of bran, one thousand pounds; of corn meal, one thousand pounds; and of oat meal, seven hundred and fifty pounds. These amounts, well mixed together, will furnish a feed of eight quarts per day, which amount is diminished during the period in which the cow is dry, and is sometimes increased, if by any means other food is short. It is not advisable to procure all this feed at once, for, if stored, it would be quite likely to heat and mould before it could be used, besides being subject to loss from rats and other vermin. I therefore procure one-sixth of this amount, or two months’ supply at a time, and I have often found it convenient and profitable to buy the corn and oats and have them ground myself. The course pursued in feeding from November first until February fifteenth, at which time the cow becomes dry, is similar to that which I have described for the month of April. It is better to dry off the cow four, five, or even six weeks prior to calving. Sometimes, in order to do this, it will be necessary to omit the grain and diminish the quantity of roots for a few days, but after she becomes quite dry I resume feeding as before, except perhaps to lessen the amount of grain until within a few days of calving, when I omit the grain entirely until, as I have before stated, the danger from milk fever, etc., is past.