Mr. Harley, whose admirable dairy establishment has been already alluded to, as erected for the purpose of supplying the city of Glasgow with a good quality of milk, and which contributed more than anything else to improve the quality of milk furnished to all the cities of Great Britain, adopted the following system of feeding with the greatest profit: In the early part of summer, young grass and green barley, the first cutting especially, mixed with a large proportion of old hay or straw, and a good quantity of salt to prevent swelling, were used. As summer advanced less hay and straw were given, and as the grass approached ripeness they were discontinued altogether, but young and wet clover was never given without an admixture of dry provender. When grass became scarce, young turnips and turnip-leaves were steamed with hay, and formed a good substitute. As grass decreased the turnips were increased, and at length became a complete substitute. As the season advanced a large proportion of distillers’ grains and wash was given with other food, but these were found to be apt to make the cattle grain-sick; and if this feeding were long continued, the health of the cows became affected. Boiled linseed and short-cut wheat-straw mixed with the grains were found to prevent the cows from turning sick. As spring approached, Swedish turnips, when cheap, were substituted for yellow turnips. These two roots, steamed with hay and other mixtures, afforded soft food till grass was again in season. When any of the cows were surfeited, the food was withheld till the appetite returned, when a small quantity was given, and increased gradually to the full allowance.
But the most elaborate and valuable experiments in the feeding and management of milch cows are those recently made by Mr. T. Horsfall, of England, and published in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society. His practice, though adapted, perhaps, more especially to his own section, is nevertheless of such general application and importance as to be worthy of attention. By his course of treatment he found that he could produce as much and as rich butter in winter as in summer.
His first object was to afford a full supply of the elements of food adapted to the maintenance and also to the produce of the animal; and this could not be effected by the ordinary food and methods of feeding, since it is impossible to induce a cow to consume a quantity of hay requisite to supply the waste of the system, and keep up, at the same time, a full yield of the best quality of milk. He used, to some extent, cabbages, kohl rabi, mangolds, shorts, and other substances, rich in the constituents of cheese and butter. “My food for milch cows,” says he, “after having undergone various modifications, has for two seasons consisted of rape-cake five pounds and bran two pounds, for each cow, mixed with a sufficient quantity of bean-straw, oat-straw, and shells of oats, in equal proportions, to supply them three times a day with as much as they will eat. The whole of the materials are moistened and blended together, and, after being well steamed, are given to the animals in a warm state. The attendant is allowed one pound to one and a half pounds per cow, according to circumstances, of bean-meal, which he is charged to give to each cow in proportion to the yield of milk; those in full milk getting two pounds each per day, others but little. It is dry, and mixed with the steamed food on its being dealt out separately. When this is eaten up, green food is given, consisting of cabbages from October to December, kohl rabi till February, and mangold till grass time. With a view to nicety of flavor, I limit the supply of green food to thirty or thirty-five pounds per day for each. After each feed, four pounds of meadow hay, or twelve pounds per day, is given to each cow. They are allowed water twice a day to the extent they will drink.”
Bean-straw uncooked being found to be hard and unpalatable, it was steamed to make it soft and pulpy, when it possessed an agreeable odor, and imparted its flavor to the whole mess. It was cut for this purpose just before ripening, but after the bean was fully grown, and in this state was found to possess nearly double the amount of albuminous matter, so valuable to milch cows, of good meadow or upland hay. Bean or shorts is also vastly improved by steaming or soaking with hot water, when its nutriment is more readily assimilated. It contains about fourteen per cent. of albumen, and is rich in phosphoric acid. Rape-cake was found to be exceedingly valuable. Linseed and cotton-seed cake may probably be substituted for it in this country. Mr. Horsfall is accustomed to turn his cows in May into a rich pasture, housing them at night, and giving them a mess of the steamed mixture and some hay morning and night; and from June to October they have cut grass in the stall, besides what they get in the pasture, and two feeds of the steamed mixture a day. After the beginning of October the cows are kept housed. With such management, his cows generally yield from twelve to sixteen quarts of milk (wine measure) a day, for about eight months after calving, when they fall off in milk, but gain in flesh, up to calving-time. In this course of treatment the manure is far better than the average, and his pastures are constantly improved. The average amount of butter from every sixteen quarts of milk is twenty-five ounces, a proportion far larger than the average. His investigations are very full and complete.—See [Appendix].
How widely does this course of practice differ from that of most farmers! The object with many seems to be to see with how little food they can keep the cow alive. Now, it appears to me that the milch cow should be regarded as an instrument of transformation. With so much hay, so much grain, so many roots, how can the most milk, or butter, or cheese, be made? The conduct of a manufacturer who owned good machinery, and an abundance of raw material, and had the labor at hand, would be considered as very absurd, if he hesitated to supply the material, and keep the machinery at work at least so long as he could run it with profit.
Stimulate the appetite, then, and induce the cow to eat, by a frequent change of diet, not merely enough to supply the constant waste of her system, but enough and to spare, of a food adapted to the production of milk of the quality desired.
Soiling.
—Of the advantages of soiling milch cows, or feeding exclusively in the barn, there are still many conflicting opinions. As to its economy of land and food there is no question, it being generally admitted that a given number of animals may be abundantly fed on a less space; nor is there much question as to the increased quantity of milk yielded in stall feeding. Its economy in this country turns rather upon the cost of labor and land; and the question asked by the dairyman is whether it will pay—whether its advantages are sufficient to balance the extra expense of cutting and feeding over and above cropping on the pasture. The importance of this subject has been strongly impressed upon the attention of farmers in many sections of the country, by a growing conviction that something must be done to improve the pastures, or that they must be abandoned altogether.
Thousands of acres of neglected pasture-land in the older states are so poor and worn out that from four to eight acres furnish but a miserable subsistence for a good-sized cow. No animal can flourish under such circumstances. The labor and exertion of feeding is too great, to say nothing of the vastly inferior quality of the grasses in such pastures to those on more recently seeded lands. True economy would dictate that such pastures should either be allowed to run up to wood, or be devoted to sheep-walks, or ploughed and improved. Cows, to be able to yield well, must have plenty of food of a sweet and nutritious quality; and unless they find it, they wander over a large space, if at liberty, and deprive themselves of rest.
If a farmer or dairyman is the unfortunate owner of such pastures, there can be no question that, as a matter of real economy, he had better resort to the soiling system for his milch cows, by which means he will largely increase his annual supply of good manure, and thus have the means of improving, and bringing his land to a higher state of cultivation. A very successful instance of this management occurs in the report of the visiting committee of an agricultural society in Massachusetts, in which they say: “We have now in mind a farmer in this county who keeps seven or eight cows in the stable through the summer, and feeds them on green fodder, chiefly Indian-corn. We asked him the reasons for it. His answer was: 1. That he gets more milk than he can by any other method. 2. That he gets more manure, especially liquid manure. 3. That he saves it all, by keeping a supply of mould or mud under the stable, to be taken out and renewed as often as necessary. 4. That it is less troublesome than to drive his cows to pasture; that they are less vexed by flies, and have equally good health. 5. That his mowing-land is every year growing more productive, without the expense of artificial manure. He estimates that on an acre of good land twenty tons of green fodder may be raised. That which is dried is cut fine, and mixed with meal or shorts, and fed with profit. He believes that a reduced and partially worn-out farm—supposing the land to be naturally good—could be brought into prime order in five years, without extra outlay of money for manure, by the use of green fodder in connection with the raising and keeping of pigs; not fattening them, but selling at the age of four or five months.” He keeps most of his land in grass, improving its quality and productiveness by means of top-dressing, and putting money in his pocket,—which is, after all, the true test both for theory and practice.