(n) The person having charge of the carriage should examine it closely each day after it has been used, to see that there are no loose or broken nuts, bolts, tires, &c. If proper attention is given to this matter the carriage will always be ready for use.
Cow
Cow.—Choosing.—Form, general appearance, and the “touch” of the skin, are points to be attended to; with regard to these, an idea may be obtained from the following description of a good dairy cow:—Head small, long, and narrow towards the muzzle; horns small, clear, bent, and placed at considerable distance from each other; eyes not large, but brisk and lively; neck slender and long, tapering towards the head, with a little loose skin below; shoulders and fore-quarters light and thin; hind-quarters large and broad; back straight, and joints slack and open; carcass deep in the rib; tail small and long, reaching to the heels; legs small and short, with firm joints; udder square, but a little oblong, stretching forward, thin-skinned and capacious, but not low hung; teats or paps small, pointing outwards, and at a considerable distance from each other; milk-veins capacious and prominent; skin loose, thin, and soft like a glove; hair short, soft, and woolly; general figure, when in flesh, handsome and well-proportioned. The extent of the upturned hairs on the escutcheon indicate the properties of the 2 hind-quarters of the cow’s udder as to the quantity of yield of milk, but not as to the 2 fore-quarters. These latter should be separately investigated; judges generally look at the size of these and examine the size of “milk vein” which runs along the belly.
Breeds.—The Yorkshire yields very large quantities of milk when fed liberally; the Ayrshire is held in high estimation for cheese making; and the Alderney (Jersey) for butter and cream. The Suffolk is well fitted for districts where the pastures are poor; the yield of milk is good, and it is comparatively rich in butter. Weight for weight, shorthorns are about 50 per cent. heavier than Ayrshires, and require ⅓ more food. At the same time, it is found that Ayrshires yield quite as much milk as shorthorns. The only difference claimed in favour of the shorthorn is, that it maintains more flesh than the Ayrshire, keeps its money value together better, and can be finished for the butcher with greater ease and more satisfactory results. The small Scotch race is found to be, when used for the production of milk for sale, of greater value than the ordinary dairy shorthorn, producing an equal amount of milk at much less cost, while a far smaller amount of capital is required in the formation of the herd. As a butter maker, the Holstein is nowhere with the Jersey; nor yet as a converter of ordinary farm produce into milk, because no value set upon the Dutch superiority in skim milk can bring them up to the Jersey standard for butter, when the difference in consumption is taken into account. The Jersey milk contains 26 per cent. more solids of all kinds than the Dutch; whilst of butter-fat the Jersey milk contains 80 per cent. more.
Keeping.—Amateur cowkeepers are advised not to think of breeding at all. Buy a cow, newly calved; do not let her be served; feed her very highly all through her time, and when the milk ceases to pay for the keep, sell her at once to the butcher and get another. This is the town dairymen’s system, and they would not so universally follow this plan if it were not the safest. Above all, sentiment must be shunned. The amateur must keep a close watch over each week’s expenditure and income, and sell the cow, however favourite a one, directly these approximate. Then the trouble of settling a newcomer will have to be faced over again. On the whole, it may be doubted if one amateur in a hundred will ever succeed in making a cow pay, even where there is a garden and small paddock, by reason of the costliness of good dairy servants. (Field.)
The great art of feeding is in selecting the foods most suitable for the purpose in view, without entailing waste, or an undue strain on the digestive system. Every cow should have no less than 650 cub. ft. of breathing space; the cold air should be admitted near the floor line, with ample ridge ventilation, for the escape of the vitiated air; the building itself should be kept clean and free from fermenting or decaying animal odours or vegetable matter (underground drainage, however skilfully executed, is an utter abomination in a cowshed); all the inside walls should be limewashed at least twice a year, and the beds, floors, and passages well washed and scrubbed once a week. Whatever tends to increase the health and comfort of the animal economises food, as well as increases its effective results; every source of irritation, whether in the field or the stall, entails an undue waste of food, whilst for the time it reduces the flow and deteriorates the quality of the milk. The quality of the drinking water has a great influence on the yield of milk. Soft water is preferable to hard; hence the water from running streams or ponds is preferable to well water, which is generally at a low temperature. The action of the atmosphere on ponds or reservoirs has a softening influence on the water, a favourable condition for milk cows; impure or tainted water should be excluded. Unlike the food, a portion of the water taken in by the cows passes direct to the third stomach, and enters at once into the circulation. The influence of the food on the yield of milk is well known. Chemical investigation proves that the milk solids are only slightly affected by the food, the casein and sugar being nearly stationary, whilst the quantity of butter fat varies considerably; the greatest variation is in that of the watery constituents.
Decorticated cotton cake exclusively used as an auxiliary in conjunction with large quantities of roots and hay is not an economical food for dairy cows, owing to the large percentage of flesh formers it contains, whilst practically cotton cake, though admirably adapted for rearing and fattening purposes, when given to milking cows in quantities of 4-6 lb. a day produces a leathery cream, and certainly not a superfine quality of butter. A mixture of pea and palm-nut meals will produce a rich milk, though not of the finest quality. A mixture of rice and linseed meals will produce a large yield of butter of a somewhat oily character. If quality is, as it should be, the chief desideratum, nothing can equal the home-grown cereals—beans, peas, wheat, barley, and oats; under ordinary circumstances these will produce a quality of milk, cream, and butter that cannot be surpassed.
The cowhouse must be kept as near as possible at a uniform temperature of 60° F.; the cows may be turned into the fold-yard daily for ½ hour, about noon. Large quantities of cold water taken into the system are positively injurious, lowering the temperature of the body, which is maintained in a normal state at the expense of the food. For cows in full milk, cooked food is much preferable to raw, entailing less labour on the organs of digestion and assimilation. The mixture of chop, meal, roots, and grain may either be boiled in the ordinary cast-iron boiler or steamed. To obtain the most effective results, the food should be given to the animals in a sloppy state, and at a temperature of 55° to 60° F. Regularity of feeding and milking must be strictly observed. The morning meal should be given before milking commences, and the dung removed from the beds and grip. As milkers, females are preferable, the hands being soft and pliable compared with the horny hand of man. The quantity of food necessary to supply the wants of individual animals is governed by its weight. A cow in full profit consumes daily 3 per cent. of her live weight. During April, a cow in full milk should have, in addition to boiled or steamed roots and hay or straw chaff, 2 lb. bean or pea meal, 2 lb. wheat meal, 2 lb. ground oats, and 2 lb. bran. If these cannot be grown on the farm or purchased at moderate cost, 2 lb. linseed, barley, or Indian corn meal may be substituted for the wheat meal. If the aim is quality, it is essential that bean, pea, or oat meals be used. Care must be exercised in regulating the quantity of food to meet the wants of the different animals, and not, as is too often the practice, of serving a uniform quantity to each. In every case the mangers should be cleanly swept out before feeding. By far the best kind of hay for milking cows is well-saved clover or mixed seeds cut just before coming into flower. Dusty or highly heated hay injures the health and deteriorates the quality of the produce. The chief part of the hay and straw should be cut and mixed with the meal and boiled roots. Only a small quantity of long hay should be given twice a day in order to excite rumination. Raw roots are only admissible when given as a mid-day meal. As in the case of the steam boiler a quantity of fuel is wasted in raising the temperature of the water from the freezing to the boiling point, so it is in the animal system; the fat producers which, under favourable conditions, would increase the quality of the milk, are expended in bringing a large quantity of water to the heat of the body. Brewers’ grains are highly charged with water, and consequently open to a similar objection. Pastures, if saved during the spring months, will be ready for stocking from the first to the middle of May. With the first bite of spring grass the food must be changed; the boiled roots should be gradually discontinued; the same quantity of meals cooked and mixed with chopped hay as before, fed in a less soppy state, in order to counteract the opening tendency of the young succulent grasses. This régime may be continued to the middle of June, when the quantity of meal may be reduced one half, or, if the pastures are good, discontinued till the autumn. So long as the artificial feeding is continued, cows must be fed in the stalls twice a day. By the beginning or middle of September, the early cabbage should be ready for use; this will increase the flow of milk at the expense of the quality. To maintain the standard, the use of meals and chop must again be continued, commencing with 2 lb. a day, with a gradual increase, arriving at the standard allowance by the 1st of November, which will be maintained throughout the winter and following months.
The estimated cost of keeping a dairy cow in full profit during the winter months, including labour of milking and attendance, is not less than 1s. a day, charging the home-grown produce at market price. Green hay is greatly to be preferred for milking cows, tending to enhance the value of the produce. Grasses should not be allowed to stand till over-ripe, causing the soluble matters to become converted into indigestible woody fibre; and sufficient labour should be employed; the hay should be constantly stirred from the time it is cut until it is placed in the stack, unless meantime showery weather should intervene; hay barns, too, are indispensable to the dairy farmer. (Gilbert Murray.)
Turnips give a disagreeable flavour to butter, when used in feeding, in autumn and winter. No mode which will prevent the taste of turnips being imparted to the milk is better than the practice of giving the turnips to the cow after she has been milked, instead of before.