The food which, under these circumstances, must be purchased, can be obtained with much economy, on account of the propinquity to the places of sale; and although we do not advocate the use of brewers’ grain, or of any other cheap articles which are too often substituted for the natural food of the cow, viz., grass, green or dry—a small quantity, especially when supplemented by the vegetable refuse from the house table, may be advantageously employed conjointly with good hay.
Finally, it may be said that no animal better repays care and attention, and can with more truth be called the poor man’s friend, than the cow.
FACTS REFUTE PREJUDICE.
BY D. B. CHAPMAN, NEW LONDON, CT.
When I was a boy it was the prevailing opinion in the section of country where I was raised, that it was better that a cow should be rather thin in flesh at the time of calving than otherwise. There was but very little grain fed in winter, to any stock in that section, except to working oxen. Cows in milk were fed hay, while dry cows, and young stock, were fed on straw or corn stalks. The result was that at the time of calving, cows were generally thin enough to conform to the popular idea of a proper condition. Cows giving a large yield of milk were scarce enough in those days, and it was very seldom that you would meet one that would yield ten quarts of milk per day (beer measure), during the flush of feed. My faith in the theory, that a cow should be thin in flesh at the time of calving, received a very severe shock, very soon after I became the owner of one, and experience and observation have only served to confirm my doubts of its correctness.
In the spring of 1848, I purchased my first cow. I came across her some twenty miles from home. She had just calved, and displayed a very large udder. Her owner warranted her to give twelve quarts of milk per day, and to be, in every respect, a good family cow. The cow suited my fancy in every particular, save one, she was too fat. But having nine points in her favor, I did not feel disposed to forego her purchase for the want of the tenth. When I drove her home, the adverse criticism on her was immense, solely on account of her condition. Said an old farmer to me: “That is a fancy cow, just suited for some rich man, who can afford to indulge his fancy, and expend for her keeping, twice as much as the value of her milk. You will find that you have got to keep her in just the condition that she is now in, or you will get no milk. If you do not keep her in this condition, you will find she will shrink in milk, before she shrinks in flesh, and she won’t give half as much, on the same keeping, as she would if she was no fatter than my cows.”
I must own, that after listening to this and that criticism in the same strain, I felt a little sick of my bargain, and would have willingly sold her at a discount, but no purchaser appearing, I concluded to make the best of a bad bargain.
My purchase was made April second. Twelve hundred pounds of hay furnished her with feed until the eighteenth of May. I then hired a pasture, for fifteen dollars, where I kept her until November, when I sold her.