Cattle and Their Diseases Part 6

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Feeding and Management

No branch of dairy farming can compare in importance with the management of cows. The highest success will depend upon it, whatever breed be selected, and whatever amount of care and attention be given to the points of the animals; for experience will show that very little milk comes out of the bag, that is not first put into the throat. It is poor economy, therefore, to attempt to keep too many cows for the amount of feed one has; for it will generally be found that one good cow well-bred and well fed will yield as much as two ordinary cows kept in the ordinary way; while a saving is effected both in labor and room required, and in the risks on the capital invested. If an argument for the larger number on poorer feed is urged on the ground of the additional manure--which is the only basis upon which it can be put--it is enough to say that it is a very expensive way of making manure. It is not too strong an a.s.sertion, that a proper regard to profit and economy would require many an American farmer to sell off nearly half of his cows, and to feed the whole of his hay and roots. .h.i.therto used into the remainder.

An animal, to be fully fed and satisfied, requires a quant.i.ty of food in proportion to its live weight. No feed is complete that does not contain a sufficient amount of nutritive elements; hay, for example, being more nutritive than straw, and grains than roots. The food, too, must possess a bulk sufficient to fill up to a certain degree the organs of digestion of the stomach; and, to receive the full benefit of its food, the animal must be wholly satisfied--since, if the stomach is not sufficiently distended, the food cannot be properly digested, and of course many of the nutritive principles which it contains cannot be perfectly a.s.similated. An animal regularly fed eats till it is satisfied, and no more than is requisite. A part of the nutritive elements in hay and other forage plants is needed to keep an animal on its feet--that is, to keep up its condition--and if the nutrition of its food is insufficient for this, the weight decreases, and if it is more than sufficient the weight increases, or else this excess is consumed in the production of milk or in labor. About one sixtieth of their live weight in hay, or its equivalent, will keep horned cattle on their feet; but, in order to be completely nourished, they require about one thirtieth in dry substances, and four thirtieths in water, or other liquid contained in their food. The excess of nutritive food over and above what is necessary to sustain life will go, in milch cows, generally to the production of milk, or to the growth of the foetus, but not in all cows to an equal extent; the tendency to the secretion of milk being much more developed in some than in others.

With regard, however, to the consumption of food in proportion to the live weight of the animal, it must be taken, in common with all general principles, with some qualifications. The proportion is probably not uniform as applied to all breeds indiscriminately, though it may be more so as applied to animals of the same breed. The idea of some celebrated stock-raisers has been that the quant.i.ty of food required depends much upon the shape of the barrel; and it is well known that an animal of a close, compact, well-rounded barrel, will consume less than one of an opposite make.

The variations in the yield of milch cows are caused more by the variations in the nutritive elements of their food than by a change of the form in which it is given. A cow, kept through the winter on mere straw, will cease to give milk; and, when fed in spring on green forage, will give a fair quant.i.ty of milk. But she owes the cessation and restoration of the secretion, respectively, to the diminution and increase of her nourishment, and not at all to the change of form, or of outward substance in which the nutriment is administered. Let cows receive through winter nearly as large a proportion of nutritive matter as is contained in the clover, lucerne, and fresh gra.s.s which they eat in summer, and, no matter in what precise substance or mixture that matter be contained, they will yield a winter's produce of milk quite as rich in caseine and butyraceous ingredients as the summer's produce, and far more ample in quant.i.ty than almost any dairyman with old-fas.h.i.+oned notions would imagine to be possible. The great practical error on this subject consists, not in giving wrong kinds of food, but in not so proportioning and preparing it as to render an average ration of it equally rich in the elements of nutrition, and especially in nitrogenous elements, as an average ration of the green and succulent food of summer.

We keep too much stock for the quant.i.ty of good and nutritious food which we have for it; and the consequence is, that cows are, in nine cases out of ten, poorly wintered, and come out in the spring weakened, if not, indeed, positively diseased, and a long time is required to bring them into a condition to yield a generous quant.i.ty of milk.

It is a hard struggle for a cow reduced in flesh and in blood to fill up the wasted system with the food which would otherwise have gone to the secretion of milk; but, if she is well fed, well housed, well littered, and well supplied with pure, fresh water, and with roots, or other _moist_ food, and properly treated to the luxury of a frequent carding, and constant kindness, she comes out ready to commence the manufacture of milk under favorable circ.u.mstances.

_Keep the cows constantly in good condition_, ought, therefore, to be the motto of every dairy farmer, posted up over the barn, and on and over the stalls, and over the milk-room, and repeated to the boys whenever there is danger of forgetting it. It is the great secret of success; and the difference between success and failure turns upon it.

Cows in milk require more food in proportion to their size and weight than either oxen or young cattle.

In order to keep cows in milk well and economically, regularity is next in importance to a full supply of wholesome and nutritious food. The animal stomach is a very nice chronometer, and it is of the utmost importance to observe regular hours in feeding, cleaning, and milking.

This is a point, also, in which very many farmers are at fault--feeding whenever it happens to be convenient. The cattle are thus kept in a restless condition, constantly expecting food when the keeper enters the barn; while, if regular hours are strictly adhered to, they know exactly when they are to be fed, and they rest quietly till the time arrives. If one goes into any well-regulated dairy establishment an hour before feeding, scarcely an animal will rise to its feet; while; if it happens to be the hour of feeding, the whole herd will be likely to rise and seize their food with an avidity and relish not to be mistaken.

With respect to the exact nurture to be pursued, no rule could be prescribed which would apply to all cases; and each individual must be governed much by circ.u.mstances, both regarding the particular kinds of feed at different seasons of the year, and the system of feeding. It has been found--it may be stated--in the practice of the most successful dairymen, that, in order to encourage the largest secretion of milk in stalled cows, one of the best courses is, to feed in the morning, either at the time of milking--which is preferred by many--or immediately after, with cut feed, consisting of hay, oats, millet, or cornstalks, mixed with shorts, and Indian linseed, or cotton-seed meal, thoroughly moistened with water. If in winter, hot or warm water is far better than cold. If given at milking-time, the cows will generally give down their milk more readily. The stalls and mangers should first be thoroughly cleansed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE FAMILY PETS.]

Roots and long hay may be given during the day; and at the evening milking, or directly after, another generous meal of cut feed, well moistened and mixed, as in the morning. No very concentrated food, like grains alone, or oil-cakes, should be fed early in the morning on an empty stomach, although it is sanctioned by the practice in the London milk-dairies. The processes of digestion go on best when the stomach is sufficiently distended; and for this purpose the bulk of food is almost as important as the nutritive qualities. The flavor of some roots, as cabbages and turnips, is more apt to be imparted to the flesh and milk when fed on an empty stomach than otherwise. After the cows have been milked and have finished their cut feed, they are carded and curried down, in well-managed dairies, and then either watered in the stall--which, in very cold or stormy weather, is far preferable--or turned out to water in the yard. While they are out, if they are let out at all, the stables are put in order; and, after tying them up, they are fed with long hay, and left to themselves till the next feeding time.

This may consist of roots--such as cabbages, beets, carrots, or turnips sliced--or of potatoes, a peck, or--if the cows are very large--a half-bushel each, and cut feed again at the evening milking, as in the morning; after which, water in the stall, if possible.

The less cows are exposed to the cold of winter, the better. They eat less, thrive better, and give more milk, when kept housed all the time, than when exposed to the cold. A case is on record, where a herd of cows, which had usually been supplied from troughs and pipes in the stalls, were, on account of an obstruction in the pipes, obliged to be turned out thrice a day to be watered in the yard. The quant.i.ty of milk instantly decreased, and in three days the diminution became very considerable. After the pipes were mended, and the cows again watered, as before, in their stalls, the flow of milk returned. This, however, must be governed much by the weather; for in very mild and warm days it may be judicious not only to let them out, but to allow them to remain out for a short time, for the purpose of exercise.

Any one can arrange the hour for the several processes named above, to suit himself; but, when once fixed, it should be rigidly and regularly followed. If the regular and full feeding be neglected for even a day, the yield of milk will immediately decline, and it will be very difficult to restore it. It may be safely a.s.serted, as the result of many trials and long practice, that a larger flow of milk follows a complete system of regularity in this respect than from a higher feeding where this system is not adhered to.

One prime object which the dairyman should keep constantly in view is, to maintain the animal in a sound and healthy condition. Without this, no profit can be expected from a milch cow for any considerable length of time; and with a view to this, there should be an occasional change of food. But, in making changes, great care is requisite in order to supply the needful amount of nourishment, or the cow will fall off in flesh, and eventually in milk. It should, therefore, be remembered that the food consumed goes not alone to the secretion of milk, but also to the growth and maintenance of the bony structure, the flesh, the blood, the fat, the skin, and the hair, and in exhalations from the body. These parts of the body consist of different organic const.i.tuents. Some are rich in nitrogen, as the fibrin of the blood and alb.u.men; others dest.i.tute of it, as fat; some abound in inorganic salts, phosphate of lime, and salts of potash. To explain how the constant waste of these substances may be supplied, a celebrated chemist observes that the alb.u.men, gluten, caseine, and other nitrogenized principles of food, supply the animal with the materials requisite for the formation of muscle and cartilage; they are, therefore, called flesh-forming principles.

Fats, or oily matters of the food, are used to lay on fat, or for the purpose of sustaining respiration.

Starch, sugar, gum, and a few other non-nitrogenized substances, consisting of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, supply the carbon given off in respiration, or they are used for the production of fat.

Phosphate of lime and magnesia in food princ.i.p.ally furnish the animal with the materials of which the bony skeleton of its body consists.

Saline substances--chlorides of sodium and pota.s.sium, sulphate and phosphate of potash and soda, and some other mineral matters occurring in food--supply the blood, juice of flesh, and various animal juices, with the necessary mineral const.i.tuents.

The healthy state of an animal can thus only be preserved by a mixed food; that is, food which contains all the proximate principles just noticed. Starch or sugar alone cannot sustain the animal body, since neither of them furnishes the materials to build up the fleshy parts of the animal. When fed on substances in which an insufficient quant.i.ty of phosphates occurs, the animal will become weak, because it does not find any bone-producing principle in its food. Due attention should, therefore, be paid by the feeder to the selection of food which contains all the kinds of matter required, nitrogenized as well as non-nitrogenized, and mineral substances; and these should be mixed together in the proportion which experience points out as best for the different kinds of animals, or the particular purpose for which they are kept.

Relative to the nutrition of cows for dairy purposes, milk may be regarded as a material for the manufacture of b.u.t.ter and cheese; and, according to the purpose for which the milk is intended to be employed, whether for the manufacture of b.u.t.ter or the production of cheese, the cow should be differently fed.

b.u.t.ter contains carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, and no nitrogen. Cheese, on the contrary, is rich in nitrogen. Food which contains much fatty matter, or substances which in the animal system are readily converted into fat, will tend to increase the proportion of cream in milk. On the other hand, the proportion of caseine or cheesy matter in milk is increased by the use of highly nitrogenized food. Those, then, who desire much cream, or who produce cream for the manufacture of b.u.t.ter, select food likely to increase the proportion of b.u.t.ter in the milk. On the contrary, where the princ.i.p.al object is the production of milk rich in curd--that is, where cheese is the object of the farmer--clover, peas, bran-meal, and other plants which abound in legumine--a nitrogenized organic compound, almost identical in properties and composition with caseine, or the substance which forms the curd of milk--will be selected.

And so the quality, as well as the quant.i.ty, of b.u.t.ter in the milk, depends on the kind of food consumed and on the general health of the animal. Cows fed on turnips in the stall always produce b.u.t.ter inferior to that of cows living upon the fresh and aromatic gra.s.ses of the pastures.

Succulent food in which water abounds--the green gra.s.s of irrigated meadows, green clover, brewers' and distillers' refuse, and the like--increases the quant.i.ty, rather than the quality, of the milk; and by feeding these substances the milk-dairyman studies his own interest, and makes thin milk without diluting it with water--though, in the opinion of some, this may be no more legitimate than watering the milk.

But, though the yield of milk may be increased by succulent or watery food, it should be given so as not to interfere with the health of the cow.

Food rich in starch, gum, or sugar, which are the respiratory elements, an excess of which goes to the production of fatty matters, increases the b.u.t.ter in milk. Quietness promotes the secretion of fat in animals and increases the b.u.t.ter. Cheese will be increased by food rich in alb.u.men, such as the leguminous plants.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BUYING CATTLE.]

The most natural, and of course the healthiest, food for milch cows in summer, is the green gra.s.s of the pastures; and when these fail from drought or over-stocking, the complement of nourishment may be made up with green clover, green oats, barley, millet, or corn-fodder and cabbage-leaves, or other succulent vegetables; and if these are wanting, the deficiency may be partly supplied with shorts, Indian-meal, linseed or cotton-seed meal. Green gra.s.s is more nutritious than hay, which always loses somewhat of its nutritive properties in curing; the amount of the loss depending chiefly on the mode of curing, and the length of exposure to sun and rain. But, apart from this, gra.s.s is more easily and completely digested than hay, though the digestion of the latter may be greatly aided by cutting and moistening, or steaming; and by this means it is rendered more readily available, and hence far better adapted to promote a large secretion of milk--a fact too often overlooked even by many intelligent farmers.

In autumn, the best feed will be the gra.s.ses of the pastures, so far as they are available, green-corn fodder, cabbage, carrot, and turnip leaves, and an addition of meal or shorts. Toward the middle of autumn, the cows fed in the pastures will require to be housed regularly at night, especially in the more northern lat.i.tudes, and put, in part at least, upon hay. But every farmer knows that it is not judicious to feed out the best part of his hay when his cattle are first put into the barn, and that he should not feed so well in the early part of winter that he cannot feed better as the winter advances.

At the same time, it should always be borne in mind that the change from gra.s.s to a poor quality of hay or straw, for cows in milk, should not be too sudden. A poor quality of dry hay is far less palatable in the early part of winter, after the cows are taken from gra.s.s, than at a later period; and, if it is resorted to with milch cows, will invariably lead to a falling off in the milk, which no good feed can afterward wholly restore.

It is desirable, therefore, for the farmer to know what can be used instead of his best English or upland meadow hay, and yet not suffer any greater loss in the flow of milk, or in condition, than is absolutely necessary. In some sections of the Eastern States, the best quality of swale hay will be used; and the composition of that is as variable as possible, depending on the varieties of the gra.s.ses of which it was made, and the manner of curing. But, in other sections, many will find it necessary to use straw and other subst.i.tutes. Taking good English or meadow hay as the standard of comparison, and calling that one, 4.79 times the weight of rye-straw, or 3.83 times the weight of oat-straw, contains the same amount of nutritive matter; that is, it would take 4.79 times as good rye-straw to produce the same result as good meadow hay.

In winter, the best food for cows in milk will be good sweet meadow hay, a part of which should be cut and moistened with water--as all inferior hay or straw should be--with an addition of root-crops, such as turnips, carrots, parsnips, potatoes, mangold-wurtzel, with shorts, oil-cake, Indian meal, or bean meal.

It is the opinion of most successful dairymen that the feeding of moist food cannot be too highly recommended for cows in milk, especially to those who desire to obtain the largest quant.i.ty. Hay cut and thoroughly moistened becomes more succulent and nutritive, and partakes more of the nature of green gra.s.s.

As a subst.i.tute for the oil-cake, hitherto known as an exceedingly valuable article for feeding stock, there is probably nothing better than cotton-seed meal. This is an article whose economic value has been but recently made known, but which, from practical trials already made, has proved eminently successful as food for milch cows. Chemists have decided that its composition is not inferior to that of the best flaxseed cake, and that in some respects its agricultural value surpa.s.ses that of any other kind of oil-cake.

It has been remarked by chemists, in this connection, that the great value of linseed-cake, as an adjunct to hay, for fat cattle and milch cows, has been long recognized; and that it is undeniably traceable, in the main, to three ingredients of the seeds of the oil-yielding plants.

The value of food depends upon the quant.i.ties of matters it contains which may be appropriated by the animal which consumes the food Now, it is proved that the fat of animals is derived from the starch, gum, and sugar, and more directly and easily from the oil of the food. These four substances, then, are fat-formers. The muscles, nerves, and tendons of animals, the brine of their blood and the curd of their milk, are almost identical in composition with, and strongly similar in many of their properties to, matters found in all vegetables, but chiefly in such as form the most concentrated food. These blood (and muscle) formers are characterized by containing about fifteen and a half per cent. of nitrogen; and hence are called nitrogenous substances. They are, also, often designated as the alb.u.minous bodies.

The bony framework of the animal owes its solidity to phosphate of lime, and this substance must be furnished by the food. A perfect food must supply the animal with these three cla.s.ses of bodies, and in proper proportions. The addition of a small quant.i.ty of a food, rich in oil and alb.u.minous substances, to the ordinary kinds of feed, which contain a large quant.i.ty of vegetable fibre or woody matter, more or less indigestible, but, nevertheless, indispensable to the herbivorous animals, their digestive organs being adapted to a bulky food, has been found highly advantageous in practice. Neither hay alone nor concentrated food alone gives the best results. A certain combination of the two presents the most advantages.

Some who have used cotton-seed cake have found difficulty in inducing cattle to eat it. By giving it at first in small doses, mixed with other palatable food, they soon learn to eat it with relish. Cotton-seed cake is much richer in oils and alb.u.minous matters than the linseed cake. A correspondingly less quant.i.ty will therefore be required. Three pounds of this cotton-seed cake are equivalent to four of linseed cake of average quality.

During the winter season, as has been already remarked, a frequent change of food is especially necessary, both as contributions to the general health of animals, and as a means of stimulating the digestive organs, and thus increasing the secretion of milk. A mixture used as cut feed and well moistened is now especially beneficial, since concentrated food, which would otherwise be given in small quant.i.ties, may be united with larger quant.i.ties of coa.r.s.er and less nutritive food, and the complete a.s.similation of the whole be better secured. On this subject it has been sensibly observed that the most nutritious kinds of food produce little or no effect when they are not digested by the stomach, or if the digested food is not absorbed by the lymphatic vessels, and not a.s.similated by the various parts of the body. Now, the normal functions of the digestive organs not only depend upon the composition of the food, but also on its volume. The volume or bulk of the food contributes to the healthy action of the digestive organs, by exercising a stimulating effect upon the nerves which govern them. Thus the whole organization of ruminating animals necessitates the supply of bulky food, to keep the animal in good condition.

Feed sweet and nutritious food, therefore, frequently, regularly, and in small quant.i.ties, and change it often, and the best results may be confidently antic.i.p.ated. If the cows are not in milk, but are to come in in the spring, the difference in feeding should be rather in the quant.i.ty than the quality, if the highest yield is to be expected from them during the coming season.

The most common feeding is hay alone, and oftentimes very poor hay at that. The main point is to keep the animal in a healthy and thriving condition, and not to suffer her to fail in flesh; and with this object, some change and variety of food are highly important.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CALLING IN THE CATTLE.]

Toward the close of winter, a herd of cows will begin to come in, or approach their time of calving. Care should then be taken not to feed too rich or stimulating food for the last week or two before this event, as it is often attended with ill consequences. A plenty of hay, a few potatoes or shorts, and pure water will suffice.

In spring, the best feeding for dairy cows will be much the same as that for winter; the roots in store over winter, such as carrots, mangold wurtzel, turnips, and parsnips, furnis.h.i.+ng very valuable aid in increasing the quant.i.ty and improving the quality of milk. Toward the close of this season, and before the gra.s.s of pastures is sufficiently grown to make it judicious to turn out the cows, the best dairymen provide a supply of green fodder in the shape of winter rye, which, if cut while it is tender and succulent, and before it is half grown, will be greatly relished. Unless cut young, however, its stalk soon becomes hard and unpalatable.

All practical dairymen agree in saying that a warm and well-ventilated barn is indispensable to the promotion of the highest yield of milk in winter; and most agree that cows in milk should not be turned out, even to drink, in cold weather; all exposure to cold tending to lessen the yield of milk.

In the London dairies, in which, of course, the cows are fed so as to produce the largest flow of milk, the treatment is as follows: The cows are kept at night in stalls. About three A. M. each has a half-bushel of grains. When milking is finished, each receives a bushel of turnips (or mangolds), and shortly afterward, one tenth of a truss of hay of the best quality. This feeding occurs before eight A. M., when the animals are turned into the yard. Four hours after, they are again tied up in their stalls, and have another feed of grains. When the afternoon milking is over (about three P. M.), they are fed with a bushel of turnips, and after the lapse of an hour, hay is given them as before.

This mode of feeding usually continues throughout the cool season, or from November to March. During the remaining months they are fed with grains, tares, and cabbages, and a proportion of rowen, or second-cut hay. They are supplied regularly until they are turned out to gra.s.s, when they pa.s.s the whole of the night in the field. The yield is about six hundred and fifty gallons a year for each cow.