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at Cornell ©m'bersitp
Stbaca, M. g.
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THE cow — one of the greatest blessings to the
human race.
No nation or people has become highly civilized
without her.
She produces the best human food on earth.
She makes this health-building, strength-giving
food from grass and coarse plants.
She provides not only food for her young and her
keeper's family, but a surplus, besides, to sell.
Without her agriculture is not permanent or pros-
perous, people are not healthy or happy.
Where the cow is kept and cared for, civilization
advances, lands grow richer, homes grow better, debts
grow fewer.
Truly, the Cow is the Mother of Prosperity.
The
COW
the MOTHER of
PROSPERITY
By RALPH A. HAYNE
OF THE AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION DEPARTMENT
NOTE: All or any portion of this
booklet may bo reproduced by giv-
ing proper, credit Lo the publishers.
Electros of cuts will be furnished
at cost.
Copyright 1021 By
International Harvester Company
INCORPORATE D
Agricultural Extension Department
P. G.HOLDEN FIELD DIRECTOR
Harvester Bldc. Chicago
A e 3D—50M— 10-19-22— Printed in U. S. A.
n
THERE IS A PLACE 1 OR THE COW IN THE
AGRICULTURE OF EVERY COUNTRY
Wherever the cow has taken her rightful place, and man has done
his part, we find the highest type of farming; we find farmers living
on their own farms, raising crops in rotation, which is the way the Lord
intended us to farm.
We find on the farms, barns with mows and bins and silos — regular
factories working the year 'round, getting the very most from the
farm's crops and furnishing an income every week of the year.
We find homes with conveniences.
We find intelligent, thrifty, debt-free people with minds and
hands alert from steady employment.
We find a good citizenship, a good agriculture.
f
The best methods of farming, the largest crops and the greate\st stead)
return on investments are found on the well regulated dairy farm.
\
J.
Hip
*
The dairy cow has made many hilly farms into comfortable country home!
surrounded with grass and alfalfa and prosperity.
" r ' : "\"''''K r *SHfM
Here's a truck load of cream
| right fresh from a dairy
H neighborhood. The load is
worth 81,125 and il*s only
taking away ST. 20 worth of
fertility.
THE COW HAS NOT TAKEN HER RIGHTFUL
PLACE IN EVERY COUNTRY
OUR GREAT SOUTH NEEDS MORE COWS
Cows to furnish milk for people who have long done without it.
Cows to furnish milk and butter for hoys and girls who have
starved for muscle-making, bone-making food.
Cows to cure a one-crop agriculture.
Cows to eat crops that should be growing in place of cotton.
Cows to furnish a year 'round income, without which no people
are prosperous or happy.
Cows to help build and maintain a fertile soil.
Our great South needs more
cows.
There are right here in this civilized
counlry thousands of hoys and girls;
undersized, diseased, with weak
hones, had teeth, dull intellects,
starving for the eiieapest and best
food on earth — MILK.
This old cotton crop is ail right to
sell one month in a year hut il"s
treacherous and disappointing
when we depend on it the other 11
months.
Here's a cream crop that we can
sell every week, 52 weeks of the
year, winter and summer; it pays
the hills and keeps the money
jingling in our pockets.
M
These
under
old southern
the curse of a '
and
fields that have been leached and g
'Nine crop" farming can still be patched
•spedeza into valuable cow pastures.
1 and robbed
ith Bermuda
Our great South needs more cows.
OUR GREAT WHEAT-GROWING WEST NEEDS MORE COWS
Cows to break the monotony of countless acres of "one-crop"
in summer and months of inaction in winter.
Cows to furnish a plentiful home supply of milk and butter instead
of the scanty supply that is now shipped in cans and packages across
the continent to these Wheat Belt farms and towns.
Cows to furnish something to sell when money is needed, and
money is always needed.
Cows to make homes of the farms, not just places to stay.
Our great Went needs more cows.
m
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mk
V&&2& i*;':*'v SSSS-^ • 1Z?z--%&vA
1
This great wheat-growing country will suffer for the sins of **one crop''
farming until more alfalfa, sweet clover, corn and sunflowers are grown and
stored in mow and silo to feed cows and steers and farm stock.
This place will never be a real home until cows browse the blue stem in
summer and eat from the pit silo in winter.
We don't need to wait until we can build a fancy barn before we have cow*-
build a straw shed for them and keep it clean, ventilated and light.
Our great West needs more cows.
6
OUR GREAT CORN BELT NEEDS MORE COWS
Cows to eat silage made from thousands of fields of corn stalks
now going to waste.
Cows to help the tenant farmer buy a farm for himself.
Cows to change the grain farmer's winter idleness to profitable
work.
Cows to help stay the mighty drain each year of ( lorn Belt fertility.
Cows to change the many one-story, dingy Com Belt barns to real
buildings with paint and silos.
Our great Corn Belt needs more cow?,.
The rich, black lands of many
parts of the Corn Belt will
never be "garden spots of the
world" until these squatty
little stables arc replaced
with big barns and silos.
housing and feeding the Corn
Belt's share of cows.
Every year millions of loads
are hauled off the Corn Bell
farms and not a thing put
hack to keep up the fertility .
We need more cow farmei
and fewer crop farmers
Millions of dollars' worth of good Corn Belt feed wasting, burning, clogging
the plow and harrow. Some day cows will eat these stalks out of silos
monuments to progress.
Our great Corn Belt needs more cows.
We need cows, good cows, well cared for cows wherever folks
live and fields are fanned and grasses grow.
It makes no difference
whether we have but one family
cow —
or whether we have three or four "farm" cows to furnish the
family with mills and butter and ''sell what we don't need" —
or whether we have a regular dairy herd of 20 or 40 cows.
It makes no difference which we have, Ave want to <ret
The most and best milk,
The most and best cream.
The most and best btitlcr.
The most and best profit
from our cows.
If we don't want all this and if we don't do our best to «et
it, there is something wrong with us.
TO GET THE MOST AND BEST MILK, CREAM, BUTTER AND
PROFIT FROM OUR COWS, WE MUST:
Third — Handle and use and sell
the milk, cream and butter in
the best way.
HOW WILL WE GET THE RIGHT KIND OF COWS?
THERE ARE TWO WAYS TO GET COWS
One way to get cows is to buy them.
There's uncertainty in buying cows even from our neighbors.
The other way to get cows is to raise them.
mm
4 : J§
When they are born and raised on our farm., we know all about them.
The man who wants to start dairying and lias no cows, of course,
must buy cows to start with.
There may be cases where it is good business to continue to buy
cows to keep up the herd, but remember:
Few men ever make a success of dairying when they depend always
upon buying cows. (Read pages 11 and 20.)
The best and cheapest way to get good cows is to raise them.
10
WHEN WE BUY COWS TO START DAIRYING LET'S GET THE
BEST COWS WE CAN
It is not always necessary to pay big prices to get good cows but
we will have to pay more for good cows than for common ones.
Better pay $150 or more for a
good cow —
'*-£■.&
than to pay $75 or less for a
poor one.
The good cow's milk and calf will make up the difference in price
the first year, besides she should continue to be a source of profit and
satisfaction, while the poor cow is apt to make us poorer the longer
we keep her.
If we already have common cows and can't arrange to get better
ones to start with, then lei's lake care of those we have so that they
can do their best, and by the use of good sires raise calves that will
make better cows than their mothers, and get started in that way.
Starting with mongrel, low-producing cows is a pretty slow way to
get a high-class dairy herd, yet by continued use of good sires a good
herd can be developed from the commonest kind of foundation. Read
page 63.
A good bull with a long line of high producing ancestors is about 75 per
cent of the herd when the cows are mixed mongrels, but it takes more than
one cross of good blood to change a herd from bad to good.
11
HOW CAN WE TELL A GOOD COW FROM A POOR ONE?
THERE ARE TWO WAYS TO JUDGE A DAIRY COW
First way : By weighing her
milk, keeping a daily record of
the amount she gives, testing
her milk to find out how much
butter fat there is in it, and
keeping a record of the feed
she eats so we can tell whether
or not she is paying for her
feed with milk and butter fat.
Weigh the milk.
This is the sure way to judge a
cow.
Look at the cow.
When we can buy cows that have
had records kept by honest men, then
we know what we are buying. (Read
page 48.)
Not so many cows have had records
kept, so at present we must depend
largely on the second way to find good
cows.
Second way: By examining
the cow and judging by certain
shapes and characteristics
whether or not she is a good
one.
There arc "good points" of shape
and appearance and feel that almost
always go with good milk production.
12
WHAT ARE THE SIGNS OF A GOOD COW?
We can't always tell a good cow by her shape or "good
points."
Occasionally a cow with very few "good points" turns
out to be a good milk producer.
Occasionally a cow with about all the "good points"
is a poor milk producer.
Most dairy cows have the "good points" described
on the following pages; so in selecting dairy cows let's get
as many of the "good points" as we can, but remember that
after all, the milk and feed scales, the tester and a carefully
kept record furnish the only sure sign forjudging the worth
of a cow.
If we already have or want to start a herd of "dual-purpose" cows
like the cows on page 72, to furnish milk and maybe raise calves for
beef, we can't get all the good dairy points shown on the following
pages. Dual-purpose cattle are a combination of beef and milk and
while many cows of the dual breeds are great milk producers, we can't
expect them to be so lean and meatless as the strictly dairy breeds.
(See dual breeds, page 72.)
FIRST, WALK AROUND THE COW, A FEW STEPS AWAY
FROM HER, AND LOOK HER OVER.
A good dairy cow usually lias a neat
head and neck, her eye is bright, her
middle or barrel is deep and roomy to
hold lots of feed. She is wide across
the hips and her udder is large.
If she has a dull eye, coarse
head, thick neck, slim body,
steep rump. Utile udder, is nar-
row across the hips and stands
with front and hind legs close
together, better not buy her.
13
WE CAN FIND OUT A LOT ABOUT A COW BY LOOKING AT
HER HEAD
GOOD POINTS BAD POINTS
Here's a good head; large, bright
eyes, indicating health; face me-
dium length free from flesh; broad
nose, large nostrils that take in
plenty of air, big mouth that goes
with a good feeder.
Another good head; notice the
large nostrils to furnish oxygen for
the lungs; the strong jaw that can
chew a lot of feed to make milk.
A bad head with dull eye, pointed
nose, small nostril, small mouth
and weak jaw; such a head indi-
cates a weak constitution and is
rarely found on a good cow.
A nig, coarse, "steer" head on a
cow indicates poor dairy qualities,
although some high-yielding cows
have big, rather coarse heads.
The ears, like the skin on the cow's
body, should have a velvety feel.
Most good cows have a yellow,
waxy coating on the inside of the
cars.
When a cow hangs her head and
her eyes are dull and ears droopy,
look out — she may have tuber-
culosis. Anyway she is not a good
cow to buy or own.
11
STAND IN FRONT OF THE COW, A FEW STEPS AWAY
FROM HER, AND TAKE A LOOK AT HER FRONT END. IN
THIS WA Y WE GET ANOTHER LINE ON HER CONSTITUTION.
good POINTS
We want the cow's legs like this
one's, square under her and wide
apart, making room for a good
chest.
This good cow, we can see from in
front, is thick through the girth,
has well sprung ribs, and big
roomy barrel that will hold great
quantities of feed.
HAD POINTS
We don't want a cow tnat stands
with front legs close together, in-
dicating lack of chest and heart
room.
This inferior cow is narrow through
the girth, has flat ribs and small
middle. Such a cow hasn't heart
room or room for feed. She is a
poor milk producer.
STEP TO ONE SIDE AND LOOK AT HER NECK.
A good dairy cow's neck is usually
neat, rather slim and curved down
a hit on top. This cow has an
exceptionally fine head and neck.
Don't select a cow having a coarse
thick neck with a lot of extra skin
or dewlap under the neck; she's
apt to be a disappointment.
15
STEP BACK A FEW PACES AND TAKE A SIDE VIEW OF THE
COW
GOOD POINTS
HAD POINTS
Her back should bo straight from
shoulders to root of tail and she
should have good length of hack
to make room for her big middle.
The top line of her rump should
be straight when viewed from the
side and long from hip bones to
pin bones.
Two important things in a cow
are a strong constitution and great
capacity for feed. This good cow
has both; note how deep she is
down through the big barrel that
will hold feed to make 70 pounds
of milk a day.
A good milk producer may have a
low back but it indicates weak-
ness. She had better have a
straight back. Cows with big mid-
dles may sag a little in the back
when thev get old.
This short ugly, steep rump spoils
the looks of the cow. Such eows
usually have poorly shaped udders.
Don't select a cow v\ith
iddh
Thi
16
small
little
"tucked up" middle showing that
she is not a big eater, and her
udder indicates that she is
milk producer.
a poor
ALWAYS TAKE A CLOSE LOOK AT THE COW
Some good dairy cows, especially
when they are milking heavily,
have shoulders that taper up to
,. .'■ the withers on top.
We can't disqualify a cow if her
withers are not sharp. This good
cow is soon to freshen. She's round
and smooth over the withers.
A good cow when dry, or a heifer, may have round withers and still be a good milk
producer. However, thick shoulders and withers may indicate a tendency to make
meat instead of milk out of the feed.
Run the hand over her hack hone.
Many good cows have prominent
back bones with the sections or
vertebra not closely joined. The
loin should be level and wide.
Look down on her back and get
a view of her thickness through the
heart, note the spring of her ribs.
The ribs must be v*ell sprung to
make a roomy middle.
The skin should be soft and pliable. A good cow's ribs are usually far
Hard, tight skin indicates poor enough apart so that a person
blood circulation or that the cow is can lay two or three fingers
out of condition. betw een them.
17
STAND BEHIND THE COW AND NOTE THE WIDTH AND
SHAPE OF HER HINDQUARTERS
GOOD
BAD
POINTS
POINTS
This good
Don't select
Guernse y
a cow with
cow is wide
narrow hips
across the
like this one
hips.
has.
'•Ti
She is wide
between pin
bones.
This Hoi-
st e i n ' s
thighs are
wide apart,
making
room for a
large udder.
This Jersey's
hind legs
stand w i d e
with plenty
of room for
ii d d e r be-
tween the
hocks.
Nor one nar-
r o w and
pointed
across pin
bones.
The cow
with thighs
thick and
close to-
gether has
not room for
a large nd-
der.
Hocks that
stand close
together
take up room
that should
be given to
the udder.
18
EXAMINE THOROUGHLY THE UDDER, TEATS AND MILK
VEINS
Never buy a cow without first milking her to be sure that her
udder is healthy and sound and every teat working.
GOOD POINTS BAD POINTS
Good udder; large, smooth, liangs
level, reaches well out in front and
well up between thighs in the rear.
Low-hanging udder; gets bruised
and dirty. A good cow may have
it, but it's not the right kind.
Good teats; right distance apart,
large enough to be easily milked.
A bad -shaped, pointed udder like
this one won't hold much milk.
Should be large veins over the ud-
der to carry a full supply of blood.
Teats so small we can't get hold of
them arc mighty hard to milk.
Milk veins in front of the udder
should be large and prominent.
The amount of milk depends on
the blood going through these veins.
We don't want a cow with one or
two big teals and the others small.
We don't want a cow with an ir-
regular shaped udder of any kind.
19
SELECTING DAIRY HEIFERS
One way to get cows is to buy heifers that have been bred. These thrifty
Ayrshires are a good kind to buy. They will make good cows. Or we might
buy heifer calves about weaning time and raise them for cows.
These Guernsey heifers are
about old enough to wean
and should develop into
fine cows. We would not
go wrong buying them.
The safe way to select calves or heifers is to buy them from
breeders who we know have good-producing, well-bred stock.
In selecting heifers to develop into cows, the same points should
be observed as in selecting cows, but keep in mind that the well-fed heifer
will be more plump than the milking cow and her udder will he smaller,
yet a good judge can tell from her appearance how she will develop.
THE DANGERS OF BUYING COWS
Good cows can be bought, but don't forget that there are 50 or
more common cows for sale for every good eow that is for sale.
A good dairyman usually doesn't sell his best cows nor heifers
from his best cows.
Here are the cows that are apt to be for sale:
The old cow.
The tubercular cow (see page 73).
The cow thai aborted (see page 73).
The irregular breeder.
The kicker.
The hard milker.
The poor producer.
Here are seven good reasons why we should raise our own cows.
Besides, we can raise good cows cheaper than we can buy them.
20
HAVE THE COWS ALL OF ONE BREED
When selecting cows to start a herd or to add to the herd, try to
get them all of one breed. The herd will be better looking, the calves
will be more uniform, we will think more of them, take better care of
them and make more profit from a uniform herd than from a mixed lot.
It's pretty hard for anybody to take much interest in a hunch of cows with
as many sizes, shapes and colors as has this herd.
A man is pretty cold-blooded and lifeless if he can't take interest in a herd
like this one. These Ayrshire cows look alike, act alike and show good
breeding.
Have One Breed in the Neighborhood
When a neighborhood gets interested in dairying and needs cows,
it is good business for the neighborhood to send a reliable man to a
community where the dairymen are working together and all have one
breed of cattle, and buy from them well-bred, healthy cows or heifers.
We can buy a car load in such a community and get them uniform and
of good breeding. Such cattle make reliable foundation stock for the
new dairy neighborhood.
There are communities and counties where practically all farmers
have the same breed of cattle. This is good for the community and
it's usually a good place to buy cows.
BREEDERS' ASSOCIATIONS
A neighborhood or county of the right kind of stockmen all having
one breed of cattle can organize a breeders' association and put them-
selves on the map, and every member of the association will profit
thereby in a way that would be impossible when working alone. (Read
page 67.)
21
WE CAN TELL A COW'S AGE BY HER TEETH
The pictures below show the changes in the teeth from a calf to
10 years old.
Note that the heifer sheds two of her "milk teeth" when 2 years
old and gets in their place two big new permanent teeth. When 3
years old she gets two more big teeth, and two more each year until at
5 years she has a "full mouth" or all large teeth. After 5 years the
teeth gradually become smaller and more like pegs. The last set
below are of a lO-vear old cow.
10 YR.
When buying a heifer or cow, heller look at her teeth.
22
BIG, RUGGED COWS ARE BEST
In selecting cows and breeding for milk production don't get
cows lliat are too fine and ileal.
We want the cows lo lie good looking and show good breeding but
small fine-boned slock is apt to be delicate and low in production.
We don't want the cows coarse and beefy but we clo want them
strong and substantial, able lo grind up a lot of feed and make il, into
milk.
Here are two beautiful, young pure-bred cows that are almost as fine and
neat appearing as deer. ^\ e would like them a little belter if they were
somewhat more rugged. They w ill probably get stouter as they grow older.
THE PARTS OF A COW
We can look over the outline below and get fixed in our minds all
the different parts of the cow.
23
THE SUREST WAY TO HAVE GOOD COWS IS TO
RAISE THEM
Select our best cows to start with.
Weigh and test the milk to find which are the best cows. (See
page 48.)
Use only high class sires. (See pages 63 and 61.)
Save the best heifer calves from the best cows.
Raise and train the calves right.
When we do all this we are real dairymen and we can have a herd
that we know all about and are proud of.
If the calf isn't good enough to raise for a cow, read page 62.
Let's start a few days before the calf is born and grow it to
a good cow.
Here are two places for the calf to be born:
There is no better place for the
calf to be born in the summer time
than in a clean grassy lot, or field.
Another «zood place is a clean, well-
bedded box stall that has been
thoroughly disinfected.
Here is a bad place for the calf to arrive. In such a place the calf is almost
sure to get infection that will make it sick, maybe kill it.
21-
THE FIRST DAYS OF A GOOD CALF'S LIFE ARE
MIGHTY IMPORTANT DAYS
> first .
i lot of
■ thing
iart of its life suffering
l time and growth and
because it had care-
Ihe navel.
Many a calf has struggled through th
from scours and digestive troubles, losing
developing into a pot-bellied stunted littl
less treatment its first days on earth.
Disinfect the navel
cord with tincture of io- r "
dine, or other disinfectant, <~ , ^^gyij
as soon as the calf is born, to t '... ,
prevent infection through
the navel which causes
scours and swelling of the
joints. It is a good plan to
disinfect the cord again in
a few hours and dust with
alum powder or powdered
boric acid to dry the cord.
Examine the teats. When the calf is a day old a good judge
can tell much about its possibilities for making a good cow. If the
teats are large and placed
well apart, indicating udder
development, the calf with
good care will likely make
a valuable cow if it is well
bred. If there are "extra"
teats that will be in the way
of milking when the calf be-
comes a cow, we can clip
them off and disinfect the
spot when the calf is a day
or so old.
If the cow is healthy it is usually best to leave a good calf is ith her
about four days after it is born, although some dairymen take the calf
away from its mother in
from 24 to 48 hours. Better
Examining the teats.
T**-*J||
leave the calf with its
mother about four days be-
cause it needs to take milk
frequently the first few days,
its sucking is good for the
cow's udder, and the milk
should not be used for hu-
man food for five days any-
way.
It may help to prevent milk fever if the cow is not milked out
thoroughly for two or three days. The calf will usually take out
enough milk if it sucks from each teat.
25
TEACHING THE CALF TO DRINK
\\ hen the calf is separated from
its mother, put it in a clean, dry,
sunny pen or stall. Do this in the
morning and in the evening give its
first feed from a bucket. The calf
will be hungry and the right kind
of a man will soon teach it to
drink. It will learn to drink better
if it is kept a wee bit hungry the
lirst day or two. If it is given too
much at one feed it will get scours.
(See page 71. }
Giving the calf its first feed from a
bucket. Put about three pints of
its mother's milk, fresh and warm,
into a perfectly clean bucket and
have the feeder's hands perfectly
clean. Don't scare the calf; push
it gently into a corner, stand to
one side of it and place two fingers
in its mouth; it will suck the fin-
gers, then lower its nose to the
milk. When it tastes the milk it
Mill drink.
A. man who can't teach a 5-day old. hungry calf to drink isn't
making use of the brains that an ordinary man should have.
Better not give the calf more than three pints of milk the first
feed.
When the calf learns to drink give it from 8 to 10 pounds of
whole milk a day to start with, depending on its size. Increase the
amount of milk as the calf grows.
Many good dairymen feed their calves three times a day the
first three or four weeks, giving the feeds at periods equal time apart .
This is fine for the calves if the milk is ahvays fed at the right tempera-
ture.
On the busy farm it is not always convenient to warm the milk at
noon; it is better to feed the calves only twice a day than to give them
cold milk at noon.
Good calves can he raised by feeding them milk twice a day.
Don't feed calves the foam on milk that comes from (lie separator,
il might bloat them or cause scours.
Feed the calves regularly. Don't feed at 6 one morning and 8
the next morning. Irregularity in feeding causes scours.
26
WE CAN'T MAKE A GOOD COW OUT OF A POORLY-FED,
STUNTED CALF
hits' <*&!.
Arrange a little manger and give
the calf some bright alfalfa or
clover hay.
A swampy pen and damp shed will
keep a calf from growing. Give it
sunlight and a dry bed.
et>
sh. scald and su n th
-just as necessary
good calves as it
milk for folks.
feed buck-
in raising
furnishing good
(Read page 53. )
Feeding from "'calf buckets" 1 like
these will make sorry, stinking.
rough-haired" little animals oul of
the best calves on earth.
CHANGING TO SKIM MILK
The calf will grow bo! lor if it gels whole milk until it is about
3 weeks old. Then begin to substitute skim milk fresh from the
separator in place of part of the whole milk. Change the milk grad-
ually until the calf is drinking all separated milk.
Big, vigorous calves can he changed to skim milk a week earlier
than smaller ones.
By the time the calf is o weeks old it can be fed from 15 to 2(1 pouiub
of milk a day, if milk is plentiful.
Buttermilk or sour milk can be fed when the calf is from 6 weeks
to 2 months old. Make the change gradually.
Never change suddenly from sweet to sour milk or from warm to
cold milk. Sudden changes of feed and overfeeding cause scours.
Feeding milk at varying temperatures and from dirty buckets
has made many a calf sick even after it w as 6 weeks old.
(Never allow a calf at any age to gorge itself with milk.
Remember, there is no better feed on earth for a calf at any
age than skim milk, fresh and warm from tbe separator.
THE YOUNG CALF WILL EAT GRAIN, SILAGE AND
HAY
When two or more calves are
together, arrange stanchions
keep them apart while
drinking milk and eating
grain. They won't upset the
huckets or roh each other.
Here's what happens when a bunch of calves are fed without stanchions.
A waste of milk, time and patience, and the calves are losing growth.
Commence feeding grain when calves
are about 2 weeks old. Feed the
grain in boxes or a divided trough
after they have finished drinking
milk — this will keep them from suck-
ing each other. Don't mix the grain
with the milk, feed it dry.
Corn, bran and a little oil meal mixed together make good calf
feed. At iirst the corn can be ground or cracked, then changed to
whole corn.
Barley can be used in place of corn; also oats and other grains
and meals can be added or substituted in the ration.
One-balf pound of grain a day will help to keep a call' growiii"'
until it is 2 months old, then increase the grain to about one pound a
day. When milk is not plentiful feed a little more grain.
Calves that are lo be vealed can be fed more grain than calves
being raised for cows. (See page 62.)
Silage can be fed to calves when they are 3 weeks or a month
old. Feed only sound, clean silage, and better pick the pieces of cob
and big butts of stalks out of it. Start feeding silage lightly and
increase gradually. Feed some hay and dry grain with the silage.
28
WHEN WILL WE WEAN THE CALF?
To do a real good job of calf raising and make the heifer calves
grow into big, strong cows that we will be proud of, milk should be fed
until they are 6 months old, or better still until they are 8 months old.
Many calves are weaned much younger than 6 months, and if
they are fed "substitutes" and carefully handled they do fairly well,
but it's a long ways bet ler for tbe calf to have milk. Besides there
is no better use to make of skim milk than to feed it to well-bred calves.
WHAT ABOUT PASTURE?
Calves born in the fall and winter should have pasture the next
summer. Calves born in the spring and summer had better be kept in
the stable until they are 3 months old.
V calf pasture should have real
grass in it and plenty of shade
and water.
An old orchard or hog lot of bare
ground and weeds isn't a calf pas-
ture — it's a calf penitentiary.
Heat and flies are things that keep the young calf from growing
in summer.
This little calf is out in a bare lot
blistering and suffering from sun
and flies.
Put the young calf in a stall in
fly time. The gunny sack curtain
will brush off the flies.
29
AFTER THE CALF IS WEANED NEVER LET IT STOP GROWING
Many Rood calves have been well fed until they were, wearier] and then turned
out, neglected and stunted. Wean the calf gradually. Don't feed it, a big mess of
milk every day and then stop all al once.
MAKING GOOD COWS OUT OF GOOD HEIFERS
In the summer give the heifers good pasture with plenty of water and shade.
These Guernseys are enjoying good grass and growing into high-class cows.
jam
WMMIW
•
im^>
a
Put a trough in the pasture like In winter provide good shelter and
these Holstein heifers have, and feeding yard such as these Guem-
give a small grain feed each day the seys have. Feed alfalfa, clover or
first summer. pea hay,goodsilageandsomegrain.
Heifers over 8 months old can be wintered on good silage and alfalfa or clover
hay; younger heifers should have some grain.
TIME TO BREED HEIFERS
A well fed, thrifty heifer can be bred when from 14 to 20 months old. Karl\
maturing breeds like Jerseys can be bred when 1 year old — better wait two more
months. Later maturing breeds like Holsteins should not be bred so young as Jerseys.
Here is the way well bred, well fed 2-year old Holsteins should look
These 2-year old Milking Shorthorn
heifers have been poorly cared for.
They are small and will produce weak
calves and be poor milkers.
30
DEHORN THE CALF
'•*~***fc''.''*' ■ >;
The time to dehorn cows is before they are 1 week old. Clip the hair
from the little bump or horn "button"' where the horn starts and rub the
button with a stick of caustic potash until a spot about the size of a dime
is red but not bleeding. Put the potash only on the horn button. Don't
put too much on, it may spread and injure the calf. Don't turn the calf
out in the rain immediately after putting on the potash, the rain will
wash the potash into the calf's eyes. The caustic potash can be bought at
a drug store. Don't handle it with the bare hands. Keep it in a tightly
corked bottle.
TEACH THE CALF TO LEAD
The time spent teaching this Jersey
heifer to lead while she is younji and
easily held will he repaid many times
when she becomes a cow. It^s a won-
derful satisfaction to have a cow that
can be haltered and led quietly.
PROVIDE WATER AND SALT
Provide water and salt for the calves
when they are 3 or 4 days old
and keep a supply always before
them. Calves need water even when
they are getting plenty of milk and
there is no better way to "salt" them
than to have the salt, like the water,
where they can get it when they
want it.
31
THE HEIFER'S FIRST CALF
Two or three months before the heifer freshens, she should begin
getting some training, it will make her more easily handled, after she
freshens, if we teach her to come into the stable and stand in a
stall with the cows.
These Ayrshire heifers walk into their stalls and behave like old cows.
Handle the heifer's udder and brush her so that everything will
not be new to her when she becomes a cow.
Keep a reeord of
breeding dales so we will
know when to expect the
little calf. Don't depend
on memory, keep a regular
record. There are breeders
calendars and special record
books that are very conven-
ient and worth having. You
can keep a record without
them, but be sure to keep it.
A healthv, normal cow
will freshen from 280 to 290
days after being bred.
Provide a grassy lot or
stall like that shown on
page 21 for the arrival of
the lil tie calf.
This Guernsey heifer, soon 1o freshen, is
getting some valuahle lessons.
Be quiet and patient when milking and handling the heifer.
The first week after she is fresh we can make her into a gentle.
reliable cow or we can mistreat her and teach her vicious tricks that
will stay with her as long as she lives.
Within a few days after the heifer is fresh, if she has been trained
right, she should take her place peaceably with the cows, and her calf
should be happy in its clean stall, drinking milk from a bucket.
32
LET'S GIVE OUR COWS A SQUARE DEAL
Give them the right kind and plenty of feed. Give them
the right kind of care.
A dairy cow should go dry from six weeks to two months before
freshening.
Usually there is no trouble in drying off a cow.
Always milk her clean when drying her; if she is a persistent
milker commence drying her by first skipping one milking, then skip-
ping a day, then two days, but always milk her dry.
Continue this until only clear water comes from the teats and the
cow will not likely have milk fever.
A heifer never has milk fever, neither is the cow apt to if she is
thoroughly dried off.
If the cow can't he dried off, milk her right up to the day she
freshens.
Be sure and do not let a heifer go dry the first time until about
six weeks before the second freshening. If we let her go dry too soon
the first time, she will always try to go dry early and it will greatly
lessen her milk production.
Have the cow in good condition when she freshens.
This Guernsey cow and this Ayrshire cow, both soon to freshen, are not
any too fat.
It is a good thing to have the mature milk cow in condition that
might be termed "fat" when the calf arrives. The good cow will soon
turn the fat into milk and butter after she freshens.
Feed very lightly for several days after calving, give laxative
feed, like bran and ground oats mixed with a little oil meal.
Take the chill off the water that the fresh cow drinks.
If the cow retains the afterbirth, "fails to clean"' within 24
hours, get a competent veterinarian to remove the afterbirth and
prescribe treatment. (See page '?>.)
Keep the fresh cow in a roomy stall or pasture by herself for a
few days even after the calf is separated from her. Read pages 24 to
30 for caring for calf.
33
LET'S GROW ALL THE FEED FOR OUR COWS
THAT WE CAN
Remember, all feeds must, be grown on somebody's farm. We may
be able to grow our feeds cheaper than anybody can grow them for us.
There are dairymen who keep themselves poor hauling milk, cream or butter
to market, and then hauling back home feed that costs about as much as
the milk and cream brings. This is bad business.
Let's use home-grown feeds.
There is nothing better than pasture for cows in summer.
Grasses and pasture crops can be grown in every country. \o
country is complete without pastures and no pasture is complete without
cows. Let's make our pastures better.
There is nothing better than silage and legume hay for
cows in winter.
Silos can be built and silage crops grown wherever people and cows
live, and there are one or more legumes that will grow and make hay in
every country. We can't do the best cow feeding; we can't do the best
farming without silos and legumes. We can have both.
There are thousands of dairymen who. if they would spend a part
of the money they are paying for feeds, in tile draining and liming their
fields and improving their pastures, could grow big crops of grass,
alfalfa, clover, soy beans, cow peas and oilier feeds that would lake
the place of much of the feeds they are now buying. Besides they would
be doing better farming and making more profit.
There are high-class dairy feeds and meals on the market that
can be purchased and fed at a profit. There are times when practically
all dairymen can and should buy feeds. There are times when it is
good business to sell part of the home-grown crops and buy feeds for
the cows.
But nobody ever got very far in dairying by bminjj most of
the feed.
READ THE FOLLOWING PAGES.
WHAT SHALL WE FEED THE COW?
Every dairyman must work out his own feed ralion, using
first the feeds he can grow; buying only that part of the feed that he
can't grow, and buying it in the best and cheapest form.
GRASS FOR SUMMER
\
In spring, summer and early fall nothing beats good pasture for eovv
Most pastures do not pro-
duce one-half of what they
should. Lime, fertilizer, a coat oi
manure and re-seeding will change
a lot of pashues from desolate
stretches of land to bountiful feed-
ing grounds.
Thousands of dairy men turn
their cows out on poor pasture
and buy feed for them all sum-
mer. Wouldn't it be wiser to spend
some of that money to re-seed and build up the pasture so
could get their own feed?
In many parts of the country, farmers would be better off if
of the land was made into real pasture and less of it cultivated.
feed.
«**V
It is a crime to expect t hese J«
to make milk ami dig a living
a chewed-out pasture like t
that
'rsevs
from
his.
COWS
The whole farm under cultivation and no pasture. Many a farmer plows
60 acres to put into cultivated crops, only half lends it, and grows about
what he should on 30 acres. He would he better off, ami so would his cows
had he plowed less and let the rest grow grass so the cows could feed
themselves.
FEEDING GRAIN ON PASTURE
Good pasture supplies about all the cow needs.
Cows fed grain while on good pasture will give about enough more
milk as result of the grain feed to pay for the grain. However, many
dairymen feed grain to their cows while on pasture — from 3 to 10
pounds per day to each cow depending on the pasture, the cow and the
amount of milk she gives.
Cows fed grain on pasture keep in belter flesh and are apt
to do a little better when the pasture season is over.
35
SILAGE AND SOILING CROPS FOR SUMMER FEED
In dry countries and "short grass" countries and in any country
where pastures get dry and short during the grazing season, there is
nothing equal to the silo to furnish succulent feed to take the place of
pasture and, also, there is nothing equal to the silo to furnish feed for
winter.
A silo is almost as necessary in dairying as the cows themselves. If we
can't have a silo and a complete barn at the same time, then build the
silo first.
"Soiling," or growing crops to furnish green feed for cows in sum-
mer, is practiced by some dairymen. Such crops as oats and peas,
clover, sweet corn, field corn, millet, and sorghum are grown and cut
daily and fed to the cows. This system is good for the cows but means
hard work for the man. It is not always convenient or agreeable on a
busy farm to cut and carry a lot of green feed after the man has worked
hard all day. It may be 0. K. when there is a special man for the job.
When ;'ie pasture is dried up,
jrreen corn hauled out to the cows
daily will keep up the milk supply.
Feeding alfalfa hay to cows to take
the place of pasture burned out b>
drouth.
The
extra summer feed to help out ihe pasture had
better be in the silo, where it is handy, easy to feed and
cheaper than when supplied in any other way.
36
FEED FOR WINTER
Silage and legume hay should furnish most of the feed for the
cow in winter.
u Jiii*lii
Good corn silage and alfalfa hay make a pretty complete cow feed.
Attention, every dairyman, where corn and alfalfa will grow:
Do you know that if we had corn silage made from well-matured
corn with big ears on it and alfalfa hay cut before it gets woody and
loses the leaves, and give our cows all they will eat of these two feeds,
we have a good cow ration with very little else added?
Do you know that half the cows in the United States, if they
were fed in winter all the corn silage, made from matured, big-eared
corn, and all the alfalfa hay that they would eat, would give nearly
twice as much milk as they now give with the feed they are getting?
Corn will not grow in some places but sunflowers, sorghum,
feterita, milo, cane, millet and Sudan grass will grow and furnish silage.
4A*MkM J
Sunflowers promise to make
great silage crop.
Feterita, milo or sorghum makes
silage where it's too dry for corn.
Alfalfa does not grow in some places until conditions are made
right for it, but there are legumes that will grow in every section.
7]
ALSIKE CLOVER
Early-cut, well cured,
red or alsike clover is a
close second to alfalfa.
COW PEAS
Cow pea or soy bean
hay furnishes high-
class protein roughage.
37
LESPEDEZA
The South has a wealth
in lespedeza, almost
equal to alfalfa.
FEED A BALANCED RATION
There is no satisfactory cow ration without legume roughage of
some kind.
The expert dairyman doesn't need anyone to tell him how to mix
rations for his cows.
These general rules are to help the beginner get started;
then he should study feeds and watch his cows until he knows more
about feeding them than anyone else does.
A cow is made to handle bulky feed.
Give her all the roughage (silage and
hay) that she will eat up clean in winter.
Give her from 30 to 50 pounds of silage
daily, depending on her size and the amount
of milk she gives, and give her all the alfalfa,
clover or other good hay she will eat up clean.
When feeding common silage made
from immature corn, or corn with small or
no ears, and the roughage is of only fair quality,
give her about one pound of grain daily for
each three pounds of milk she produces.
A better rule for feeding grain is to
feed one pound of grain daily for each pound of
butter fat produced per week.
When the silage is made of well-eared,
mature corn and the roughage is of fine qual-
ity alfalfa or clover and the cow is given all she
will eat of the silage and hay, the grain ration
can be lessened.
This great big, late-
maturing corn that so
many people grow for
silage seldom gets ears
on it, is full of water,
hard to handle and
makes sour silage with
little feeding value.
The kind and amount of grain to feed depends on the amount
of grain in the silage, the kind grown on the farm and the kind that can
be bought.
Where corn is grown, corn meal or corn and cob meal, mixed
with protein feed like cottonseed meal, nil meal or bran, makes a °-ood
ration to feed with silage.
Ground barley, ground oats or collonseed hulls, mixed with
cottonseed meal, oil meal or other protein feed, makes a splendid train
ration to go with silage.
There are various commercial protein feeds that can be sub-
stituted, one for the other, depending on location and prices cotton-
seed meal, oil meal, gluten feeds, bran, cocoanut meal and peanut meal
There are also high-grade, ready-mixed commercial dairy feeds.
38
CD
O)
CO
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CO
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CQ
Tl
(Q
CD
CD
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HAVE THE BARN IN THE RIGHT PLACE
Every barn should ho located so water will drain away from it,
then the yard is more easily kept dry and the barn more easily kept clean.
This barn is well located, the yard sloping from the building on all sides.
SIZE OF BARN
Have it large enough to stable the cows, and it may be best to
keep the young calves in the same barn so they will be convenient to
feed. Have extra stalls to use in training heifers. (Read page 32.)
Have mow room to hold enough hay for the feeding season and
feed bins to hold a supply of grain.
We want the barns large enough to house the herd without crowd-
ing, yet we don't want a roof over a lot of space we don't need or can't
use.
SIZE OF SILO
This table shows the size of silo to furnish silage six months at rate
of 40 pounds a day to each cow.
Pounds
No. of
Required
( :<jvvs
Daily
6
21(1
o
360
l.i
520
15
600
20
SUM
25
1000
:hi
1200
:ir>
1 Kill
id
1600
l.i
1M00
."id
200(1
F.-rl.
1 I
I I
16
16
• of Silo N,
cded
Hi-ifrhl,
I'Vct
20
:so
26
:ii)
:si
10
Capacity.
Tons
17
71
1
loo
123
1 13
107
180
LET US REPEAT: We don't need an expensive or elaborate
cow barn in order to have it comfortable, clean and convenient.
We may already have a good barn.
We may have a barn that with a little fixing would be a good one.
Disinfect the barn thoroughly at regular intervals. I se some of
the commercial stock dips for disinfecting.
It's a good plan to have a thorough ""clean-up" once a week
and then keep clean between times.
43
COWS NEED EXERCISE
Don't keep the cows
tied up all the time.
Turn them out in the yard
for awhile, if it is not
storming, or turn them
loose in a shed or covered
yard.
Some good dairymen allow the
cows to run loose in a covered
yard or large barn all the time,
except when being milked or fed
grain. This is a good plan when This covered yard is a fine place for the
the yard or barn is sheltered, cows to exercise and drink. On pleasant
warm and clean. days they should go out in the sun for
awhile.
GIVE THE COWS WATER
The cow's body is 70 per cent and her milk is 87 per cent water.
What one thing does she need more than water?
A big, heavy-milking cow should drink from 8 to 15 gallons of water
a day, depending largely upon the kind of feed she eats.
A cow won't drink half enough
if she has to suck water out of a
hole in the ice. It would take
about all her feed to warm enough
ice water for her.
.■[% ■'''■'■^jjjl
pB^F««'i,-
''■ '*}•/;,• . .......
'.,v-.. ■ -
These pools are apt to get a green
scum over them in summer. This
scum is a great breeding place for
disease germs and may give the
milk a bad taste.
pays to provide clean drinking places and clean water. Look a»ain
the per cent of water in the cow's body and milk.
Do you think she should get along on one drink a day?
GIVE THE COW A CHANCE
Many a cow is a poor milk producer because she gets abuse
and not enough to eat.
It take a certain amount of feed to keep a cow living and she
will use feed, first to live on and then, if there is any extra, she
will make milk of it, if she's a go<->d dairy cow.
This poor cow with a barn
yard full of snow and the
thermometer at zero isn't
making milk, she's too busy
trying to keep warm.
^m$m
A cow that is exposed to storms, or kept standing in a cold
draft in the stable in winter, or forced to drink ice water will
use her feed to keep warm.
HERE'S WHAT FEED AND GOOD CARE WILL DO
Below are two scrub "piney woods" cows that Mr. Hugh G. Van
Pelt, editor of Dairy Farmer, selected in Arkansas for the Iowa Experi-
ment Station for a test to show how good feeding and good sires will
improve common herds. They were small, scrubby, with poor udder
development. See what they did with good care.
This scrub cow that probably in
her old home gave 2,000 pounds or
less milk a year, gave 1,975 pounds
of milk and 253 pounds of butter
fat at the Iowa Experiment Sta-
lion when she was well fed.
This scrub cow, when she got
plenty to eat. gave 4.916 pounds of
milk and 205 pounds of buller
fat in one year, probably three
times as much as she gave uhen
she lived under scrub treatment.
One-half the cows in this country would almost double their
milk production if they only got enough to eat.
45
HERE'S WHAT WILL TAKE THE PROFIT OUT OF THE
DAIRY BUSINESS
Let the dog bring the cows in on the run; throw rocks at them as they go
by. There's no surer way to cut down the milk yield.
Another sure way to make dairying a losing game is to leave the cows out
to browse fodder in a blizzard.
Or let them wait outside all afternoon in a cold rain— if won't take long
to do the milking in the evenina.
The man who is responsible for his
wife's having to milk this cow out
by the straw-stack all winter,
should be arrested for wife beat
ing and cruelty to animals.
Th.s man w.th h.s strong arm and
mean dispos.t.on ought to be a lion
tamer, lb won't get much more
milk from the cow than he would
trom a lion.
46
TEST EVERY COW
We can't tell for sure whether or not a cow is worth having unless
we know how much milk she gives, how much hulter fat there
is in her milk, and how much feed she eats.
The man isn't living who can "guess" this correctly.
It's easy to find out about a cow.
First: Weigh the milk. A good
dairyman will weigh the milk of each cow
at each milking, and keep a record on a
record sheet tacked up in the barn in the
most convenient place.
Some folks weigh each cow's milk
only once a week and estimate how much
she rs giving. This is better than not
weighing it at all, but not so reliable as to
know what ihe cow is giving each day.
Second: Test the milk with a Bab-
cock tester at least once a month to find
how much butter fat there is in it.
If we can't have a testing associa-
tion in the neighborhood (see next page)
we can have a Babeoek tester of our own
and test the milk ourselves.
Third: Weigh each cow's feed —
grain, silage and hay — keep a record so
we know just what each cow is eating.
%
Many careful dairymen A bushel of good corn Weigh the hay often
weigh each cow's feed silage weighs from 35 enough to estimate
separately. to 40 pounds. amount fed each cow.
It is not necessary to weigh the feed every day but :t should be
weighed whenever a change is mada so we can feed according to the
amount of milk, and so we can figure the worth of the feed.
When we know how much milk and butter fat a cow produces and
how much feed she cats, a little arithmetic will tell us whether she's
a money maker or a money loser.
47
DOES COW TESTING PAY?
Does il pay to keep books in a hank or hardware store?
One question is just as wise as the other.
The day is coming when dairymen will no more think of
keeping cows without keeping records than a banker will think
of loaning money and trusting to his memory and luck lo col-
lect interest.
Here are five advantages of cow testing, and there are a lot more:
1. We'll take better care of the cows.
Many a man. when he began tasting his cows also began taking
better care of them and surprised himself with how good his cows were.
2. We'll find out which cows are paying a profit.
There are thousands of herds where part of the cows are profitable
cows and the rest "boarders," eating up the profit.
3. Our good cows will be worth more when we
know how good they are.
A good cow will bring $30 more if we can show her record when
we want to sell her.
4. The calves will be worth more.
A wise man will give $100 or more for a good calf from a good cow
with a good record; he'll give $35 or less for a good calf from a cow
with no record.
5. We can improve our herds.
When we know by actual weights and figures that we have hieh-
producing cows, we'd be chumps if we didn't keep the heifers frr
those cows. The best way l<> judge the value of « young heifer or bull is
by the records of ils ancestors. The way to tell the breeding value of
mature cow or bull is by Hie records of ils offspring. Without recc d
cant make much improvement.
■iii
a
s we
COW TESTING ASSOCIATIONS
If Ave have a dairy neighborhood and haven't a cow testing
association there must be something wrong.
There are thousands of cow testing associations working that have
made thousands of dollars for dairymen with but little cost." All that's
needed are 26 progressive fair-minded dairymen and a reliable young
man or woman for tester and to have the tester spend one day a month
with each herd. He's worth live times his salary to any dairy neigh-
borhood.
Mi. J. M. Ragsdale of
Missouri tried lo sell this
Jersey cow for $75. says
Hoard's Dairyman. No-
body wanted tier. He put
her in a cow testing asso-
ciation and she broke the
stale cow testing record
by producing 527 pounds
of butter fat after the
first four months of her
milking season were over,
and she cleared §267.3')
above the cost of her feed.
He's been offered §175 for
her but she's not for sale.
One of the best cows in Missouri, discovci
by a test association.
We can have a test association if we and our neighbors arc
made of the right slniT.
~~1
THE VERDICT OF THE JURY
$3125 PROFIT
ONE YEAR
THIS COW
TO 40 POOR ONES
W W l"i T"!^^ T^
^ff j W 'P4 T^ Tl
HHHHHn
J 31 PROFIT ON
THESE 40 COWS
ONE WHOLE YEAR
YOU CANT AFFORD TO GUESS
COW TESTING PAYS
10 YRS
lbs NEWAYGO ASalM MICH
™, Z 3 4 YRS 6 7 a ,
c
270
260
250
240
230
220
IN
| 1^/
.&
eur
JSSJs
f
/
/
60 LB
IS
S MORE BUTTERFAT PER COto
WORTH TESTING FOR
3
1
Chart 1 Chart 2
Chart No. 1 shows what the Illinois Experiment Station, a few years ago.
found by testing — that one cow made more profit in a year than the other
10 cows combined. Chart No. 2 shows how the yield of butter fat per cow
went up from 215 to 275 in the Newaygo Association in Michigan.
Does cow testing pay?
You answer.
19
KEEP THE MILK CLEAN
We can" I have good milk, cream or butler unless ihe milk
is kept clean from the instant it comes from the cow.
The thing that spoils more milk, cream and butter than anything
else is dirt.
Rank, bitter, bad-tasting milk, cream or butter is caused by dirt
getting into it.
There are 100 ways for dirt to get into milk.
When a cow's hind legs and thighs are plastered with manure there is no
chance to get clean milk; the milk will smell like manure and taste like
manure; chunks of manure will drop into the milk and dissolve and all
the straining in the world won't take out the taste.
We can strain straw, bedding and solid chunks of manure out of
the milk, but 85 per cent of fresh manure dissolves in milk and is
not strained out.
If you are a careless dairyman and think that your milk is all right
after you have "strained" the filth out of it let us ask you a question :
Would you like to drink coffee or eat soup after you had strained
cow manure, straw and shavings out of it?
If the cows have to wade around in a harn yard like this until their lcs,
udders and teals arc smeared with manure we will have dirty milk, no
matter how clean the barn is on the inside.
50
KEEP THE MILK CLEAN
Here's a dark, foggy barn
with a supply of cob webs,
dust, bay seeds and germs,
ready to pollute every pint
of milk produced in it.
Here's a milker who will spoil all the milk, even if the yard,
the barn and the cows are clean:
He's been hauling manure all
day; bis coat, overalls, shoes, hat
and hands arc dirtied and stunk up.
Now lie's doing the evening chores,
covering himself with hayseed
and dust.
\
«4M
Adding more dirt and stink and
bacteria to hands and sleeves, dip-
ping swill for the pigs.
Now right to 1 lie barn to milk with-
out changing or brushing clothes,
or washing hands.
This kind of a milker will make all ihc milk on llic farm
sour quickly, have a rollen tasle, and make rank, hitler huller.
BE REGULAR IX MILKING
Have a set time to <lo the milkii
expect our cows to do their best if we
next. Try to divide the day and i
between milkings will be about the sa
r and stick to it. W <• can'l
1 ilk early one day and late th<
**ht so the number of boui>
KEEP THE MILK CLEAN
nsr
Dipping the fingers into the milk
while milking, is a filthy habit
that makes filthy milk.
Don't move the hay in the barn
while milking. It fills the air with
dust and the dust is full of bacteria
which will get into the milk.
Cats are O. K. to keep rats and
mice away but we don't need cats
to help with the milking.
If we milk while manure is being
stirred up or immediately after the
stable is cleaned, the milk will
absorb odor from the manure.
Milk kept in cellars and caves is
apt to get tainted, unless the cellar
or cave is kept very clean, well ven-
tilated and free from bad odors.
Don'l keep the milk or cream in a
musty cellar or near onions, cab-
bage or decayed vegetables — the
milk will get a bad taste.
The cow may eat something that will give the milk a bad
flavor.
Garlic, cabbage, turnips and sometimes sour silage will give the
milk a bad flavor. Garlic is the worst. There is not much danger
from eating vegetables like cabbage or turnips unless they are fed°in
large quantities. Good silage will not spoil the milk.
52
HAVE RIGHT KIND OF VESSELS— KEEP THEM CLEAN
Wrong kind — Right kind
KEEP THE MILK CLEAN
DIRT
The black lines show the amount
of dirt in milk when different kind*
of pails and strainers arc used.
Never use dairy vessels or
utensils that have rough seams,
joints, or cracks in them. Milk
will get into the rough places and
sour and cake and decay and inoculate all the milk with millions of
bacteria that will sour the milk and spoil it.
If we can't get utensils with smooth seams, take them to a
tinsmith and have him solder every seam and joint smooth.
The open-top milk pail is a dirt catcher.
Wash the Dairy Utensils Clean
Don't let the pails or utensils lie around with milk on them.
Wash them while the milk is fresh.
First: Rinse them with luke-warm or cold water.
Second: After the vessels have been rinsed in luke-warm or cold
water wash them thoroughly with hot water and washing soda
or soap.
Third : After they have been thoroughly washed, rinse with hot
water, then steam or scald them and let them dry without wiping
with towels or rags.
Wash every vessel inside and out. The sun is a great purifier. Put
A brush is better than a rag. the milk utensils in the sun.
Wash the brush or rag thoroughly and put it in the sun be-
tween times of using.
53
CLEAN COWS, CLEAN STABLES, CLEAN MILK
I p - m ■- m _-— 3 m— r^L
A clean yard, so the cows can walk
with clean legs into a clean barn.
Clipping the hair from the flanks,
thighs, and udders.
Wash and dry the udder if dirt gets
on it. Always wipe the udder with
damp cloth before milking.
Use a small-topped pail to keep
out particles of dust or dirt.
A clean well-lighted barn, made
so it can be washed out.
Brush clean the hind legs; flanks
and around the udders.
Discard the first stream of milk
from each teat; it has bacteria in it
that will make the milk sour.
54
mmaam
As soon as the milk is weighed
hustle it to the milk house
HAVE A GOOD MILK HOUSE
We can't have good milk or cream unless Me have a good
place to keep it.
The kind of milk house, depends on the. number of cows and how
we market the milk or cream.
The milk or dairy house should be:
Large enough to have plenty of room.
Light enough to see to work and keep clean.
Of material that can be scrubbed and scalded.
Supplied with plenty of water.
Equipped with drain for waste water.
Handy to but separated from the barn.
On the side of the barn awa\ from odors.
On higher ground than the barn.
Away from manure piles and hogs.
Provided wish heal in cold weather.
It is better, especially in large dairies, to have arrangement in the
milk house for steam and scalding water for cleaning utensils.
This milk house is about the right distance from the barn, on higher
ground, away from manure piles and hog pens.
If we can't have a regular dairy house, the milk or cream should
be stored in a clean, light, well- ventilated place, free from odors.
An ordinary cellar where vegetables are stored is not a good
place to keep milk or cream. (Read page 52.)
55
MILKING MACHINES
The milking machine, when properly cared for, is practical.
Be careful, don't drop the teat
cups in the dirt on the floor.
Use hot water, washing powder
and a big crock of a sterilizing
solution to keep the milker clean.
It is the judgment of many
dairymen that a milking machine is
not needed unless there are 20 or
more cows to milk every day.
The milking machine must be
kept absolutely clean or it is apt to
spoil every drop of milk, just as
dirty-hand milking does.
When the machine is kept
clean, the milk is better than when
milked by hand, as particles of dirt
and dust are kept out of the milk by
the machine.
Just drawing water through
the machine does not get rid of
the bacteria in il.
The most careful dairymen
thoroughly wash, scald and steril-
ize the machine after every
milking. Then the machine is ab-
solutely safe. Read page 53, clean-
ing utensils.
56
REMEMBER THESE THINGS
All milk thai is to he separated should he separated imme-
diately after milking, while the milk is warm, then the sepa-
rator does heller work and we have the skim milk fresh and
warm for the calves and pigs. (See page 60.)
Milk or cream that is to be kept should be cooled the first
possible instant after it comes from the coir.
Bacteria make milk and cream sour and
spoil .
Bacteria won't work in cold milk.
Bacteria multiply hy the millions in warm
milk.
Don't let the milk set around the stable an
hour or two before it is taken to the milk house.
Milk fresh from the cow has a temperature
of about 90 degrees F. and should be cooled
down to 50 degrees F. or lower to make it keep.
Ice is the best cooler when it can be Ji ml.
flRJa
^? C" * M
S. 9 - -*»*j
w\
u
m
rtHj8«r". - ^t^i^^Ki
W
Running wafer is next to ire as a cooler.
Running nalfr should be kept in the shade
and vmder ground as much as possible to
keep the temperature loiv.
A thermometer
l;!,c this is
needed m here Ave
a re p rod u c i n »
nij!k or cream.
If we can't have running water to cool tbe milk or cream,
we should change the water as it takes up the heat from the
milk, keeping a fresh, cool supply around the milk or cream.
Fresh cream should he cooled before pouring it into the
can with cold cream. Stirring the cream hastens cooling.
WHAT WILL WE DO WITH THE MILK?
READ THIS:
It's a crime for any man who owns a cow to sell a pint of milk or a pound
of butter before his children, his wife and himself have milk to drink every
day and cream and butter to eat every meal.
There are several thousand dairymen who are so anxious to pet the milk
can full before it is hauled oil" the farm that they starve their own boys and
girls by compelling them to eat counterfeit butler, by depriving them of
milk, the best food on earth and for which there is no substitute.
The dairyman >v ho does this knowing that he is depriving his family of
health-making food needs a vacation in jail until he wakes up to the fact
that his family is worth more than a few gallons of milk.
More than one milk-selling dairyman has used the money he got
for milk to pay doctor bills for his family', sick because they had to do
without milk.
Rickets, how legs and poor teeth in children result from not using milk.
If you want your boys and girls to
grow into big, strong men and
women give them milk and butter
three times a day.
LIME IN MILK
BOYS AND GIRLS WEED LIME
TO GROW STRONG BOWES GOOD TEETH
L
STEAK
USE MILK
SAVE DOCTOR AWD DEWTIST BILLS
We can pile food before our chil-
dren and still starve their bones.
If you want to stay away from hardening of the
arteries, high blood pressure, stomach and liver
trouble; if you want to build a resistance aeainst
cancer, heart trouble, catarrh, colds and the 100
diseases that age and kill people before their time
eat butter and drink milk, and lots of it.
Two quarts of milk a day will bcal
all the monkey glands, sanita-
riums, mud baths and rest
cures that we can pile up, for
keeping men and women young
and healthy.
The best market in the world for all the milk cream nnrl
butter that the family can use is to see that the family gets it.
58
THE WAY WE SELL OUR DAIRY PRODUCTS DEPENDS
ON OUR BEST MARKET
The best way to sell the product from many dairies, the
best way to sell the product from the cows on thousands of
farms, is to sell the cream or butter fat and use tbe skim milk
on the farm where it is needed, where it is worth the most.
This good cream separator pays dividends 730 times a year.
There is a market for whole milk.
The market for whole milk is limited to the country around
towns and cities and to where milk can be delivered quickly by shipping.
People in towns and cities must have whole milk and someone must supply
them.
Condensed milk, powdered milk and cheese are useful and needed
foods, and the factories making them should
be kept going.
The farms where the whole milk is
sold would be better off if part of the milk
was separated and the skim milk used to
raise calves and pigs and chickens.
MAKING BUTTER ON THE FARM
Cream should be kept cold until time to ripen it for
churning but should not freeze.
Farmers* Bulletin No. 876, published by the U. S.
Department of Agriculture, Washington,^ D. C, gives
reliable instructions on home butter making.
59
SKIM MILK FRESH AND WARM FROM THE SEPARATOR IS
A FEED THAT CANNOT BE REPLACED BY ANY SUBSTITUTE
SKIM MILK BEST FOR HOGS
I ACRE
CORN
TO MAK E 100 LB GAIN FATTENS
[coRFr ppuill 48 «
BOY BEAIMSI 81 DAYS I '^"^5a'^*4K)
CORN S
TANKAGE
I 68 DAYS I mf***^***^
SKIM MILK I 56 DAYS I fllj^WI—flLj,
This chart shows the result of hog-
f ceding trials at the Indiana Experi-
ment Station. Note that -when corn
was fed with skim milk it took only
.506 pounds of corn to make 100
pounds of gain oil the hogs, and this
gain was made in 56 days. An acre
of corn thus fed with skim milk fat-
tened nine hogs, while corn fed alone
and with other feeds did not make as
much gain nor did it feed so many
hogs to the acre.
Buttermilk and whey, while not equal
to fresh milk for feeding, are too valu-
able to waste — they are valuable feeds
for pigs and calves and the right use
of them adds profit to dairying.
There is no other feed that will put
hloom on pigs and make them grow
like fresh warm skim milk will when
fed with a little grain.
Calves, after 3 weeks old, will
grow just as big, just as strong and
a lot cheaper when fed fresh, warm
skim milk as when fed whole milk,
and they will grow a lot better on
skim milk than on any substitute.
These Holstein calves drinking skim
milk and eating corn meal are as
healthy and strong as though they
were running with their mothers and
getting all the whole milk they could
drink. When we figure that these
calves will grow into valuable cows
to keep up the herd, we find that the
skim milk they are drinking is bring-
ing more than to market it in any
other way.
Skim milk every day for the chickens
will help to make them grow, make
them happy and make them lay eggs.
When we separate niiik at home we have it fresh which
makes it worth more to feed; we rim no risks of getting disease
from other herds as when we get milk separated away from home.
60
WE CAN'T AFFORD TO DO WITHOUT A CREAM SEPARATOR
Vie lose loo much butler fal if we try to separate milk any
other way.
The Indiana Agricultural Kxperiment Station made a careful test
to find out how much butter ia lost from one cow's milk in a year by
different methods of separating. Here is what they found:
5MAI LOW PAN LOST
DEEP SETTING LOST
THE CREAM SEPARATOR LOST ONLY
WATER DILUTION L05T
1.2 LBS. BUTTER (0.1 LBS. BUTTER 262 LBS BUTTER 40.5 LBS. BUTTER
We not only get all the cream from the cream separator, but
We get better cream.
The milk doesn't sit around taking on odors while waiting for
cream to rise.
Takes less time.
The cream is separated all at one handling and in a few minutes.
Takes less labor.
It is easier to turn and wash a separator than to pour into and
handle and scrub a lot of pans and cans.
Takes fewer vessels.
The skim milk is fed and out of the way. It takes only about
one-sixth as many vessels to hold the cream as it does the milk.
Takes less storage.
A can of cream takes but little room. Pans and crocks to hold
the milk would spread all over the milk house.
61
These dairy-bred steers aren't
money makers. They had better
have been made into veal two
years ago.
VEAL CALVES
One of three things must be done with every calf
1. Raised for a cow or breeder or beef.
2. Fed and sold for veal.
3. Killed at birth.
Choice calves from choice cows
should be raised to take the places
of their mothers and to start new
herds.
These Guernseys are of the kind
to raise for cows.
In herds of strictly dairy cows
it is rarely profitable to raise the
calves for beef. Better make veal
of the ones not kept for cows.
Calves from dual-purpose cows
can be profitably raised for beef on
separated milk.
Whether the dairy-bred calf can
be profitably vealed depends on the
calf, the price it will bring and
whether the milk can be more profit-
ably used some other way.
If the dairy calf is small and
thin at birth and not well enough
bred to keep for a cow, better kill it
as soon as it is born, for the hide and
rennet.
In dairy herds of large
rugged cows, the calves not raised
for cows can in most cases be vealed
and made a profitable by-product b y
using a cream separator and feeding skim milk fresh and warm with a
grain ration. Feed and care for the veal calf the same as outlined on
pages 24 to 29, except that the calf
should be fed whole milk until it
has learned to eat grain.
A little more milk and grain
should be fed veal calves than calves
being raised for cows.
When feeding calves for
veal, be careful — feed liberally
This Milking Short Horn will make
profitable use of separated milk
and grow into high-class beef.
when the calf gets to drinking and
eatmg well but don't overfeed and
make it sick. Alfalfa hay, if fed too
liberally, will sometimes cause
scours.
62
When no heifer calves are raised
and the herd is kept up entirely by
buying cows it is good business to
use a bull of the beef breeds so the
calves will make better veal.
HOW MUCH IS A BULL WORTH?
Are you using a bull whose ancestors have records showing that
they were good producers, or are you using just a common bull whose
ancestors nobody knows much about?
HERE'S WHAT A COMMON BULL CAN DO
Prof. C. IT. Ecklesinhisbook, "Dairy Cattle and Milk Production,"
tells that a common, dairy-herd bull used in the herd at the University
of Missouri sired cows that produced a year!y r average of 1,009 pounds
less milk than their molhers.
HERE'S WHAT A GOOD BULL CAN DO
No. 1. This is a scrub cow that Mr.
Hugh Van Pelt selected for the Iowa
Experiment Station to show how good
bulls and good feed will improve a
herd. Her average yearly production
under good eare was .5,875 pounds of
milk and 193 pounds of butter fat.
No. 2 is a calf of No. 1 and was sired
by a good Holstein Bull. Her average
yearly production was 6,956 pounds of
milk and 266 pounds of butter fat.
No. 3 is a calf of No. 2 and was sired
by a good Holstein Bull. Her average
yearly production was 12.804 pounds
of milk and 183 pounds of butter fat.
Two crosses of good bulls raised the yearly milk record from
3,875 pounds to 12,804 pounds and the butter fat from 193
pounds to 483 pounds.
A BULL MUST HAVE SOMETHING TO RECOMMEND HIM
BESIDES BEING JUST A BULL.
63
DO YOU KNOW THAT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TWO
BULLS MA Y BE THE PRICE OF A FARM?
1 i ~ : >>*$lh\
It is possible for a bull to so improve a herd that the inerease in milk
production and the increase on the value of offspring will in a few years
amount to the price of a v\ ell-equipped dairy farm.
Let's see.
Suppose wo, have two herds of 20 good grade cows each. (See
next page.) The cows in bolh herds average 5,000 pounds of milk
yearly.
On Herd No. 1 for three years we use
Bull No. 1, a high-class bull from a
family of high-producers, every ani-
mal in his pedigree proven good by
records. He cost us §150 when a calf.
On Herd No. 2 for three years we use
TSuII No. 2. just a bull that v»e "picked
up" like many bulls are. He may be
sired by a goad bull and from some-
body's common cow. He cost us 825.
We raise three crops of calves from each herd. Suppose half of
the calves are heifers and we keep eight heifers each year for cows.
Study the next page and sec what the bulls have done for us
by the time the first calves have become cows and have been
milked one year.
61
HEIFER CALVES
The 20 cows (Herd No. 1), bred three years to Bull No. 1. Their first heifers
have been milked one year and have freshened the second time. The
second lot of heifers have their first calves. We have 33 descendants
counting one-half the calves being heifers and discarding the poorer ones.
HEIFER CALVES
EIFER CALVES
The eight 3
• 2.000 pounds more milk
' amount to $
ess milk
320
The 20 cows (Herd No. 2), have been bred three years to common Hull No.
2. Wc have 33 of his descendants, all inferior to the cows we started with.
Let's figure the difference.
The eight 3 year old cows by Bull No. 1 each produe. _ ..,.,,.,
than their mothers. 16.000 pounds of extra milk at $2 per cwt. amount to s .1_'U
i eight 3 year old cows by Bull No. 2 each produce 1,000 pounds less milk
than their mothers. (1.000 pounds at $2 per cwt. amounts to 160
Difference in favor of Herd No. 1 $ 4,30
The eight 3 year old cows in Herd No. 1 are worth $30 more each than cows
sired by Bull No. 2. $30 per head dillerencc on eight cows amounts to 400
The eight 2 year old cows in Herd No. 1 will bring §35 more per head than the
eight 2 year old cows in Herd No. 2. $35 per head on eight cows is . . . 230
The eight good yearlings in Herd No. 1 are worth §23 more per head than the
eight in Herd No. 2. $25 per head on eight heifers amounts to 200
Then we have in Herd No. 1 three yearling heifers from the eight good 3 year
old cows that are worth $25 more per head than the heifers in Herd No. 2.
$25 per head on three heifers amounts to 75
We also have six heifer calves of the second generation in each herd; the good
ones worth $15 more per head than the common ones. That amounts to 90
Bull No. 1 is now worth $250 which is $100 more than we paid for him.
Bull No. 2 is worth about $50 for bologna which is $25 more than he cost to
start with. 1 tere is a dillerencc in the increase in value of the two bulls of 75
Total dillV-rence in one year $1,600
\\ hat would the difference amount to in three or four more years:'
What would be the difference if the bulls were used on a half dozen herds?
If we had pure-bred herds the dillerencc would be still greater.
Can we afford to take chances on a bull whose ancestors we know
little or nothing about?
65
TAKE CARE OF THE BULL
THE YOUNG BULL
Teach the bull 1
id when he is
Separate the young bull from
the heifers when he is about 5 months
old. Better keep him on pasture in
summer with another young hull or
with a steer or two of his size.
Feed him the same as the
heifers. O'age 30.) To make extra
growth, feed him a little more liberally.
Dehorn ihe bull unless he is to
be a show animal. A bull without
horns is less dangerous than one
with them.
The bull is old enough for light
service when 1 year of age.
a calf.
THE MATURE BULL
This good
bull out in the fit
a lot of damage.
Put a ring in the bull's nose
before he is 1 year old.
Don't let the bull run with
the cows in pasture because:
1. It's dangerous; he may
attack people.
2. He may break out.
?>. We can't keep a record
of breeding dates.
4. He may impair his vi-
tality.
Provide a well-fenced
lot for the bull with a stable or
shelter where he can be shut in
when necessary.
We can sometimes keep two de-
horned bulls together.
Keep fences, doors and ties strong
and in repair.
The bull should have plenty of room
and opportunity to exercise to keep his
hoofs from growing long and to keep him
healthv. There is no better place than a
large lot.
Always use a strong staff in leading
the bull. Renew the ring in his nose
often enough to keep it strong. Treat
him kindly and quietly. Never take
a chance, always have the advantage
when near him. Life is too precious
to be lost through carelessness.
66
BOW OLD MUST A BULL BE BEFORE WE KNOW WHETHER
OR NOT HE IS REALLY VALUABLE AS A SIRE?
Do some counting. He should be 15 months old before put to
much service. His first daughters will arrive when he is 2 years old.
He will be 5 years old before enough of them freshen to give an indica-
tion of hi s worth, and then we must milk them a year. Even then we
can't tell for sure how good they are going to be until they freshen the
second time and are milked a year. Our bull will then be about 7
years old. How many 7-year-old dairy sires can you name?
Many a good dairy sire has been butchered before bis worth
was known.
Dairy bulls are apt to get
cross with age, especially
when closely confined with-
out enough exercise. Valu-
able bulls are often sacrificed
because they are vicious.
When a bull's worth is
known it is belter to make
his pen and stall absolutely
break-proof and provide
means for safely handling
him than to lose his services.
Don't butcher him if he's a valuable breeder
— make his pen strong.
BULL ASSOCIATIONS
Many co-operative bull associations arc working successfully.
A bunch of dairymen get together and buy a high class bull so
they can all use him with little outlay of money.
This plan is helpful to breeders who can't afford to own a valuable
bull for their small herds.
In a bull association the services of a strictly high class bull doesn't
cost any member as much as it would for him to keep a cheap, common
bull himself.
A bull association composed of fair-minded, honest dairy-
men can make a community famous for good cattle, increase
the mills production and make the breeding stock of that com-
munity bring in thousands of dollars.
Farmers Bulletin 933, published by the U. S. Department, of Agriculture, out-
lines plans and rules for cooperative bull associations.
67
BOYS' AND GIRLS' CALF CLUBS
Attention Fathers, Mothers, Bankers, Business Men, County
Agents, Chambers of Commerce:
Have you a Boys' and Girls' Calf Club in your neighborhood?
If you haven't, why not start one for the good of the boys and
girls, and the good of the dairy industry?
Calf clubs mean ownership for the boys and girls. Boys and girls
who own something learn to be thrifty, reliant and to have a regard for
the property of others.
A live wire, red-blooded banker with some humanity in his
make-up can revolutionize a community by loaning boys and
girls money to buy good calves.
Work out a plan with the County Agent. Have the boys and
girls come to the bank and sign their notes and learn to transact business.
If a bank wants business, not only next year but 10 years
from now, there is no surer way than to finance some real club
work and then follow it through to a success.
The quickest way to start the dairy business through club work is
to start with heifers already bred. A good start can be made with
younger calves at less outlay at the start.
A carload of good dairy heifers all of the same breed, sold
to the boys and girls of a community, may establish in that
neighborhood a breed of cattle that will give the neighborhood a
nation-wide reputation.
This girl is getting training that
will make her a better student, a
better artist, a better business
woman, a belter housekeeper, a
better mother. She will never be
less a lady beeause she fed and
loved a calf when she was a little
girl.
Let your boy or girl own a calf whether there is a calf club
or not.
68
No boy ever went very far wronfe
if he had something ali\c to own^
something he could feed and watch
grow and something he could sell
and keep the money. Criminals
are men and women who didn't
have anything to own in child-
hood.
DON'T WASTE THE MANURE
The man who keeps cows and doesn't take care of the manure is
losing one of the greatest advantages of dairying, lie's losing profit;
he s robbing his farm; he's robbing himself.
AS
. . A good cow will produce about 12 tons of manure in a >ear.
No kind of farming will build up a farm like good dairy farming,
but it won't do it if the manure is thrown out in the yard and left
to leach and rot and blow away.
When we sec back of the dairy barn,
piles like these accumulating all win-
ter, and stinking up the place and
breeding flies in summer, we know
there's something wrong wilh the
system. No well-regulated business
will permit such a leak.
The piles below show what
happened in a test at the New York
College of Agriculture. This happens on thousands of farms.
Ten thousand pounds of cow ma-
nure thrown out April 22.
The same pile October 24. In six
months it lost 4.875 pounds in
weight and 32 per cent plant food.
No dairy farm is equipped
unless it has a manure
spreader. Manure is always
worth the most when it is
fresh. The sooner it is
spread the better.
WHICH IS THE BEST BREED?
The best breed for us should be:
THE ONE WE LIKE BEST.
We will always take better care of animals of the breed we like best.
There may be some condition of locality or market that makes it neces-
sary for us to learn to like some other breed than our first choice.
THE ONE THAT FITS OUR MARKET.
The choice of breed may depend on whether we particularly want
large quantities of butter fat, or whether we want large quantities of
milk without paying so much attention to butter fat.
THE SAME BREED THAT OUR NEIGHBORS HA VE.
The majority of the good herds in any neighborhood will likely be
of the breed best suited to the section. We should have the same breed
as the other good dairymen in our neighborhood. There are many
advantages in having all the herds of the neighborhood of the same
breed. The farmers of a section just starting dairying should by all
means all start with the same breed. (See pages 21 and 67.)
Hostein bull
Holstein cows
The Holstein produces more milk than any other breed but
its milk is not so rich in butter fat as that of some of the others.
Ayrshire cows
The Ayrshire is a hustler and will gather a living from rou«h
pasture and make a lot of choice milk a little richer than the
Holstein's.
70
WHICH IS THE BEST DAIRY BREED?
Guernsey hull
(jlicriiscy cows
The Guernsey not only gives a good yield of milk bul the milk
is rich in fat and rich in appearance.
Jersey bull
Jersey cows
The Jersey gives milk that is the richest in butler fat of any of ihe
breeds, but usually doesn't give as much milk as some of the
others.
Brown S\t iss bull
Hoard's Dairyman
Brow 11 Swiss cows
The Brown Swiss is big and strong and gives a good yield of milk
and butter fat.
See dual-purpose breeds, next page.
71
DUAL-PURPOSE BREEDS
There may be limes and places where it would be profitable for us
to have cows that give a large flow of milk, and also be of a type pro-
ducing calves that grow inlo good beef animals.
w*w~hpw
Milking Short Horn bull
Milking Short Horn cows
The milking Short Horn, while not always equal to the dairy
breeds for profitable milk production, does produce a large flow
of milk and has a good beef type.
Red Foiled bull
Red Polled cows
The Red Poll has a host of friends and makes a good showing in
both milk and beef production.
The strictly dairy breeds are the most profitable milk producers
but some cows of the strictly beef breeds give a large flow of milk.
PSsSWP -J®!
lit- re ford ctwfc
An mis cow
It is heller lo milk Hereford, Angus or Galloway beef cows than
for the family lo do without milk.
DISEASES, PESTS AND TROUBLES
MILK FEVER
ne cow becomes paralyzed soon after calving and may die. She lies with her
luad around to her flank. '
Cause
A. Herts heavy milking cows, that have not lieen thoroughly dried off. Heifers
never have it. (See page 33.)
Prevention and Treatment
Dry the cow oil' thoroughly before
calving A cow that has been dried
oil until only clear water conies from
her teals will not likelv have milk fever
When a cow has an attack, till th
udder with air; use an air pump and
have it thoroughly clean and sterilized
Better call a veterinarian immediately .
Don't try to give medicine; a cow The cow lies with her head around to
with milk fever can't swallow, her flank when she has milk fever.
ABORTION
The calf is born before time. The cow often "fails to clean" which sometimes
causes serious trouble; she is apt to abort again when bred; she may become entirely
sterile.
Cause
Caused by abortion germ which gets into the bodv with feed or water, through
a cut or injury to the skin, or through the teats or winch may be introduced by a
bull that has been used on infected cows.
Prevention and Treatment
Take the cow away from the herd, burn the calf, the afterbirth, the straw and
everything that can be burned that has come in contact with the cow during the
abortion. Disinfect thoroughly the stable with a strong disinfectant. Have a
competent veterinarian remove the afterbirth, flush the cow daily with clean
warm water with four tablespooniuls of sail to each gallon until there is no discharge.
Better put the case in the hands of a competent veterinarian.
TUBERCULOSIS
May not show on the animal until the disease is far advanced. Causes cough-
ing and diarrhea; the cow may hang her head, have dull eves, rough hair, and grow
thin in flesh.
Cause
Caused by tuberculosis germ.
Prevention and Treatment
Have stables and sheds clean, light and
well ventilated: this helps to prevent dis-
ease. If cows or calves show symptoms,
have them tested and handle accord inu I o
the state's regulations— see your -veterin-
arian. Buy only cattle entirely free
from tuberculosis.
Every farmer should have Bulletin
l(lfi') mi Tuberculosis of Live Stock, pub-
lished 1J>' ilie li - S - Department of Agri-
culture, V\ ashington, D. C.
A dull eye, d
and thin flesl
oopy h
1 indiea
■ad. rou
te tuber
gh hair,
culosis.
GARGET
The cow gives stringy, sometimes bloody, milk.
Cause
Comes from bruises arid injuries, lying on hard floors or by garget germs getting
into the udder.
Prevention and Treatment
Keep the stalls bedded. Bub udder with lard. Be sure to always milk
last, the eows with garget, so the germs will not be earried on handsor milker
to healthy eows.
CALF SCOURS
White scours attack new-born calves; the bowel discharge is light-colored and
stinking. The calves soon die if not treated.
Common scours may attack calves any time during the period of milk feed-
ing. There is an offensive bowel discharge, weakness and loss of growth of the calf.
Ca use
White scours are caused by
germs. They usually affect
calves kept in filthy pens.
Common scours are caused by
feeding from filthy buckets, by
over-feeding and feeding milk at
varying temperatures.
Preven tion and Treatment
f lave the calf born in a clean
stall or pasture. Disinfect the
navel at birth with iodine or
other disinfectant. Always feed
caused by im- clean milk from clean buckets.
(See pages 2 1
ve had
These calves I
proper feeding; they are stunted and may Don't overfeed
never fully develop. to 29.)
Calves carefully fed on milk, fresh and warm from the separator and from
clean buckets, rarely have scours.
The treatment for wdiite scours is to use "scours serum" by injection. Con-
sult a veterinarian.
Common scours can be treated by cutting down the feed one-half and giving
four drops of formalin to each quart of milk. Allowing the calf to drink small
quantities of lime water will sometimes cure scours.
BLOAT
The paunch fills up tightly with gas, the animal suffers and, in bad cases, will
die if not relieved. The gas swells the left flank, making it bulge up.
Cause
Caused by eating such feed as green clover or alfalfa, or it may come from
eating spoiled feed, or result
from choking.
Prevention and Treatment
Give only sound, clean feed.
Get the animals gradualh
accustomed to green clover and
alfalfa. In mild cases drench the
animal with two or three table-
spooiisfii! of baking soda in warm
water. In severe cases tap with
a trocar or knife the left side at
spot (indicated in picture), about
The arrow points to the spot to tap for bloat, half way between hip and last rib.
7-1
BLACK LEG
. ''sually shows, as puffy swellings, on tin; hind quarters of young cattle. The
■ ' ' 1 1 ill; 1 1 ( Ji,. s Sl)(m a ('t er t.lie swellings appear.
Cause
Ciused by black leg germ.
Prevention and Treatment
Have a good veterinarian vaccinate the young cattle with the regular black
leg treatment.
CHOKE
Cms and calves may choke on roots, apples or on feed that, they can gulp
"own i„ bif, mouthfuls.
Treatment
Hold thi' mouth open with a clevis and if possible reach down the throat and
remove the object. If the object can be felt from the outside work it gently up or
down; don't force it roughly down the throat wild a stick or whip-handle.
It ina \ be necessary in se\ ere cases I o force the object down the throat with a smooth
' S| ck or whip-handle but do it with great care. It may he necessary to have a
skilled veterinarian cut open tile throat and remove the object.
WARBLES IN BACK
Sometimes called grubs. They make lumps on the cows' backs under the skin
in the winter; inside the lumps are the grubs that "hatch" out of the skin. The
animal sull'ers from the pres-
ence of the grubs.
Clause
Caused by the warble fly
which lay eggs that hatch into
grubs.
Prevention and Treatment
Kill the grubs. Squeeze
them out of the skin either by
hand or by pressing a bottle
over the grub.
mt%$4l
Squeeze the warbles out and kill them.
Don't Set them hatch to make more warble*.
FOOT ROT
The cows get lame and in advanced cases the horn of the hoof becomes loose
and discharges pus.
Cause
Hoofs become too long from
lack of exercise and iilth wedges
between the hoofs making them
sore, then infection enters.
Prevention and Treatment
Give exercise so the hoofs
won't grow long; keep the
cows from standing in mud and
tilth- L'se coal tar disinfectant
in mild cases, l.se weak solu-
tion of blue vitriol if pus is pres-
ent. Trim away loose horn if This kind of a yard is pretty apt to cause
il gets loose. foot ro! -
LICE
Wash animal with a coal tar dip; follow directions of manufacturer for strength
of dip. Protect the animal. Wash again in a week or 10 days, also wash stalls,
mangers and rubbing posts.
f'~:
Hip
^
gg£*-\iU
itt8#>' ;
£%^3?jWm
RING WORM
Maki-s crusty, itchy spots on the animal's head and neck. The hair falls out
of the spots and the animal rubs itself.
Cause
Caused by a parasite that attacks the skin.
Proven t ion and Treatment
Soak the spots with warm water and soap to remove the crusts and paint the
spot with tincture of iodine or a weak solution of blue vitriol.
FLIES
The common biting fly and
horn fly can be kept off the
cattle by spraying the ani-
mals once daily with one of
the numerous fly repellents.
The fly repellent should be
used long enough before
milking so the odor will not
flavor the milk.
A light blanket thrown over
the cow while milking in fly
time will add to the comfort
of both cow and milker.
Keep the blanket clean and
free from dust.
TO KEEP OUR HERD HEALTHY:
bet the animals be outdoors part of every day if possible.
Have barns and shells well ventilated.
Let sunshine into the barns and shells.
Furnish good pasture.
Provide fresh, clean drinking water.
Keep stables, both stalls and mangers, clean.
READ THIS:
The man who raises his own dairy herd has 100 advantages in keeping his cows
healthy over tin; man who depends always on buying cows to keep up his herd.
Many herds have been entirely ruined by buying diseased animals.
It. is necessary and good business to occasionally buy animals to introduce new
blood and to improve the herd.
Let's start a good, healthy herd.
Give care and i'^^l to keep it healthy.
Then raise our own best heifers and buy only animals that are proved
absolutely healthy and we have gone a long ways toward keeping away
disease.
76
DON'T HAVE TOO MANY COWS
Too much dairying is as bad as too much anything else.
Don't get so many cows on hand that it takes yourself and wife and
children and hired help 18 hours a day to take care of them.
When the cows take so much time to be milked and fed and turned
m and out that we can't have time to raise the feed for them, we have
the dairy business overdone.
Better by far have a dozen real good, money-making cows
and keep ihem always well fed ami well eared for, ami have
time to grow a garden and raise chickens and to keep the place
cleaned up and attractive, than to have 25 or 30 cows and be
always rushed, early and late, with no time for anything except
to milk and drive cows ami clean stables.
When we get too many cows the profit per cow goes down.
Let's have our well-cared-for herd of good cows, and raise all our
own feed that we can; let's raise our own good heifer calves and some
pig's and chickens; let's have a good garden and keep the yard, and
buildings cleaned up. If we do this we will be sure of a home and
plenty to eat, which are things we must have before we are any account
for anything else.
Let's have our pigs and our chickens.
i£3
mi:
:*&
: i^C
£$£&*-
*£&ffi&*?+yF
And our truck patch and garden.
If we have these things the cows will surely do their share on the
bank account.
The more farms in onr country having all these things the
better onr country will be and greater will be onr prosperity.
77
The IHC Agricultural Extension Department
What It Is— What It Does
V\7HAT is the Agricultural Extension Department of the Inter-
' ' national Harvester Company?
It is not a sales department. It is not an advertising depart-
ment. It is a department to help every community to be more
prosperous and happy.
The Harvester Company is a citizen of every neighborhood
and through its extension department offers to help folks who
want to help themselves, livery community must work out its
own problems but the department will do all it can to help in
any movement that means a better community.
How is this done? Through seven divisions of the depart-
ment.
1. Short Course and Campaign Division furnishes prac-
tical lecturers and demonstrators to help communities with short
courses and campaigns on farming and home making. Ask the
nearest I II C Branch House about this service
2. Lecture Division furnishes lecturers and demonstrators
for special meetings when possible. There is no charge except
traveling and hotel expenses of the lecturer.
3. Chart, Slide and Reel Division has 2.000 large lecture
charts and 1,000 sets of lantern slides and motion picture reels
on farm, home and community problems which are loaned to
county agents, community clubs, schools, colleges, lecturers,
teachers or anyone making good use of them. They are loaned
free, those who borrow them paying transportation charges to
and from Chicago or nearest supply point.
4. Publicity Division prepares booklets like this one
(about 100 dilferent booklets on list); prepares special educational
articles which are furnished free to newspapers, farm journals
and other publications; furnishes cuts and photographs to news-
papers, farm bureaus and olhers.
5. Literature Division distributes the booklets. V small
charge to cover the actual cost is made for the hooks. Merchants,
bankers, business men— all public spirited citizens who wish to
co-operate in gelling these books in the hands of those who will
be most benefited by Lhem can have their compliments or
message to their local people printed on the back cover without
additional charge.
6. Library Division has complete library of agricultural
information including state, government and experiment station
bulletins, for the purpose of answering inquiries and furnishing
information. No charge is made for this service.
7. Art Division makes lecture charts for our own use,
for county agents, farmers' organizations, commercial clubs or
individuals who want to do something for their communities.
The Visual Method of Instruction
The Big Idea in Education Characterized in
I HC Lecture Charts and Lantern Slides
SIMPLE— LOGICAL— IMPRESSIVE— PRACTICAL
USED EVERYWHERE — In Community and Home
Rural School and College — On the Farm and In the Factory
— By Teacher, Pupil, Farmer, Banker and Merchant
I H C CHARTS OR SLIDES LOANED FREE
On these conditions — that you have a plan for using them, pay
express charges from Chicago and return, and report all meetings
at the end of each week
CHARTS OR SLIDES FURNISHED ON THE FOLLOWING SUBJECTS:
1. Corn is King
2. Alfalfa on Every Farm.
3. AFertileSoil Means a Prosperous People .
4. Live Stock on Every Farm.
5. Dairying.
6. Greater Profit from the Oat Crop.
7. Make More from Your Farm Poultry.
8. Weeds Mean Waste.
9. Home Economics and Sanitation.
10. Fight the Fly.
11 . GreatForwardMovementinEducation.
12. Diversified Farming for the South.
13. Home Canning.
14. Development of Agriculture — ■
(No. 14 in Lantern Slides only )
CHARTS
I H C lecture charts are 70 inches
long by 63 inches wide, made of a
good grade of sheeting, printed in
clear black letters, which can easily
be read at a distance of 100 feet or
more. They are arranged for setting
up and taking down quickly and
conveniently.
Sets contain from ten to fifteen
charts. Each set with iron stand,
pointer, and lecture book, is packed
in a canvas case. Weight. 35 lbs.
LANTERN SLIDES
Lantern slide sets, 50 to 60 slides,
plain and in colors. Weight, 1 5 lbs.
Lecture Books Furnished
For the information and direction
of lecturers, each set contains an
illustrated lecture book outlining m
brief form the story of each chart
or slide.
THE sole object of the Agricultural Extension Department of the
International Harvester Company is to help YOU make YOUR
work more effective. It is not a matter of making money out
of charts, slides, booklets, or any other material prepared and pub-
lished by the Department. The Extension Department was not
organized to make sales. But we do want to work with people who
are in earnest; who really want to do something worth while.
Circuits formed to reduce express charges. Write for plan.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ADDRESS
International Harvester Company
I NCOR P ORATE D
Agricultural Extension Department
Harvester Bldg Chicago
maga— ia
us 3
m
ai:
mm
M
Makers
Syracuse, N. Y.
P*T. JAN 21, 19M
202.H4 C r e " Un ' UerSI,VL ' brary
1^"* 'he mother of prosper!
3 1924 003 017 076'
;.-■■.'■ ■ ■ ■
11 I
I IP.
■mm
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