UC-NRLF LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. Deceived C/L&CT' ,i8g^T Accessions ^o.^D 2^7. Class No. AMERICAN DAIRYING A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON Dairy Farming and the Management of Creameries. BY H. B. GURLER, DE KALB, ILL. CHICAGO : BREEDER'S GAZETTE PRINT. Copy right, 1894, BY THE J. H. SANDERS PUB. CO. (All rights reserved.) 1117BESIT7 PREFACE. This book is dedicated to those interested in the dairy and creamery business in America. The work is undertaken at the urgent re- quest of men with whom I have worked in this great field. I shall undertake to weave into its pages all my experience that I think will be of value to the readers of my book. My mistakes will be put to the front when I think they will be of value in preventing some brother dairyman or creamery man from mak- ing similar mistakes. I expect to use much information secured from the work of our experiment stations and other reliable sources. A. H. Barber, Chicago; the Cornish, Curtis & Greene Co., Fort Atkin- son, Wis.; the Creamery Package Co., Chicago; the Vermont Farm Machine Co., Bellows Falls, Vt.; P. M. Sharpless, Elgin, 111., and Mr. Decker, Fond du Lac; Wis., have offered to loan me cuts to illustrate the work. Mr. E. H. Far- rington, the World's Fair Chemist, has prom- (3) 4 PREFACE. ised to write for the book about the Babcock test. If I can give my brother workers some ideas that will enable them to do better work, and can induce a small percentage of the dairymen to apply the scale and Babcock test to their individual cows and dispose of the unprofitable ones, I shaH feel that I have accomplished some good, y ° v^ J( u -rvH- ^ ^ V J Hi B. GlJRLER. De Kalb, III TABLE OF CONTENTS. PART I.— PRIVATE DAIRYING. CHAPTER I.— The Dairy Herd, Selection, Breed and Breeding 9 CHAPTER II. — Feed and Management 30 CHAPTER III.— Care of Dairy Utensils 62 CHAPTER IV. — Milking 65 CHAPTER V.— Milk from Cow to Cream Vat 81 CHAPTER VI. — Ripening and Churning. ... . . . 94 CHAPTER VII. — Salting, Working, Packing and Print- ing 103 CHAPTER VIII.— Marketing Dairy Butter. ..... 110 CHAPTER IX.— Skim-milk. . 116 PART II.— CREAMERY MANAGEMENT. CHAPTER I. — Care of Milk by Patrons 147 CHAPTER II.— Receiving Milk at Creamery 154 CHAPTER III.— The Babcock Milk Test (by E. H. Far- rington) 160 CHAPTER IV.— Tempering and Separating 169 CHAPTER V. — Ripening and Churning Cream. . . . 182 CHAPTER VI.— Salting, Working, Packing and Mar- keting 204 CHAPTER VII.— Care of Skim-milk at the Creamery. . 214 CHAPTER VIII.— Care of Buildings and Utensils. . . 217 CHAPTER IX. — Suggestions to Those About to Build a Creamery 226 CHAPTER X.— Gathered-Cream Work 238 CHAPTER XI.— A Talk With Creamery Employe's. . . 249 APPENDIX.— An Acid Test of Cream 257 (5) PART I -PRIVATE DAIRYING. TJFI7BRSIT7 CHAPTER I. THE DAIRY HERD; SELECTION, BREED AND BREEDING. Here is the foundation of the whole dairy business. Success depends more on the herd than on any other one point. Much, of course, depends on the feed and care, but the best of feed and care will not make a cow that has a capacity for only 125 Ibs. of butter annually a profitable cow. Average cow in the United States.— When we think that the average of the 16,500,000 cows in the United States is only 130 Ibs. of butter annually, according to the last census, is it not time to be thinking how to improve in this work? There is no doubt as to there being room to improve, as there are herds in the United States that average 400 Ibs. and above per cow annually, and herds in nearly every community in the dairy sections that average 300 Ibs. of butter per cow annually. Object lessons. — These 300 to 400-lb. dairies should be object lessons to all dairymen. What one dairyman or dairywoman has done another 10 AMERICAN DAIRYING. can do, and probably a little better can be done. It is certainly well for us to try to excel in whatever line we are working. I shall not ad- vise all dairymen to sell their present herds and buy registered cows of some of the dairy breeds. This is all right for those who can see their way clear to do so. I believe it is wise to breed registered animals when a person is so situated that he can. How to improve the herd. — What every dairyman can do to improve his herd is to test individual cows and dispose of such as do not come up to a profitable standard. This stand- ard will vary in different localities, depending on the cost of feed and labor and on the value of the products. Cost of feeding cows.— We should not take any other person's figures or estimates for this, but should know from our own work what it costs to feed a cow one year. To the cost of feed add labor and the interest on the invest- ment in the cow. We will suppose it costs $35 to feed the cow a year and $12.50 for labor to care for her and $2.50 to pay interest. We now have $50 charged up against the cow. Now, what shall we find to put on the other side of the account? It is very plain to be seen that the 130-lb. cow is not in this race, as her butter will have to sell for 33 cents per pound to leave a profit. THE DAIRY HERD. 11 Value of skim-milk. — We will allow $10 per cow for the skim-milk and we have a balance of $40 to be paid for by the butter before we have any profit. We will suppose as much butter is made in winter as summer, in which case the average price after paying for making at the creamery will be about 21 cents per pound. Now it will require 190 Ibs. of butter at 21 cents per pound to balance the $40 and leave us whole. In this case the cow that makes 190 Ibs. of butter per year does not make us any profit. In my experience I find no profit in a 200-lb. cow. I might have 100 of them on my farm and not make $250 per year on the whole lot of them. Man, horse and cow. — Now please tell what is the sense in keeping such cows? We would not keep a horse that could only do work enough to pay for feed, neither would we keep a man who could only do enough to pay for his board. But yet most of us keep a dairy of cows one- fourth of which actually run us in debt. There is no excuse for this at this period of the dairy work. Before the introduction of the Babcock test there was some excuse for a dairyman not knowing what each individual cow was doing for him, though even then there was not suffi- cient excuse for this condition, as the cows could be tested by the churn. That required a great amount of work, but r 12 AMERICAN DAIRYING. Cream test. — The first test I applied to my cows was the test for cream, and this was twenty-five years ago. At that time it was generally supposed that the percentage or depth of cream that raised on samples of milk set in glass test tubes or dishes of uniform size and depth was a correct basis on which to judge of the butter value of the different cows' milk. I soon learned, as have hundreds of others in this line of work, that this test was not reliable, as I found that there was in some instances a dif- ference of 25 per cent in the batter value of milk that showed the same percentage of cream in the glass tubes. The Connecticut Experiment Station found cream furnished by different patrons of a cream- ery who set their milk in deep or submerged cans for twelve to twenty-four hours to contain from 13.8 to 24.9 per cent of fat. I proved the cream test to be unreliable by applying the cream test and the churn test to the same milk. The results of these comparisons caused me to abandon the cream test and start anew with the churn. Churn test. — This plan cost me much time and labor, each cow's milk being set separately and skimmed and churned separately. For this work I had a gang of six small churns of the dasher pattern, with the dashers attached to a THE DAIRY HERD. 13 horizontal bar, so I could operate the six at one time. This work paid me in several ways. It paid me to know my individual cows, so I could dispose of the unprofitable ones. It caused me to think better of my business and of myself. It opened a great field for improvement in the line of selection and breeding — a field large enough to give room for the most ambitious and progressive person. Percentages of cream and fat. — The follow- ing table shows the percentage of cream in fourteen different patrons' milk; also the per- centage of fat found in the same milk by the Babcock test: TABLE I. — MILK FROM DIFFERENT DAIRIES. Per cent Per cent Cream. Fat. 17 3.60 16 3.85 15 3.40 8 3.00 15 3.00 16 3.80 14.. ..3.50 Per cent Per cent Cream. Fat. 17 4.30 17 3.85 8 3.80 10 3.60 10 3.50 10 ." 4.05 10.. ..3.70 And the second and third tables show the different cows in two dairies, the first column being the percentage of cream and the second column the percentage of fat by the Babcock test. A study of these two tables will show the unreliability of the cream test in judging the butter value of milk: 14 AMERICAN DAIRYING. TABLE II. — MILK FROM FIRST DAIRY. Per cent Per cent Per cent Per cent Cream. Fat. Cream. Fat. 13 350 17 4 00 15 360 17 3 90 17 3.90 13 . ... 3 30 16.. . . 3.60 17 . . 3 80 13 3.10 20 . . 4 00 14 4:00 17 3 70 17 .. ..3.70 19.. . .4.50 TABLE III. — MILK FROM SECOND DAIRY Per cent Cream. 19 . ... Per cent Fat. 4 00 Per cent Cream. 21 Per cent Fat. . 3.50 19 . . . 4 00 23 3.30 18 . . . 5.40 18 3.30 18 ... 4.00 19 ... . 3.50 15.. ..3.60 14.. ..3.40 Unimproved opportunities. — Why more dairymen do not improve this opportunity to help themselves I am at a loss to understand. No manufacturer could withstand the compe- tition he has to contend with if he left unim- proved opportunities like many dairymen are leaving in not testing and knowing what their individual cows are doing for them. With the Babcock test it is a very simple matter to tell what each cow is doing at any time, and there is now no excuse for a dairyman's not know- ing just where each individual cow stands. In the estimate we have made we find that it requires 190 Ibs. of butter and the skim-milk to pay for feed, labor and interest. This being a fact we must have cows that will make at THE DAIRY HERD. 15 least 200 Ibs. annually. Now let us test each cow and learn what she is doing. Testing the cows. — There are many ways of applying the test. So far as frequency of ap- plying it is concerned if a person wishes to know exactly what a cow is doing the milk must all be weighed and a sample taken from every milking and tested. The composite test (which will be referred to elsewhere) can be used for this work. A reasonably reliable test can be secured by testing one day in each month; a more reliable one by testing twice per month. For the past year's work I have adopted the plan of making three tests with four months between each test, each test to cover three days' time, a record of each milking to be kept, and a sample of milk from each milking to be put in a bottle that is to be marked with the name or number of the cow the milk is from. For taking the samples have your tinsmith make you a little cup one inch in diameter and two and a half inches deep. This will hold about one ounce and is sufficient. When a cow is milked first weigh and record the weight of the milk, then pour it from one pail to another back and forth three times, then take the little ounce cup full and put it into the sample bot- tle or jar. A pint fruit jar can be used for this purpose, or an eight-ounce bottle can be used by having a small funnel to fill with. IB AMERICAN DAIRYING. Care of samples. — If this test is being made in warm weather care should be used to pre- serve the samples sweet for three days. This can be done by setting them on the floor of a cool cellar or by the use of bichromate of pot- ash, which can be bought at the drugstore in a pulverized form and put into each jar or bottle in quantities the size of a pea. This will pre- vent souring and keep the cream in a liquid condition so that it will mix with the milk with but little agitation. At the end of the three days the samples should be tested. How to get testing done.— If you are a patron of a creamery that has a Babcock tester get your creamery man to make the test for you. He will not ask you much for it and possibly will do it for nothing. When the test is worked and you have the weight of the milk it is an easy matter to get at the butter the cow is making daily. Estimating butter from test. — We will suppose that she gave 70 Ibs. of milk in the three days and it tested 3.8 per cent of fat. This would give 2.66 Ibs, of fat, to which we will add 12 J per cent, or one-eighth, to get the amount of butter this fat will make. We do this because butter is not pure fat and we find in actual work that we can make one-eighth more butter from 100 Ibs. of milk than the test shows of fat, though to secure this increase it THE DAIRY HERD. 17 is necessary to do efficient work both in the creaming and churning. The average work done by the gravity system of cream raising would not warrant us in adding one-eighth to the fat found by the test to secure the probable butter, but with the separator this increase of butter over fat should be obtained, and if it is not the cause should be looked for and removed. By adding one- eighth to the 2.66 Ibs. of butter-fat we get 2.99 Ibs. of butter in the three days, or practically one pound per day. Simplest way to test. — A simpler form may be used. It will not give as accurate results as the three tests, but is very much better than no test. I have learned by following my individual cow tests that my cows averaged for 8.4 months the same as the average of the first six months. In other words, if a cow averaged 30 Ibs. per month for the first six months she would make 8.4 times that for the year's work and drop her calf at the same time as the previous year. She should give enough milk after the 8.4 months to make the 2.4 months average with the first six months. I have proved this work in my dairy. This does not prove that it would be a reliable rule in all cases. When a cow is judged on a single test it should cover one week, the milk being weighed 18 AMERICAN DAIRYING. at each milking and a sample added to the composite jar from each milking. This test should be made at about the end of three months, as that will give an average of the first six months. When a cow is to be judged on a single test there is need of some thought and good judgment — more than when she is judged on three tests at intervals or on monthly tests. We will suppose a cow is fresh Jan. 1 and is tested April 1. This will give a fair basis on which to judge her if she has had uni- form feed and care. But if she is fresh March 1 and tested June 1 we shall secure too high a basis on which to judge her as she will be judged at her highest point of production, for she will produce more milk and butter June 1 on pasture than she would May 1 on dry feed; in fact more than she would at any previous or subsequent time, We will suppose a cow gives 154 Ibs. of milk in seven days and it tests 4.3 per cent of fat. This will make 6.612 Ibs. of butter-fat in the seven days. To this we will add one-eighth for increase of butter over fat and we have 7.72 Ibs. of butter in seven days, or 1.1 Ibs. per day. This we will multiply by 252, the number of days in 8.4 months, and we have 277 Ibs. of butter for the cow's yearly work. A better way. — I would recommend this plan of testing only to those who will not take the THE DAIRY HERD. 19 necessary time to make a more reliable test. I know how the average dairyman dreads to un- dertake this work and I offer this as the sim- plest way I know of to get facts that have value, feeling confident that when a dairyman has applied this test he will have become so much interested that he will apply a more thorough one. The benefit that a dairyman derives from testing his herd is much greater than one would at first suppose. We will call 200 Ibs. of butter annually the line between profit and loss. This will hold good in the Central and most of the Western States. The Eastern States may need to put this line up to 225 Ibs. on account of feed being higher. This is a point that every dairy- man must figure out for himself, whether he lives East or West, North or South. Comparative profit. — What I wish to bring out is the comparative profit of cows that make 250 Ibs. and those that make more. The 250-lb. cow leaves 50 Ibs. for profit and a 300-lb. cow leaves 100 Ibs. for profit, or twice as much as the 250-lb. cow, and is worth twice as much. The 350-lb. cow is worth three times as much as the 250-lb. cow and six times as much as the 225-lb. cow. This is supposing that one cow consumes as much food as the other. This may or may not be tne case, but whether it is or not it does not in any case make an argument 20 AMERICAN DAIRYING. of sufficient weight to be considered when comparing 250-lb. cows with 350 to 400-1 b. cows. The question of the ability of cows to pro- duce the most from the food consumed is an important one and should be followed as soon as we can reach it. Cows in debt to us. — But let us first weed out the cows that are getting in debt to us, and the number of such cows in the country is alarming. I believe a majority of the cows in the United States could be made profitable by proper feed and care, but the majority as now fed and cared for are evidently not profitable. The last United States census estimates the average amount of milk per cow annually at 2,888 Ibs., which, it would be fair to suppose, would make 130 Ibs. of butter. I do not know of a place in the United States where a 130-lb. cow can be made profitable. Buy a Babcock tester. — If you have no con- venient way of getting your samples of milk tested buy a Babcock test machine and do your own testing. The dealers send full instruc- tions with the machines and any person with average intelligence can learn in a short time to operate one. This will be the most satis- factory way in the end and the cost will not be great. Every dairyman with ten cows can afford to have one. In fact no dairyman can THE DAIRY HERD. 21 afford to go long without having his cows tested. When you buy a Babcock test machine go and see one operated, if there is one in your vicinity. This will show you the simplicity of it and give you confidence. When you are ready to do some testing get a sample of milk and do some trial work with it. Work with it until you can get a half-dozen tests of the same milk to read alike or nearly so. The bottles having been bought of some reliable dealer who guarantees them accurate you will soon find your readings of the same milk very near alike. I remember one instance when our lady bookkeeper made twenty-four tests of the same milk and they all read alike. There was not enough difference to change the reading. This work will not only prove profitable but instruc- tive and interesting to a person that is cut out for a dairyman. It must be taken hold of with a grip that will allow of no slipping, and when a cow is found that does not pay a profit sell her for beef, as you are better off without her than with her. I found cows in my dairy that would eat up the profit of another cow that made 265 Ibs. of butter annually. One cow better than two. — When I had the two cows I made nothing from the two, but when the poor one was sold I had a profit of .") from the best one. There are thousands 22 AMERICAN DAIRYING. of such instances in the dairy work of our country. This is a matter in which we do not need to ask our legislatures for assistance un- less it is for legislation compelling us to im- prove our opportunities. In 1892 I set my standard at 200 Ibs. of but- ter per cow and found twenty-one cows out of sixty-four to be below that standard and they were sold for beef. In 1893 I raised my stand- ard to 210 Ibs. and had eighteen to sell for beef. In 1894 I raised the standard to 225 Ibs. and had six to sell for beef. I hope in a very few years to be able to replace all cows that do not make 250 Ibs. of butter annually with better ones of my own raising. I can see no reason why per- sistent work on the part of any intelligent dairyman will not take him up to the point where he can dispose of all cows that do not make 800 Ibs. of butter annually and secure an average for the h,erd of 400 Ibs. or more. Intelligent breeding. — When we have once learned what each cow is doing for us we are in a position to do intelligent work in the line of breeding, and we are not in position to do the best work until we know each individual cow. We will admit the fact that the bull is half the herd so far as offspring is concerned, and he is a half that should be thoroughly looked after. Look well after the butter record of his ances- tors, especially his dam. Do not let a few dol- THE DAIRY HERD. 23 lars prevent your securing the best you can find. It will be a good investment. Now that you know the butter record of each cow and you have a bull from some choice butter-making family, you are in position to grow some heifers that will do you good. These heifers should be grown on skim-milk after they are from one to two weeks old. This subject will be treated in the chapter on skim-milk. They must be kept growing continually, as any check in their growth is a cause of loss in size and development of the digestive organs, and consequently affects the future value of the animal. Age to breed. — I practice breeding my heif- ers so that they drop their first calves at two years of age. I am confident that they make better cows to come in milk at two years of age than later. They should be handled from the time they are calves, so that they may not be afraid of the person caring for them. Where this is done there is very little trouble when they drop their calves, but if they have not been so handled and are afraid of the person caring for them, and of their surroundings, they suffer much from fear; and much patience will be required to overcome their fear and teach them to be quiet while being milked. Establish the milking habit. — Care should be exercised during their first milking period 24 AMERICAN DAIRYING. to establish or fix the habit of milking as long as desirable. If they are allowed to go dry too early in their first year of milking they are more likely to do the same the succeeding year, and the habit is soon fixed. They should be milked to within two months or less of the time of dropping their calves. This is the kind of work that has developed and made it practica- ble to secure the large yields of butter from cows that we now so frequently obtain. Do not force a cow dry. If she persists in milking the whole time let her have her way about it. Drying off a persistent milker re- quires more care than the average milker will give to it. I have had such cows forced dry and when fresh again found a part of the udder injured so as to be useless, and I had a three- teated cow as the result. Buying cows. — As time passes and the Bab- cock test comes into more general use it will become more and more difficult to buy cows that will make a profit, as the farmers, becom- ing acquainted with their cows, will not sell their best ones. This is as it should be, and we should be prepared to meet this gradual change that is sure to come. What breed to select for dairy purposes I shall not undertake to tell you, only let it be some one of the special dairy-purpose breeds. Study this subject thoroughly and select the THE DAIRY HERD. 25 breed you think best suited to your wants. I have grade Jerseys that are excellent cows, also grade Holstein-Friesians, grade Short-horns, and registered Jerseys. Prof. W. H. Caldwell of New Hampshire, who was superintendent of the Guernsey cows in the great breed contest at the Columbian Ex- position, in writing on this subject uses the fol- lowing language: This law of natural selection applies with equal force to the dairy cow. The progressive dairyman wants a dairy cow whose lines of temperament and functions are for milk or butter, as may be desired. It does not necessitate fancy- bred stock. Don't, however, believe I wish to raise one word against pedigreed stock. There is place for it, and it should be more generally distributed than it now is and farmers should be more eager for its influence. My object now is to take the problem confronting the hundreds of dairymen whose conditions have not led to the same. Com- petition and economy are forcing them to improve their stock. This lesson of individuality should be a most en- couraging one to them. They undoubtedly have many a fine profitable dairy cow in their own herds. What is needed is to have some plan of improvement. The Illinois Experiment Station has recently been purchasing cows for a dairy. The scale and Babcock test have been applied to every cow and no cow purchased that did not prom- ise to make 300 Ibs. of butter annually. The fact that we were able to purchase 300-lb. cows in the vicinity of the experiment station was a source of gratification to me. It shows very conclusively to me that there are good cows in 26 AMERICAN DAIRYING. all localities. What is needed is to become acquainted with them. I now have on my farm sixty-five heifers that are from grade Holstein-Friesian cows and registered Jersey bulls. They are a very prom- ising lot of heifers and I feel confident they will do me good work. They have the Jersey markings mostly and are open and roomily built, with good size and large digestive or- gans. A pony-built heifer is pretty to look at but I pass them when looking for the future cow. My business brings me in contact with dairymen daily, and in conversation with them I often feel that they do not realize the oppor- tunities there are for improvement on our present work in our dairies. It is very hard to realize what a delicate piece of machinery the cow is. We have a great deal to learn about her yet, and the more I learn the more I see I need to learn. Raising calves will be treated under the head of skim-milk. Test before buying. — When buying cows it is best to test them before buying and avoid unprofitable cows. This can easily be done if the cow is giving milk. With the present low price of beef a discarded cow will not sell for beef without considerable loss from the price paid for her as a milch cow. Several years ago when fat cows would sell to the butchers for from four to five cents a pound, live weight, we THE DAIRY HERD. 27 could dispose of them without loss, but now it is quite different, as cow beef is very low priced. Disposing of unprofitable cows. — The best way I have learned to dispose of cows that are below standard is to feed heavy and milk at the same time. After three or four months most cows will improve in condition, and may be fattened while being milked and sold for beef soon after being dry. Fattening dry cows is unprofitable work. I have never been able to do it without loss. I advise to fatten while milking always, and sell as soon as possible after the cow is dry, as a dry cow cannot be fed at a profit with the present low price of cow beef. Cost of cow beef. — The Maryland Experi- ment Station reports a comparison of the cost of fattening cows nine to ten years old and those five to six years old, feeding corn-meal, wheat middlings, linseed-meal and Hungarian hay or corn stover. In eight weeks the two older cows gained 105 Ibs., at a cost for food of $20.65, or nearly twenty cents per pound of gain, and the two younger cows gained 209 Ibs., at a cost of $21.95, or about ten and one- half cents per pound. Some European work in this line has shown it to be very unprofitable. Cost of feeding individual cows. — When we have got our cows tested pretty thoroughly for 28 AMERICAN DAIRYING. butter it is time for us to test to learn what feed each individual cow consumes. The Penn- sylvania Experiment Station has done some work in this line, and with results that are in- teresting, instructive and valuable. This work is reported in "Bulletin No. 24." On page 11 of this bulletin we find that the cow Marguerite produced 6,512 Ibs. of milk and 296 Ibs. of but- ter, and the cow Bamona 5,459 Ibs. of milk and 279 Ibs. of butter. Judging these cows on the.basis of the but- ter made we would call Marguerite the best cow, but when the cost of feed is deducted we find that Marguerite has left to her credit $31.50 and Eamona has $61.50. In closing this bulletin they say: The reader may regard these as extreme cases, and yet they were selected from the ten animals used in this experi- ment and we have no reason to doubt that as great differences might be found in any ordinary herd. Unquestionably the presumption is in favor of the animal producing the largest quantity of buttor per year. On the average this is true, but the most successful dairyman has to deal with individuals rather than averages, otherwise it will be impossible for him to derive the greatest possible profit from his business. These facts are in no way applicable to the farmer who has yet to learn what each animal in his herd is producing. To him the use of the Babcock test and- milk scales is of paramount importance. But to the careful, thoughtful dairy- man there is undoubtedly an opportunity for a great saving by applying the feed test to each animal, as well as the but- ter test, and weeding out those animals that do not make satisfactory return for the food consumed. It is true that THE DAIRY HERD. 29 this involves some labor and pains, but requires a small out- lay of money, While making- such a test he will also be able to determine the quantity of food that each animal re- quires for the greatest profit, and be thereby doubly repaid for his labor. CHAPTER II. FEED AND MANAGEMENT. In feeding cows the point that attracts niy attention more frequently than any other is palatability of the food. This point must be looked after with great care, as it is the key to the situation. It matters but little how much nutriment there is in any kind of food; if it is not palatable the cows will not eat enough of it to make a satisfactory profit. The cow a machine. — The cow is a machine for manufacturing our coarse fodder and grain into milk. This machine requires a certain amount to keep it in running order, and our profit comes from what she consumes after she has taken care of herself. A food may be so lacking in palatability that she will only con- sume enough to sustain herself, in which case our profit is a minus quantity. The question of digestibility enters into the problem, but my experience has caused me to think that palata- bility and digestibility go together, or at least a palatable food is a digestible food. Palata- bility we must have as we cannot succeed with- (30) FEED AND MANAGEMENT. 31 out it. How shall we secure it? With our hay it can be attained by cutting at the proper time and curing and protecting it in a proper manner. My experience teaches me that the clovers, and especially the medium clover, make the best hay for milch cows when cut at the proper time and weir cured and secured. Make hay early. — Only a small percentage of farmers commence making hay as early as they should. A pressure of other farm work is the excuse for this. I say excuse for the reason that many farmers know that they are not do- ing as well as they know how, but other work is crowding and they postpone haying thinking they will not lose as much by letting clover wait as they will by letting some other crop wait. The fact is we cannot afford to let any- thing wait, but we sometimes are compelled to, or at least we think we are. Clover should be cut for hay when in full blossom, and the same rule will apply to other grasses when to be made into hay for cows. If we have a large quantity to cut we need to commence before it reaches its best stage, otherwise some of it will become much too far advanced before we can secure it all. The cow cannot overcome our mistakes. It does not matter what the cause of the delay is, when it gets to the cow she is compelled to accept of our excuses for not fur- nishing a more palatable and 32 AMERICAN DAIRYING. and we are compelled to accept her excuse for not producing a profitable quantity of milk. This is an inevitable result. The cow is not to blame, for she has done her best. If she could talk English I believe she would make some of us ashamed of ourselves. Study cow language. — If we would try to learn cow language it would pay us well for the time spent — learn to know as soon as we look the cow over and her surroundings what we have failed to do that we should have done for the comfort and health of the cow and profit to the owner. There are many things here that I cannot describe. We must study the situation and the cows; try to reach the condition that we know intuitively when things are right and when they are not right. This will come with experience and with it will come an increased profit for our work. We cannot cover the loss from poor hay or silage. I have never been able to bridge over the mis- takes I have made in not securing the best hay or silage for my cows. An increase of the ground feed will help, but it will not cover the mistake in full. At the same time it increases the cost of food as a rule, as in most localities the coarse foods are the most economical so far as they can be used. We pay clearly when we fail to secure our hay, corn-fodder and silage in the best possible condition. We lose some- FEED AND MANAGEMENT. 33 thing that we can never recover. We can simply learn not to do it again. When to cut corn for silage. — I believe I get the most out of my corn crop by cutting it when the grains are beginning to glaze, or be- tween denting and glazing. The large white Southern corn I put in the silo when it is well dented and it makes excellent feed — I think better feed than our native corn. In all cases grow a variety for the silo that will reach the stage of denting or glazing before frosts. One of the early mistakes with the silo was in put- ting in the corn too immature. It had not the nutriment in it. It had not reached its best. I saw many illustrations of this fact the season of 1893, which was extremely dry, with very little rain after July 4. The pastures were brown in August and the farmers were com- pelled to feed green corn or hay to their cows or let them dry up. The corn was not suffi- ciently matured at this time and we found our yield of butter at the creameries running very low — a large percentage lower than the corre- sponding time the previous season. I made many comparisons between the two years from different patrons. The previous year there was excellent pasture and after-feed for the cows, and as a rule they did not need any extra food. In a comparison of eighteen patrons I found but one with a higher percentage of fat 34 AMERICAN DAIRYING. that season than the previous one; two with the same, and all others with a lower percent- age of fat. The average of the whole list showed 6 per cent less fat in 1893 than during the corresponding time in 1892. With all points equal we should have expected a little higher per cent of fat in 1893 than in 1892, from the fact that our patrons are all getting pay by the test, and this stimulates them to test their cows and do considerable weeding out. We get a larger butter yield than we did before we paid by the test. Exposure of silage surface. — A point I wish to speak of in connection with the silo is the amount of surface exposed at one time. Ex- perience has taught me that it should not be more than eight surface feet per cow in cold weather and less in warm weather, as the silage will commence to decay more quickly in warm weather. I am confident that the mis- take is oftener made with the silo of exposing too much surface for the stock to be fed than any other. When it is exposed so long that de- cay commences it will make bad milk, the same as any other decayed food will. With ten years' experience I firmly believe that sound silage from properly matured corn will produce milk and butter that is above criti- cism. There will be no fault traceable to the feed. I have frequently been asked why the FEED AND MANAGEMENT. 35 condensed milk factories do not allow their patrons to feed silage if it is all right as a milk- producing food. The Lansing, Mich., factory does allow its patrons to feed silage, and has, moreover, issued a pamphlet urging them to use it and instructing them how to grow, han- dle and feed silage. There is probably more danger of the cows getting unsound food when silage is fed than there is when dry food is used. When we learn to make perfect silage, and use proper care in feeding it, so that decay does not commence before it is fed, I believe we shall find the objections to it will gradually wear away and in time disappear. Silage butter. — I have made butter from silage milk and had it scored by experts, and none of them found anything to cause them to think of silage. I have also had samples of silage milk warmed to 110 deg. to 115 deg. Fan. and examined for flavor daily for weeks, and nothing found to cause us to think of the silo; but we had reason to think of unclean cans, the pig pen, the cow stable and various other things which the milk had absorbed by being exposed after milking. Milk exposed in a silo in an open vessel will absorb from the silage, so that any person acquainted with the silo will know where it has been exposed. Planting for silage. — I formerly planted twenty to thirty quarts of corn per acr*j fur 36 AMERICAN DAIRYING. silage. I now plant ten quarts, which gives an ear on most of the stalks, I believe this is more economical than to grow more fodder and then feed more ground feed. I find the cows digest all the corn when it is put in the silo at the denting and glazing stage. I do not believe it pays to husk, shell and grind the corn for cows when we have a silo, as I fail to find any loss when put in at the proper time, for the cows, judging from the appearance of the droppings, digest all of the ears. The cow the best judge. — I believe the best guide as to the proper stage of maturity to have the corn when put into the silo is the cow, and the desirable point is shown by watching the work of the cow. My experience has taught me that it is between the denting and glazing stage. If it goes much past the glazing stage the cow will not digest it all. A feeding problem. — Frequently when ex- amining my cows and their work in the past when feeding shocked corn, cut ears and fodder together I have noticed the large quantity of undigested corn in the manure and have asked myself the question: "Can we afford to let the cow employ her digestive machinery on food that she does not chew and digest?" My opinion is that we cannot. I am confident she does not do as profitable work for her owner as when she has the food in a condition that she FEED AND MANAGEMENT. 37 can eat and digest it. I also believe this trying to do what she cannot wears out her digestive machinery, and therefore she will not continue to do profitable work as long as she would if supplied with the food in a digestible condition. There is a difference between a cow and a steer. If the cow is a good one we wish to keep her as long as she is profitable. The steer we expect to dispose of as soon as it reaches ma- turity, if not before, and his machinery may stand the wear and tear the necessary time, but that of the cow I believe will not. I cannot offer any figures to prove my position on this point. It is an opinion formed from observa- tion. If a farmer wishes to carry all the cattle pos- sible on his farm and buy ground feed for them he should plant his corn thick enough so that it will not ear, as more fodder can be grown in this way. It is possible that a larger profit can be secured from the farm in this way, but I am confident a larger profit can be secured per cow from feeding silage when the corn is planted so as to grow ears on most of the stalks and when it is put in the silo in the dented stage and before glazing. In the early silo work the corn was put in too green. Now we — or some of us — are at the other extreme and are putting in corn too dry to pack sufficiently close to ex- clude the air, so as to prevent mold and decay. 38 AMERICAN DAIRYING. I have known this trouble in my locality in the last two years. Some of my corn got frosted last season before we were through filling the silos and I sprinkled it as it passed from the cutter up the elevator. I accomplished this by conducting water through a hose to the foot of the elevator and spraying the corn as it dropped from the cutter into the foot of the elevator. This should be done with frosted corn or corn that has become too dry from any cause. Do not be afraid the water will do any harm, as it will not, but there is danger of harm if the water is not used. This information cost me enough so that I remember it. If we put corn into the silo that has not suf- ficient weight in itself to pack so as to exclude the air we must add water sufficient to accom- plish this or provide some other means of doing it, or we will have moldy silage or perhaps find there has been sufficient heat to cause it to be black, and it will smell like burned molasses. How fast to fill the silo. — When corn has reached the stage of denting to glazing we can safely put it in as fast as cut in the field. In fact I think it best to do so. For a part of my work last season I had a machine that cut one row at a time and elevated it onto the wagon driven by the side. With it two men and five horses cut and load one row as fast as the horses walk. This was a trial machine, but I am hope- FEED AND MANAGEMENT. 39 ful that I shall have a machine for next season that will do this work quite satisfactorily. When this is accomplished the expense of fill- ing our silos will be materially reduced. Wet chaff for weighting silos.— For three years I have used chaff to weight my silos, hav- ing first made it as wet as possible. In this condition it packs very closely and makes the best covering I have ever used. Twelve inches of it will protect the corn so there will be none of it lost from decay. Warm the water. — As soon as we get freez- ing weather I warm the water for my cows. I have a steam boiler at my farm and a reservoir for water on the floor above. The water runs underground to the stables. When we wish to warm the water for the cows we connect the water and steam pipes and inject sufficient steam into the water as it runs to the barn to give the desired temperature — 75 to 80 deg. Fah. I find my cows prefer the warm water to cold water. They give more milk when they have warm water; they also look better and are less liable to sickness. It is safe to let a cow drink all the warm water she wants at any time, but it is not safe to let her drink all the cold water she wants. This I know to my cost. I have heard men argue that warm water is not palatable to stock. This does not agree 40 AMERICAN DAIRYING. with my experience. I once saw some of my young stock get into a water tank to reach the warm water that was running in from a pipe on the opposite side of the tank where they could not reach it without getting into the tank. I have also watched my cows in the pas- ture in the summer and fall. I have an eight- inch tile discharging into an open ditch forty rods from a stream into which it empties. In warm weather the cows will drink from this open ditch near its outlet into the stream where the water is warmer than at the mouth of the tile. But as soon as it gets cold in the autumn the cows go to the mouth of the tile where the water is the warmest. In both cases they appear to prefer to drink at the point where the water is the warmest. I believe it is more economical to warm the water before the cow drinks it, with coal at $3 or $4 per ton, than it is to warm it with hay and grain after she drinks. Hay and grain do not get low-priced enough in Northern Illinois to be used as fuel. I have seen the time when corn was a more economical fuel than coal, but coal is lower and corn higher than at that time. We do not burn it any more. Watering in the stable. — I have never wa- tered my cows in the stable. I have thought considerable about it. I have seen a number FEED AND MANAGEMENT. 41 of stables fitted with watering devices. I do not believe it is advisable to allow the water to stand exposed in an open vessel in the stable as it will absorb any impurities there may be in the atmosphere. This we all know to be a fact if we will give it thought. Another ob- jection to open water in the manger or within reach of the cow is the liability of the cows dropping feed into it. This will cause the water to get in bad condition in a very short time. When watering in the stable I think it would be safest and best to water twice per day, and after watering empty the water buck- ets and close them so the stock cannot get any food into them. I cannot yet believe it is not well for the cows to go into the yard as many at a time as have room to drink, get what warm water they want, and then when cold or stormy be re- turned to the barn and another lot turned out. When it is warm and pleasant allow the cows to remain a few hours in the yard; it will do them good. A little exercise is good, and fresh or pure air is a necessity if we are to preserve the health of our stock. About tuberculosis. — Ventilation is a vital question, and is at the present time being forced upon our attention more than it has been in a long time. Tuberculosis having been detected in some prominent herds is sufficient 42 AMERICAN DAIRYING. warrant for us to be thinking about the cause of this disease developing in some herds and not in others. I believe poor ventilation is the greatest promoter of this disease. I fear some of us have paid more attention to securing warm stables than we have to securing good air or ventilation. This is a question wre shall receive information on from our experiment stations in the near future, as at least three of them have found their herds of cows afflicted with this disease. At first I felt it was too bad to have our experiment station herds afflicted in this way, but since giving the subject more thought I have come to the conclusion that it is better to have the station herds afflicted than any other herds, as it will give an opportunity for us to learn more about it through investiga- tion than we otherwise would. The probabilities are that there is no more of this disease in our country than there has previously been. We are discovering more of it, as we have more reliable means of detecting the disease. This is a question that I do not feel competent to write much about, but at the same time there is room for good horse sense to be used. I re- cently had an interesting conversation with a veterinary professor in one of our agricultural colleges (a man who had had several years' practice before becoming a teacher), in which he said he was fond of milk and expected to FEED AND MANAGEMENT. 43 continue using it, and that if all persons that had used milk from tuberculous cows had died with consumption we would have a much smaller population than we now have. I be- lieve that diseased cows should be killed when discovered, but I do not believe that a large percentage of our cows are afflicted with this disease. Amount of silage fed. — I feed what corn silage my cows will eat. I also feed some hay once per day as a rule. I find my cows thrive well and do profitable work when they have only the corn silage for coarse food. The amount of ground feed to be given in connec- tion with the silage depends on the amount of corn in the silage. When the silage is made from corn that would husk forty bushels per acre I feed to mature cows five pounds of wheat shorts and five pounds of grano-gluten feed. The latter is a kiln-dried, whisky-distillery feed which has been subjected to a heat that kills all germs of ferment. My cows invariably shrink in the flow of milk and in total fat pro- duced when I change from corn silage to hay, and the cost of feeding the cows just as surely increases. Can we afford to feed oats ? — Oats are an ex- cellent feed for cows, but as a rule it pays me to sell my oats and buy shorts and bran, When oats are comparatively low priced I grind them 44 AMERICAN DAIRYING. and feed to the cows. At present, with oats worth twenty-seven cents a bushel and wheat bran and coarse middlings $13 per ton, it figures as follows: A ton of oats is sixty-two and a half bushels, and at twenty-seven cents equals $16.87. Grinding at two cents a bushel makes $1.25, and this added to $16.87 makes a total of $18.12. If a farmer has no mill to do his grind- ing it makes no difference whether he draws his oats to mill and back or draws the oats to market and draws home other feed. The Wis- consin Experiment Station has proved by the cow that oats are worth 10 per cent more than wheat bran to feed cows. When bran is worth $13 oats are worth $14.30. Now, can I afford to feed them when they are worth $18.12 in market? Rejected food. — The silage and hay left by my cows are removed from the mangers and given to the young heifers, with grain food added, so nothing goes to waste. It will not answer to let rejected food remain in the man- gers or feed-boxes, as it will cause a cow to get off her feed and off in her milk, and away goes the profit. The calving. — My cows drop their calves in the months of September to December and go dry on pasture and milk as long as they ought to — in fact in many cases longer than they ought to. I do not feed these cows ground feed FEED AND MANAGEMENT. 45 after they get full pasture. I am in doubt about there being a profit in feeding ground feed to cows when they are on full pasture. But this is not the vital point here., The main question is the health and usefulness of the cow. My experience has convinced me that there is very little danger at calving time with cows that calve in the fall going dry on pasture and having no grain food after they get full pasturage until they are fresh again. My dairy is very free from troubles at calving time when treated in this way. Dr. Pierson on cow-feeding. — In January, 1894, 1 had the pleasure of listening to a lecture by Dr. Pierson of the Philadelphia Veterinary College before the short course class at the Pennsylvania State College, in which he told us of the danger of giving too much grain feed to cows when dry. He said it led to trouble at time of parturition. Plenty of grass or other succulent food puts the cow's system in the best possible condition for this period. Do not understand that I do not feed my cows in case of short pasture from drouth or any other cause. Every farmer should plant corn for this purpose if he is in the corn belt. If not, he should plant some other crop, as the cow must have all she wants of some proper food. A New York experiment. — The New York (Cornell University) Experiment Station has 46 AMERICAN DAIRYING. done some very interesting and valuable work covering three seasons (1889, 1890, 1891), com- paring the effects of grain vs. no grain for cows on pasture. The grain consisted of cotton-seed meal and bran fed alone or with malt sprouts or corn-meal. The first two years the pasture was luxuriant and there was no increased yield of either milk or butter from feeding the grain. The yield of butter was practically the same for the lots with and without grain. The first year the milk fell off in yield but became richer in fat on grain. The third year the pasture was at no time very luxuriant. The eight cows receiving grain produced just enough more milk and butter to pay for the cost of the grain. The last two years the changes in live weight were observed and it was found that the cows receiving grain increased more in live weight than those receiving no grain. Kansas experimental work. — The Kansas Station (report 1888) observed an increased yield of milk and butter wrhen either corn- meal, wheat bran or ground oats were fed in addition to pasture, but this increase did not nearly pay the cost of the grain. In the above experiments no account was taken of the in- creased value of the manure or the saving of pastures due to the grain feed. Why should cows freshen in autumn?— There are several reasons why I prefer to have FEED AND MANAGEMENT. 47 my cows fresh in the fall. First, they will give more milk in the year than they will if fresh in the spring. When they freshen in the fall they are like fresh cows when they get to pas- ture in the spring, and they milk as long as they ought to, and in many cases too long. But when they are fresh in the spring they are ready to dry up at the commencement of cold weather, and they will dry up in spite of all the average dairyman will do to prevent it. It also gives the least milking to be done at the time in summer when the farm work is crowd- ing and it distributes the labor so there is work for the same force of help the year around. The moral effect is good, as the farmer must be home at milking time. He cannot remain in^ town and gossip until bedtime. Moreover, we secure the largest flow of milk at the time when it brings the best price. The difference in the price of summer and winter milk and butter will probably be less in the future than it has been in the past. Especially will this be the case with butter on account of the improved methods of cold storage. It was formerly thought that butter was injured by a temperature below freezing; now we have learned that it is desirable to have it held at a temperature several degrees below freezing. This will doubtless cause an increased demand for butter to be held in cold storage and put on 48 AMERICAN DAIRYING. the market in fall and winter. This seems to me a natural result of the changed conditions. At the same time I expect to continue my present method of having my cows fresh in the fall months. Warm stables. — All stables should be so pro- tected from the cold that the manure will not freeze in them during the coldest weather. A cheap stable can be made frost-proof by nail- ing boards inside the posts or studs and filling solid with straw between. I practiced this with my first cow stable and kept my cows as com- fortable as I have since in more expensive stables. I have plenty of light in the stables and good ventilation. The following I clip from The Dairy of Lon- don, Eng. Comment is unnecessary: Mr. Alexander Pottie, M. R. C. V. S., Paisley, in a lec- ture under the auspices of the Glasgow and West of Scot- land Agricultural Discussion Society, on "How to Make the Most of the Cow in Winter," said that there was a great deal of misunderstanding as to what was the proper temperature that should be maintained in byres [barns] in winter. Prom experiments extending over a considerable period, which he had made in byres, he found that the temperature at which a cow gave the largest amount of milk was 63 deg. No arti- ficial heat was necessary — byres should be heated by means of the warmth of the cows in them. In a properly-con- structed byre the difference in value of milk obtained from twenty-nine or thirty cows in a temperature of 63 deg. was about £3 more per week than when the temperature was 52 deg. Farmers did not seem to be aware of the loss they were sustaining by keeping their cows in cold byres. FEED AND MANAGEMENT. 49 How confine the cows. — I have used neck ties and stanchions, but am discarding them and putting in the Bidwell stall. I do not be- lieve we can afford to use the stanchions, for they do not help us to get past the 300-lb. mark, and that is what we must do if we make it pay. With a warm stable, well lighted and ven- tilated, plenty of silage, early-cut clover hay and warm water to drink, I have very little need of a veterinarian in my dairy. The cows must be made comfortable at all times and in all places. Any failure here the cow will ac- count to you for daily by a shortage in milk and butter-fat. The cow can make her wants known to a man that is using his brains in his work. Here is a great field for thought and study to improve on our present methods. Seeking a milk test. — Several years ago I had an experience with abortion in my dairy. 1 then had sixty cows that I had worked sev- eral years in getting up to my idea of what a cow should be.' The first cow lost her calf in July and between that time and the following June thirty-five of the sixty cows aborted. This broke my dairy up badly, as many of the cows failed to breed, became fat and dried up with their milk, and I was compelled to sell them for beef. About this time I commenced to take my milk to one of our creameries and 4 50 AMERICAN DAIRYING. pool with every other patron, as we had no practical way to test milk. I bought cows for a few years to keep up my dairy, but could not get satisfaction and went back to my old plan of raising the heifer calves. The only test I applied was the weight of milk. I was forced to do this, as I could not afford to pool grade Jersey milk with other milk that had been pro- duced with quantity alone in view. I was al- ways in open rebellion against this plan and hunting for some practical test that we could apply to our dairies and to the individual cows in the dairies. I felt all the time that I was a backslider in my work and it irritated me ter- ribly. Credit to the scientists. — When Prof. Short of the Wisconsin Experiment Station brought out his test my firm secured one, and later Prof. Patrick's test- was purchased, which was a long step in advance. Next came a letter from Prof. W. A. Henry, asking me to go to Madison and see Dr. Babcock's new test, as he thought he had one that would fill the wants of the dairy- man. He was right, as it has now come into use in all dairy countries. I bought such parts as I could at Madison and got up the first ma- chine used outside the Wisconsin Experiment Station, and we are using it now to do the test work for six creameries. Abortion from ergot — treatment. — The FEED AND MANAGEMENT. 51 cause of my first trouble with abortion I. never became fully satisfied about, but connected it with a summer freshet that flooded a part of my pasture. I suspected it was caused by er- gotized grass on this flooded land. I do not now know that to have been the cause, but I still think it was. It was three years before my dairy was clear of the trouble, and I had no more of it until the summer of 1892, when fif- teen cows lost their calves, the trouble com- mencing at the same time in July as in the former case. I had been fearing it, as the con- ditions were nearly the same as they were when I had the first trouble. I secured some remedies and sought advice from different sources, but it came as I feared it would. The flood water had caused my pasture to be short and I had cut clover from new ground that had grown rye the previous year and had consider- able volunteer rye with the clover. The trouble commenced soon after using this clover and rye. Every cow that lost her calf was immediately isolated and treated with vaginal injections of bichloride of mercury, using one part to four thousand of water and using one gallon at a treatment three times per week. The same lotion was used to wash the vulva and tail and any parts necessary. The trouble ended in a few weeks and I had no more of it until the fol- lowing spring when feeding the hay cut from 52 AMERICAN DAIRYING. the same rye field of clover. Then three cows aborted and on investigation I found plenty of ergot in the rye. The trouble ended when we stopped feeding this hay. Now I can say this: I am thoroughly sat- isfied that ergot caused the abortion in one case. In the other I think it did, but am not sure. I believe I should have lost from one- half to two-thirds of my calves in the last case if I had not isolated and treated the cows. I am confident that there are several causes of abortion in cows. What I know about it is as nothing in comparison with what I do not know. I often think of what one of the commissioners appointed to investigate the subject by the New York Legislature several years ago said when through with the investigation. He said he did not know as much about the cause of abortion as he thought he did when he com- menced the investigation. Rations. — Here I will draw from the Wis- consin Experiment Station "Bulletin No. 38," entitled, "One Hundred American Rations for Dairy Cows." I do this because I believe it is of more value to dairymen than any other material at my command. I will give the name and post-office address of owner or manager; name of breed; the weight of cow; annual yield of milk; annual yield of butter; percent- age of fat in milk, and the ration fed. Prof. FEED AND MANAGEMENT. 53 Woll says: "For the sake of comparison the components of the rations have all been calcu- lated per 1,000 Ibs. live weight." The following selections from the 100 rations in "Bulletin No. 38" include localities from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains and a variety of foods, though silage is included in a majority of them: No. 1 — J. W. Goss, Hygiene, Col. Jersey cows; average weight, 900 Ibs.; annual yield of milk. 5,000 Ibs.; annual yield of butter, 340 Ibs.; percentage of fat in milk, 5. Ration — 30 Ibs. corn silage, 10 Ibs. alfalfa hay, 10 Ibs. clover hay, 5 Ibs. roller bran, 2 Ibs. corn-meal. No. 5 — E. S. Henry, Rockville, Conn. Jersey cows; aver- age weight, 900 Ibs.; annual yield of butter, 375 Ibs. Ration — 35 Ibs. corn silage, 10 Ibs. hay. 3 Ibs. bran, 3 Ibs. corn-and- cob meal, 2 Ibs. cotton-seed meal, 2 Ibs. Chicago gluten-meal. No. 6— A. Bourquin, Nokomis, 111. Brown Swiss cows; average weight, 1.400 Ibs.; annual yield of butter, 415 Ibs. Ration — 7i Ibs. clover hay, 7 * Ibs. timothy hay, 12 Ibs. corn- and-cob meal, 8 Ibs. bran, H Ibs. linseed-meal, li Ibs. cotton- seed meal. No. 11 — Mrs. Kate M. Busick, Wabash, Ind. Jersey cows; average weight, 800 Ibs.: annual yield of milk, 4,500 Ibs.; an- nual yield of butter, 300 Ibs.; percentage of fat in milk, 5.9. Ration — 30 Ibs. corn silage, 5 Ibs. clover hay, 3 Ibs. corn- fodder, 1 Ib. oat straw, 1 Ib. wheat straw, 5 Ibs. bran, 2 Ibs. oil-meal, 2 Ibs. cotton-seed meal. No. 14— C. L. Gabrilson, New Hampton, la. Jersey and Short-horn cows; average weight, 1,000 Ibs.; annual yield of milk, 4,200 Ibs.; annual yield of butter, 200 Ibs.; percentage of fat in milk, 4.9. Ration — 50 Ibs. corn silage, 5 Ibs. hay, 5 Ibs. corn-fodder, 1 Ib. oat straw, 1 Ib. barley straw, 5 Ibs. ear- corn, 2| Ibs. ground oats and barley. No. 24 — W. "J. Boynton, Rochester, Minn. Holstein- Friesian cows; average weight, 1,400 Ibs.; annual yield of 54 AMERICAN DAIRYING. milk, 10,000 Ibs.; percentage of fat in milk, 3.6. Ration— 50 Ibs. corn silage, 8 Ibs. hay, 3 Ibs. bran, 2 Ibs. shorts, 3 Ibs. ground rye and oats, 2 Ibs. barley. No. 29— W. D. Baker, Quincy, N. H. Does not name'breed; average weight of cows, 900 Ibs.; annual yield .of milk, 5,500 Ibs.; annual yield of butter, 312 Ibs. Rations — (a) 10 Ibs. clover and witch grass hay, 10 Ibs. corn-stover, 5 Ibs. unthreshed barley, 2 Ibs. corn-and-cob meal, 2 Ibs. shorts, 2 Ibs. cotton- seed meal. (6) 11.7 Ibs. clover and witch grass hay, 3.3 Ibs. oat straw, 10 Ibs. meadow hay, 2 Ibs. shorts, 2 Ibs. corn-and- cob meal, 1 Ib. ground peas, 1 Ib. oats, 1 Ib. barley, (c) 10 Ibs. meadow hay, 10 Ibs. corn-stover, 5 Ibs. pea straw, 2 Ibs. middlings, II Ibs. gluten-meal, 14- Ibs. cotton-seed meal, 2 Ibs. corn-and-cob meal, (d) 10 Ibs. clover and witch grass hay, 10 Ibs. meadow hay, 5 Ibs. pea straw, 2 Ibs. shorts, 1 Ib. gluten- meal, 1 Ib. cotton-seed meal, 2 Ibs. corn-and-cob meal No. 34 — H. M. Cottrell, Superintendent Ellerslie Stock Farm, Rhinecliff, N. Y. Guernsey cows; average weight of cows, 1,000 Ibs.; annual yield of milk, 6,120 Ibs.; percentage of fat in milk, 5.3. Ration— 25 Ibs. corn silage, 7 Ibs. mixed hay, 4 Ibs. corn-meal, 5 Ibs. bran, i Ib. oil-meal, I Ib. cotton- seed meal. No. 45 — Geo. W. Sisson. Jr., Potsdam, N. Y. Jerseys; average weight, 800 Ibs.; annual yield of milk, 5,000 Ibs.; an- nual yield of butter, 300 Ibs.; percentage of fat in milk, 5.2. Ration— 30 Ibs. corn silage, 12 Ibs. clover hay, 8 Ibs. wheat middlings, 1 Ib. oil-meal. No. 46— Smiths & Powell Co., Syracuse, N. Y. Holstein- Friesians; average weight of cows, 1,200 Ibs.; annual yield of milk, 12,000 Ibs. Ration— 40 Ibs. corn silage, 15 Ibs. hay, 9 Ibs. wheat bran, 4i Ibs. germ-meal, 1 Ib. oats, 1 Ib. wheat, 1 Ib. barley, 1 Ib. corn, 1 Ib. linseed-meal. No. 49 — Munzo Wilcox, Milford, N. Y. Devons and na- tives; average weight, 785 Ibs.; annual yield of milk, 9,200 Ibs.; annual yield of butter, 373 Ibs. Ration — 12 Ibs. timothy hay, 1 Ib. bran, 1 Ib. middlings, 2 Ibs. corn-meal, 2 Ibs. cotton- seed meal, 40 Ibs. skim-milko FEED AND MANAGEMENT. 55 No. 50— A. Dcmcourt, Manager The Old Brick Farm, Ros- lyn, N. Y. Guernseys; average weight, 1,000 Ibs.; annual yield of milk, 7,300 Ibs.; annual yield of butter, 497 Ibs.; per- centage of fat in milk, 5.7. Ration — 42 Ibs. corn silage, 2| Ibs. clover hay, 2i Ibs. timothy hay, 8 Ibs. corn-and-cob meal, 14 Ibs. dried brewers' grains. No. 55 — John Gould, Aurora, Ohio. Grades and natives; average weight, 1,000 Ibs.; annual yield of milk, 5,900 Ibs.; percentage of fat in milk, 4.2. Ration — 50 Ibs. corn silage, 8 Ibs. clover, hay, 5 Ibs. "seconds." No. 61— John McClintock, Meadville, Pa. Jerseys; aver- age weight, 900 Ibs.; annual yield of milk, 5,565 Ibs.; annual yield of butter, 370 Ibs. Ration— 24- Ibs. corn-fodder, 5.1 Ibs. bran, 5.1 Ibs. corn-meal, 3 Ibs. cotton-seed meal, 2 Ibs. oil- meal. No. 71 — L. S. Drew, Burlington, Vt. Ayrshires; average weight, 1,000 Ibs. ; annual yield of milk, 5,540 Ibs. ; percentage of fat in milk, 4.3. Ration— 20 Ibs. corn silage, 14 Ibs. hay, 3 Ibs. bran, 2 Ibs. gluten-meal. No. 74 — C. M. Winslow, Brandon, Vt. Ayrshires; average weight, 1,000 Ibs.; annual yield of milk, 6,187 Ibs.; percent- age of fat in milk, 4.25. Ration— 30 Ibs. hay, 1.8 Ibs. wheat bran, .9 Ib. wheat middlings. No. 72 — L. C. Fisher, 'Cabot, Vt. Jerseys; average weight, 900 Ibs. ; annual yield of butter, 404 Ibs. Ration— 30 Ibs. corn silage, 10 Ibs. hay, 4.2 Ibs. corn- meal, 4.2 Ibs. bran, .8 Ib. lin- seed-meal. No. 79— C. P. Goodrich, Fort Atkinson, Wis. Grade Jer^ seys; average weight, 900 Ibs.; annual yield of milk, 5,500 Ibs.; annual yield of butter, 320 Ibs.; percentage of fat in milk, 5.25. Ration — 32 Ibs. corn silage, 5 Ibs. clover hay, 5 Ibs. cornstalks, 8 Ibs. bran, 2 Ibs. cotton-seed meal, 2 Ibs. oat straw. No. 85— A. X. Hyatt, Sheboygan Falls, Wis. Mostly Short- horns; average weight, 1,200 Ibs.; annual yield of milk, 8,000 Ibs.; percentage of fat in milk, 4.1. Ration — 25 Ibs. roots, 8 Ibs. oatmeal, 3 Ibs. oil-meal, 15 Ibs. hay, 10 Ibs. corn-fodder, 4 Ibs. oat straw. 56 AMERICAN DAIRYING. No. 92 — Herman Bollert, Canada. Holstein-Priesians; average weight, 1,300 Ibs.; annual yield of milk, 10,000 Ibs. ; percentage of fat in milk, 4. Ration — 40 Ibs. corn silage, 5 Ibs. hay, 5 Ibs. straw, 41 Ibs. bran, 4J Ibs. oats. No. 100 — R. Robertson, Howick, Quebec. Ayrshires. average weight, 1,000 Ibs/, annual yield of milk, 8,000 Ibs.; annual yield of butter. 360 Ibs.; percentage of fat in milk, 4. Ration — 40 Ibs. corn silage, 7i Ibs. clover hay, 3 Ibs. straw, li Ibs. oats, li Ibs. barley, li Ibs. pea- meal, 3 Ibs. wheat bran, 1 Ib. cotton-seed meal. TABLE OP NUTRIENTS IN TWENTY-FOUR RATIONS. No. Dry matter. DIGESTIBLE MATTER. Nutritive ratio. Protein. Carbo- hydrates. Fat. Total 1 31.09 2.70 15.78 .80 19.28 1: 6.5 5 25.70 2.69 13.96 .97 17.62 1: 6. 6 22.09 2.37 12.06 .75 15.18 1: 5.8 11 26.08 3.24 12.94 1.07 17.23 1: 4.7 14 24.77 1.34 15.01 .76 n.n 1:12.8 24 19.09 1.40 11.10 .48 12.98 1: 8.7 29a 25-50 2.39 14.37 .70 17.46 1: 6.7 296 28.97 1.88 15.47 .53 17.88 1: 8.8 29c 26.12 2.24 13.65 .65 16.54 1: 6.7 29c? 28.86 2.H 13.68 .82 17.34 1: 5.5 34 19,. 98 1.81 11.46 .66 13.93 1: 7.1 45 28.65 2.87 14.73 .88 18.48 1: 5.8 46 29.16 2.41 16.98 .85 20.24 1: 7.8 49 25.73 3.50 14.05 1.12 18.67 1: 4.7 50 31.30 3.37 16.31 1.31 20.99 1: 5.7 55 20.26 1.53 10.95 .63 13.11 1: 8.1 61 26.52 2.53 15.74 .90 19.17 1: 7. 73 20.20 1.64 11.09 .48 13.21 1: 7.4 74 26.06 1.42 14.02 .38 15.82 1:10.5 72 24.23 1 86 14.03 .75 16.64 1: 8.4 79 27.24 2.86 13.80 .92 17.58 1: 5.5 85 26.90 2.11 14.43 .70 17.24 1: 7.6 92 .19.70 1.36 10.60 .53 12.49 1: 8.7 100 22.1,6 2.08 12.17 .71 14.96 1: 6.6 The foregoing table gives the nutrients in the twenty-four rations selected from the 100 in FEED AND MANAGEMENT. 57 the Wisconsin bulletin. The numbers in this table correspond to the numbers in connection with the owners' names and name of breed, and the table is quite interesting to a person that wishes to study the feeding question. Dehorning. — I have deliberated considerably about the question of dehorning. It has been so much discussed in the agricultural and dairy papers that it seems almost an old story, but I have decided to give a little of my experience. I waited and read and watched for several years, dehorning only the ugly cows, before I 'became thoroughly convinced that it was best to dehorn my whole herd. I now have no cat- tle with horns except my registered Jerseys. One reason that I leave their horns is to avoid any possibility of getting them mixed with my grades. I employed a man to dehorn my cows that had dehorned over five thousand head, and he did a good job for me. It would require an expert to detect that they ever had horns. He did the work with a saw and cut a little below the skin, setting the saw to cut a little circular in direction. Cutting below the skin caused some bleeding, but he pulled out the little blood vessels with a pair of small* forceps, which made the bleeding cease. I think the fright caused by making the cows fast for the opera- tion gave them more suffering than the act of removing the horns. As fast as dehorned they 58 AMERICAN DAIRYING. were turned into the pasture and they went to feeding in a short time as if nothing had hap- pened. I was very much surprised, and very agreeably so, at the apparent indifference of the cows to the effect of the operation. It caused a very perceptible change in my cows. They soon learned that they could not injure each other and ceased trying. With the loss of fear of each other came a loss of fear of their attendants, or at least it appeared so to me. There was a change in the herd that was a pleasant surprise to me. I say frankly that I am glad I had my herd dehorned. The shrink- age in milk was very small — no more in fact than I should have expected from having them out of the pasture as long as they were. It was very satisfactory to me in all points and caused me to wish I had had them dehorned earlier. I now kill the horns of my calves by the use of caustic potash. This is a very simple matter. We cut the hair from around the horns, or where they are to grow, and then wet the button and rub the caustic potash on it. Get the potash in sticks and wrap it in paper or cloth to prevent its eating the hands. This causes the calf no more pain than a blister of the same size. In fact that is just what it is. Effects of Exposure. — In the winter of 1892 the Indiana. Experiment Station made a very FEED AND MANAGEMENT. 59 valuable experiment to show the effect of ex- posure on milch cows. I clip the following from that station's "Bulletin No. 47": The following points of importance are brought out in the bulletin: 1. That cows exposed during the day to the inclemency of winter weather ate more food than those given the shelter of a comfortable barn. 2. That cows thus exposed gave on an average less milk per day than those not so exposed, and much less milk as a total, during the experiment, which extended over forty- eight days in January, February, and March. 3. That the cows which were exposed to the weather dur- ing this experiment lost in weight, while those given barn shelter gained in weight. 4. That there is a difference of $12.79 in favor of shelter for cows in winter. Some of the interesting details of this experi- ment are herewith quoted: Grouped by lots each lot ate the following amount of food: Lot I—lbs. Lot II—lbs. Clover hay eaten 1996.2 1483.8 Corn-meal 1239.0 1627.0 Bran.. ..1168.5 1536.7 Total 4403.7 4647.5 Lot II, the exposed one., ate 243.8 Ibs. more food than lot I, but less hay and much more grain, consuming 388 Ibs. more of corn-meal and 368.2 Ibs. more of bran. The differ- ence in the cost of the total amounts of food eaten has an important bearing on the relationship of expense and in- come. The cost of the food eaten is based on current market prices in Lafayette at the time of the experiment. Clover hay is quoted at $8 per ton, corn-meal at $1 per 100 Ibs., and bran at 65 cents per 100 Ibs. The cost of labor was no greater for lot I than for lot II, if it was as great, and is not included in the discussion of the experiment. 60 AMERICAN DAIRYING. Amount and cost of food consumed: Lot I. Lot II. 1996.2 Ibs. clover hay at $8 per ton $7.98 1239.0 Ibs. corn-meal at $1 per 100 Ibs 12.39 1168.5 Ibs. bran at 65 cents per 100 Ibs 7.60 Total cost $27.97 1483.8 Ibs. clover hay at $8 per ton $5.94 1627.0 Ibs. corn-meal at $1 per 100 Ibs 16.27 1536.7 Ibs. bran at 65 cents per 100 ibs 9.99 Total cost $32.20 Balance in favor of lot I. . .. $4.23 $32.20 $32.20 So far as cost of food eaten is concerned the sheltered lot makes the best showing by $4.23. This experiment, how- ever, was undertaken on milch cows to note the effect of the conditions of keeping on the milk yield. Considering this experiment from the financial standpoint, including cost of food eaten, weight of milk secured, and ani- mal weight lost or gained, we get the following results in favor of the sheltered lot: Saving in cost of feed eaten $4.23 Value of difference in milk secured (161.1 Ibs. at 15 cents a gallon) 2.79 Value of 231 Ibs. flesh gain at 2$ cents a pound 5.77 Amount saved by sheltering three cows 48 days 12.79 Amount saved by sheltering one cow 48 days 4.26 Prof. C. S. Plumb, Director of the Indiana Agricultural Experiment Station, who made this experiment, offers the following observa- tions: A reasonable amount of exercise should be given farm animals, and pure air ought to be available at all times, but no animal should be exposed to weather conditions that in- volve suffering, neither ought farmers to expose stock in such a manner as to cause them financial loss. Beef cattle with thick, mellow hides and heavy coats of fine hair may be exposed to outdoor conditions that would cause thin-skinned FEED AND MANAGEMENT. 61 milch cows to suffer and show the injurious effect in the pail and feed account. Dairy cows are more sensitive in temper- ament and require warmer winter quarters as a rule than do beef cattle. CHAPTER III. CARE OF DAIEY UTENSILS. Milk pails should always be of tin. When purchasing tinware of any kind have your tinner solder around all rims and open joints where dirt can accumulate. The cost of this will be saved many times over in the labor re- quired to wash them. I never had sufficient patience to fool away my time trying to get a dishcloth into every corner and around the rims and ears of pails when I knew that a few cents spent at the tinshop would put the tin- ware in such shape that the dishcloth would reach all parts and time did not need to be taken digging dirt out of holes that need not be. Clean all utensils as soon as possible after using them. The longer they remain without being cleaned the more time will be required to do the work. Washing tinware. — When washing tinware about the dairy always use first cool or tepid water, as hot water applied to milk vessels cooks the milk onto the tin and gives them an (62) CARE OF DAIRY UTENSILS. 63 appearance that you will not take pride in showing. After they are washed in tepid or cold water, wash with hot water, then scald with boiling water or steam if it is available. When steam is used there is no guesswork about it, as it reaches all parts and does thor- ough work. When hot water is used there is often too much guesswork about the tempera- ture. After the scalding the vessels should be put in the sun to dry and air. When thoroughly scalded there is sufficient heat to cause the dishes or vessels to dry without wiping. Have a place for all the tin and woodenware in the sun for a time after cleaning and scalding it. Never put the covers on tin vessels after scald- ing them, neither will it answer to put them in a position that will prevent a circulation of air. Dead air is far from sweet-smelling. Churn arid worker. — The churn and butter- worker and all other wooden utensils should be first washed in hot water, then scalded with boiling water or steam. Wooden utensils must not be left in the sun long enough to cause them to warp or crack. Preparing wooden utensils. — Before using the churn and all other woodenware it should be scalded and then thoroughly cooled. Scald- ing wooden utensils and then thoroughly cool- ing with cold water will prevent the butter 64 AMERICAN DAIRYING. sticking to them. When the butter sticks to a wooden vessel or utensil it is positive proof that it has not been properly prepared before using, and the only way is to do the work over in a proper manner. Return milk in barrels. — Great care is nec- essary in cleansing cans that are used in draw- ing milk to a creamery, especially if skim-milk or whey is returned in them. The best way is to take the milk back to the farm in barrels and have the cans washed at the creamery be- fore being returned to the patrons. But in many cases this is not practicable, as the milk comes in loads and the skim-milk must go back in the cans, if it is taken, which it surely should be. These cans should be treated as any other milk vessel, but more care is necessary, as in many cases the milk has be- come sour before reaching home and adheres to the can. A brush is an excellent tool to use for this work, as it will get at the corners much better than a dishcloth. Lack of care in this line soon gives foul cans and bad milk. All milk vessels must be kept sweet and clean or there will be serious trouble in a very short time. CHAPTER IV. MILKING. Milking is a trade. Comparatively few dairy- men realize the importance of it, or the neces- sity for kindness, neatness, system and regu- larity and of securing all of the milk. The cow must be kindly treated at all times and in all places. It will not answer to bring her from pasture on a run with a dog behind her, and if she in her excitement gets into the wrong stall don't put her out with a blow from a whip or the boot. The owner pays for this immediately in the quantity and quality of the milk from the next milking. Any person who doubts this should use a scale and the Babcock test and satisfy himself. The cows should not fear the person who cares for them. There is a chance for the person to improve so long as this is the case. The feeling between the cows and the person who cares for and milks them should be such that when such person goes among them either in the barn or in the yard or pasture the cows will not only not care to move away from the person but will actually 66 AMERICAN DAIRYING. appear to enjoy the company of the one who cares for them. When this is the situation there need be no fear so far as kindness is con- cerned. Cleanliness. — The cows must be kept clean in the stable and also out of it, so far as is prac- tical, but there are times in wet seasons that it is impractical in some pastures to prevent the cows getting their teats and udders muddy. When this is the case they should be washed when put into the stable. This is the best way I have found to remove the mud or filth, which must be done before milking. My practice was to furnish each milker a pail for water and re- quire them to wash their cows' udders before commencing to milk if they needed to be washed. By the time the milker was through washing the first washed would be dry and ready to milk. This is the quickest and best way I have found to accomplish this object. Regularity. — Each cow should have her reg- ular stall, be milked by the same milker, and at regular hours, night and morning. It pays just as well to systematize with the cows as it does in any business. A business man that is irregular about his business loses by it. We can all call to mind instances to prove this, and it is just as true and more with the cows, as the business man may not lose every time he fails to open his store until an hour late, but every MILKING. 67 time the cows are milked an hour late or early there is sure to be a loss. There must be regularity in feeding, water- ing, salting, and in all work connected with the cow. Never allow promiscuous milking. It is best to milk in the stable in winter and sum- mer. The milkers will suffer no more from heat there than in the yard if the stable is properly ventilated and they commence at the right end of their row of cows, so the animals can be turned out as fast as milked. There will then be no cow back of them to help give them a sweat. Cause for kicking. — A cow never kicks with- out cause. She is either hurt or frightened when she kicks. An instance comes to my mind now that illustrates this point. Several years ago, when living on my farm, I was one day in De Kalb and the Mayor spoke to me about his cow. He had an excellent one and had talked with me about her frequently be- fore. At this particular time he was in trouble with her. He said she had contracted a habit of kicking and he could do nothing with her and thought he would be compelled to sell her. I told him there must be a cause, but he said he could find none. I insisted there must be some good cause for it and it should be dis- covered, and talked with him for some time about his cow and her surroundings. I asked 68 AMERICAN DAIRYING. him if her teats were not chapped, and he said not. I told him to get some linseed oil and apply a little after milking to her teats. He did so, and the next time I saw him he told me his cow was all right. The oil had performed a cure and helped him to discover what the cause of the trouble was. This was during August when the flies were troublesome, and the cow to get rid of the flies had been in the habit of getting into a pond of water in the pasture, where she kept her teats wet fighting the flies, and caused them to chap, but not enough so the owner who milked her had dis- covered it until they commenced to heal, when he discovered the trouble. When you have a kicking cow study the case and learn the cause, and if you cannot learn and remove the cause you should remove the cow, as a kicking cow is too severe a test on the milker's patience and the effect is not good in the stable, as it affects the whole surrounding atmosphere. Effect of disturbances. — When I first began to apply the Babcock test to separate herds and individual cows I had some experience that was surprising and instructive. I have traced a low daily test of herd milk to the cattle breaking out of their pasture and being chased by men on horseback until they were excited and wor- ried. MILKING. 69 Cows need special care.— There is no farm animal that needs more care than the cow. It will not answer to give her the same treatment that you do a fat steer. She is much more sen- sitive to cold, as she has not (if she is a dairy cow) an inch or two of fat all over her body to protect her vitals from the cold. The steer will be comfortable in a well-bedded dry shed in cold weather, when the cow would suffer and her flow of milk decrease. It does me good to visit a herd of cows and see the herdsman go among them with a kind word and the cows approach him as though they had an affection for him. On the other hand when I see a herds- man go among the cows with a loud voice and every cow begins to get away from him I think that man is out of place, and he should be put to some work that he is fitted to do — if it can be discovered what that is. Difference in milkers. — There is a great difference in milkers. This many dairymen have learned and many more have not, judg- ing from the way they act. I have had some milkers that would get enough more from fifteen cows in one year than other milkers I had at the same time to pay their salaries for the year. Perhaps some may not believe this, but it is not guesswork. It is a matter of cal- culation after weighing the milk from the vari- ous milkers' cows periodically for a term of 70 AMERICAN DAIRYING. months. The difference in milkers in this re- spect is surprising. There are many milkers whom the owner of the cows cannot afford to have in his employ at any price. I test all my cows periodically, and at the same time I test the milkers. This takes no extra time, only in the matter of looking it up, as each milker has his regular cows to milk, and at the end of the season it can very readily be calculated how each milker has made his cows "hold out" (as we term it) with their milk. The following figures are from my books having the record of the work done dur- ing the winter of 1892-'93: Milker No. 1, Dec. 17, 1892, cows gave 356 Ibs.; Feb. 28, 1893, 258 Ibs. Milker No. 2, Dec. 17, 1892, cows gave 298 Ibs.; Feb. 28, 1893, 244 Ibs. Milker No. 3, Dec. 17, 1892, cows gave 304 Ibs.; Feb. 28, 1893, 204 Ibs. During this time the cows of No. 1 shrank 98 Ibs., No 2's cows shrank 54 Ibs., and No. 3's cows 100 Ibs. The per cent of shrinkage was: No. 1, 27 per cent; No. 2, 18 per cent; No. 3, 32 per cent. The shrinkage per cow from Dec. 17 to Feb. 28 was for No. 1, 7 Ibs.; No. 2, 5 Ibs., and No. 3, 9| Ibs. The milkers in the future will have their rec- ord and will secure employment on it. It will MILKING. 71 require time for this plan to work its way to the front, but it is sure to develop. Milking for prizes.— After studying over this milking question for two years trying to devise some plan by which I could interest my milkers in their work, thereby securing better service, I decided to offer prizes to be competed for. I have five milkers and I offered three prizes to be awarded on the percentage of shrinkage for a term of months. The first prize was $10, the second $5 and the third $2.50. My milkers were greatly interested in this work during the whole time of the con- test and the results showed careful work. One milker who milked 12 cows had a varia- tion from highest to lowest daily weight of 7 Ibs. during a week. Another milker who had 14 cows to milk had as low a variation as 7^ Ibs. in the daily milk of his cows in a week. My total milk, which reached 1,850 Ibs. daily, varied less than some of the patrons who had 250 to 300 Ibs. daily. This was the result of careful, systematic work and work that pays. The young man who won the first prize had a shrinkage of 1.85 Ibs. per cow in three months. The winner of the second prize made a shrink- age of 2 Ibs. per cow, and the third prize win- ner made a shrinkage of 2.6 Ibs. per cow for the three months. These shrinkages figured to percentages are as follows: First prize, .074; 72 AMERICAN DAIRYING. second prize, .089, and third prize, .095. This work, when compared with the work of the previous winter for the same months and under the same conditions as nearly as possible, is in- teresting to say the least, Some of the work of the previous winters was alarming, though it was doubtless as good as the average milk- ing. I have the record of one milker for three months in 1892 and 1893, also in 1893 and 1894. In the first winter his percentage of shrinkage for the three months was 27^ per cent, and the following winter when competing for a prize his shrinkage was 9^ per cent for the same months. When not competing for a prize his shrinkage was 7 Ibs. per cow in three months; when competing it was 2.6 Ibs. — a difference of 4.4 Ibs. The difference between the poorest work of the winters of 1892 and 1893 and the best work of 1893 and 1894 rolls up in a way to frighten me and make me doubt my own figures. The poorest work shows a shrinkage of 9^ Ibs. per cow in three months, and the best work shows a shrinkage of 1.88 Ibs. per cow for the same length of time. This difference is 7.62 Ibs. per cow daily. I think it fair to suppose that the average difference of shrinkage for the three months would be one-half as much as it was at the end of the three months. This would be 3.81 Ibs. per day for the 90 days, or 343 Ibs. . MILKING. 73 Now we will suppose the shrinkage after the three months is the same in both cases, and we have 200 days at 7.62 Ibs., or 1,524 Ibs. + 343 lbs.=l,S67 Ibs. per cow, and for fifteen cows 28,005 Ibs. of milk, which valued at $1 per 100 Ibs. would amount to $280.05. I do not think this comparison is an exaggeration. I have supposed that the shrinkage in both cases was alike after the three months, which is not fair to the best milker, as it is more than probable that the shrinkage of the poor milker kept on increasing over the good milker and that his cows were dried a month earlier than were the cows of the good milker. I had a plain talk with my milkers when the prize work commenced, telling them of the need of kindness, care and regularity of time in milking; also the necessity of securing all of the milk. I told them that if at any time the totals of milk at the barn and the creamery did not agree each milker would be furnished with separate cans and would be expected to make his milk at the barn and creamery com- pare, and that if at any time I learned of any man's unfair work to get an advantage I should exclude him from the competition. I am now pleased to be able to say that nothing of the kind was discovered. How to milk. — The milkers should do their talking before they begin to milk and then at- 74 AMERICAN DAIRYING. tend strictly to their milking, doing the work as fast as they practically can, being careful not to hurt the cow in any way and particular to milk the cows clean. If the cow is not milked clean the richest part of the milk is left, and this kind of milking will cause the cow to shrink her milk. This point must be looked after carefully. Always milk with dry hands. Do not dip your fingers in the milk or allow it to be done. A person can milk better with dry hands as soon as he becomes accustomed to doing so. I was taught to milk with wet hands but broke myself of the bad habit. Dipping the fingers in the milk or froth is an uncleanly habit. Don't do it. The writer has milked fifteen to twenty cows regularly for months together, and once milked thirty-five cows for several days, the cause be- ing a strike of milkers. The whole bunch of strikers got left and I got better ones as fast as I found them. Experiment station work. — The Wisconsin Station (Report 1889, page 44) reported experi- ments on the effect of change of milker, rapid- ity of milking, manner of milking, milking tubes vs. hand-milking, and milking one teat at a time. Differences were noticed between good milkers which were attributed to the manner of milking, since the cows were all MILKING. 75 milked dry. The greatest effect was always noticed at the first milking after a change of milker, and with some cows this was more marked than with others. In comparison of milking fast and slow, cows were milked in from three to four minutes and in double that time. The yield of milk seemed to be little affected, but in every case richer milk was given when the cows were milked fast, and this was most marked with cows giv- ing the most milk. On an average from the whole lot of cows there was a gain of 11.73 per cent in the total yield of fat from fast milking. This difference in quality, however, seemed to decrease gradually, though not to disappear altogether. When cows were milked one teat at a time there was a decided difference in the composi- tion of the milk from the different teats. The milk richest in fat was invariably obtained from the teat milked second, that milked first coming next in richness, that milked third fol- lowing, and that milked fourth the poorest. If the order in which the teats were milked was changed, the order of richness also changed so as to conform to the above rule, indicating that the richness of the milk from separate teats was due to the order of milking rather than to any characteristic differences in the parts of the udder. With this manner of milking the 76 AMERICAN DAIRYING. average percentage of fat in the milk from all four teats was considerably below that with ordinary milking. Comparisons of milking by hand and with tubes were, as a rule, unfavorable to the milk- ing tubes. On the whole the yield was slightly less with tubes than with hand milking and the quality of the milk was poorer, although there were individual exceptions to this rule. The average for the eight cows tested showed a total less with tubes of 6.5 Ibs. of milk and 2.718 Ibs. of fat per day. As to the frequency of milking, tests made at the New Hampshire Station of milking hourly and at the Vermont Station of milking two and three times a clay, indicated that while there was a gain in some cases from frequent milk- ing this was only temporary and was not ap- parent after two or three days. There was often a decrease in both yield and composition when frequent milking was continued. The Vermont Station found that in these fluctua- tions of quality the fat only was affected, the casein, sugar and ash remaining practically constant. Quality of first and last milk drawn. — The ''Handbook of Experiment Station Work," pub- lished by the United States Department of Agriculture, gives the results of many interest- ing and instructive experiments in milking MILKING. 77 made by the different experiment stations. It is stated that the milk from the first portion of any single milking is relatively poor and in- creases in richness to the strippings, which are relatively very rich. Thus the New York Sta- tion found that in the case of five cows the first pint of milk contained only .3 per cent of fat while the last pint contained 6.85 per cent and the mixed milk from the whole milking averaged 2.55 per cent. In every instance the first half contained only from one-third to one- half as much fat as the last half. Similar re- sults are reported in Connecticut, also in Indi- ana and New Hampshire. Daily variation. — The milk of the same cow differs both in composition and in yield from day to day. Babcock states that yield may vary by 15 per cent and the amount of fat by as much as 50 per cent. Four cows tested at the Wisconsin Station (Report 1889, page 42) showed an average daily variation of from 1.18 to 1.8 Ibs. of milk; and the yield of fat per day fluctuated about 8 per cent. In connection with this work Dr. Bab- cock says (Wisconsin Report 1889, page 43): Our experimental work during the past year has directed attention especially to these variations and has served to in- dicate some causes for them which have not been given much prominence by writers upon dairy matters. It is gen- erally considered when the farmer has supplied a sufficient amount of proper food and has provided good shelter and 78 AMERICAN DAIRYING. care for his cows, that he has done all that it is possible for him to do in order to secure *an abundant yield of rich milk and the cow is usually held responsible for any failure. All of these conditions are of course essential for the best results, but the immediate conditions under which the milk- ing is done appear to have almost as much influence upon the yield and quality of milk as any other factor. The manner of milking, the frequency with which it is done and the time occupied in doing it may, I believe, have more influence with many cows upon the yield and quality of milk than the kind of food, so long as sufficient food is supplied. All of our experimental work indicates that temporary conditions existing only at the time of milking may very materially affect both the yield and quality of the milk pro- duced. This can be most easily explained by assuming that the milk glands are most active at this time and that the quality of the secretion depends on this activity. It seems probable that the action of the milk glands is greatly modi- fied by the nervous condition of the animal at the time of milking as well as by the stimulus derived from manipula- tion of the teats and udder. This experiment also brought out the fact that the man- ner of milking also affects the composition of the milk. It was found that cows which ordinarily gave milk with 4 and 5 per cent of fat respectively, gave milk with only 2.7 and 3.92 per cent respectively when milked one teat at a time. The milk was richer in fat when milked rapidly (three to four minutes) than when milked slowly (double that time), though the yield seemed not to be affected, the fat being as a general rule more sensitive to such changes than the other- ingredients or the total yield of milk. Morning's and night's milk. — There is at times a marked difference in the per cent of fat contained in the morning's and night's milk. Some dairy writers have claimed that one was the richest in fat and some that the other was. My experience in testing my own herd, also in MILKING. 79 doing "detective" work at our creameries, has convinced me that the time between milkings is the greatest cause of this difference. I know that some farmers have been suspected of being dishonest with their milk when in fact they were the reverse of it. Being hard-working men and up at 4 o'clock in the morning to milk and making long days in the field caused the milking to be done as late as 8 o'clock in the evening, thus making the time from morning to night's milking sixteen hours, and the time from night's to morning's milking eight hours. When these conditions exist the morning's milk will contain the largest per cent of fat. In extreme cases the night's milk will be so much poorer in fat than the morning's that it is pretty strong circumstantial evidence that there is something wrong about the night's milk, or at least that was the fact before the introduction of the Babcock test. Now we have light on this subject and many others. At the Mississippi Station ("Bulletin 13") it was found that when cows were milked at be- tween 5:30 and 7 in the morning and between 3:30 and 5 in the afternoon it required on an average 18.1 Ibs. of the morning's milk and 13.5 Ibs. of the night's milk to make a pound of butter. In this case the hours of milking made the time from morning to night ten hours and the time from night to morning fourteen hours, 80 AMERICAN DAIRYING. Here the difference in time (14— 10=4-f-lO=.4) was .4 per cent and the difference in the pounds of milk (18.1— 13.5— 4.6-=-13.5=.34) required to make a pound of butter was .34 per cent. The facts brought out by the work of our ex- periment stations on milking should cause dairymen who are not giving thought to this question to commence thinking seriously and immediately. Who can tell us how many cows that are now unprofitable could be made profit- able by a change of milkers or by more intelli- gent work without a change? CHAPTER V. MILK FROM COW TO CREAM VAT. As soon as a cow is milked strain the milk through a wire strainer into a can which is to be used to convey the milk to the milk-house or the room where it is to be set to raise the cream or put through the sepa- rator to separate the cream. There COMMON T™ MILK PAIL. it should be strained through a cloth strainer. Flannel strainers.— When I made butter at my farm I used woolen strainers for this pur- pose. They do thorough work, but require con- siderable care to prevent their thickening or fulling so the milk will not run through them. Cotton strainers will do more thorough work 6 (81) 82 AMERICAN . DAIRYING. than a wire strainer, and I prefer them in the milk-room. When the shallow-pan system is IRON-CLAD TIN MILK PAIL. used the milk should be set as fast as is prac- ticable after it is strained, as the cream rises the fastest while the milk is cooling and the CURTIS WIHB-CLOTH STRAINER. sooner set after milking the more benefit we get from the cooling process. MILK FROM COW TO CREAM VAT. 83 Temperature of room.— The temperature of the room in which the milk is set should be 60 to 65 deg., so that the milk shall be sour but not thickened, except at the bottom of the pans, when it is to be skimmed. I believe the most thorough creaming is secured when the milk sets 36 hours to reach this proper stage for skimming. I have sometimes in the winter time allowed it to set 48 hours, and warmed the milk at the end of 12 hours and warmed the second time at the end of 24 hours. Repeated cooling gives thorough creaming. In this way we repeat the cooling process and secure very thorough creaming — the most per- fect of any plan except the centrifugal sepa- rator. I used large shallow pans holding 500 Ibs. of milk, and these pans were surrounded by a water pan for heating and cooling the milk. This plan of heating and cooling gave the richest cream I have ever seen. I practiced cutting the cream into squares with a knife and picked them up with a tin ladle, as pancakes would be taken up. I remember some in- stances when it would not pour out of a can 8 inches in diameter when I put it into the churn. Such cream cannot be churned until reduced with skim-milk or water. The advantage that comes from such a qual- ity of cream is the thorough creaming that is secured. I have not found it practicable to 84 AMERICAN DAIRYING. treat the milk in this way in the summer months. Such cream as this is ripe and ready to churn when taken from the milk; but it can be held two or three days with safety if kept at a low temperature. It contains but a small per cent of milk, and for that reason does not sour or ripen so fast as cream that has a larger per cent of milk in it. When milk is set in small shallow pans it can be treated to this heating and cooling pro- cess by placing the pans into a vessel of hot water or over boil- ing water and heat with steam. When this is practiced the tem- perature of the milk-room must be held down as low as 40 deg. Fah., if possible, or the milk will sour too soon. My practice was to open the windows and get the temperature down near the freezing point until the milk was cooled. Do not skim the milk until it is ready to be skimmed. Thin cream cannot be taken off from shallow pans without considerable loss. It should stand until the cream thickens and the temperature of the room should be such as to cause it to thicken before it is old enough to suffer in flavor. Observation and experience DEEP-SETTING CAN. MILK FROM COW TO CREAM VAT. 85 teach a person about these matters. It is also important that milk should be skimmed as soon as it is ready ; if not, there is danger of loss in the flavor. Submerged plan. — If the submerged or deep, cold system is used for cream-raising the milk should be set as soon as practicable after it is THE COOLEY CREAMEB. milked and strained. The sooner it is set and the colder the water it is set in the better the results. The warming and cooling process can be used to advantage with this system. Cream rises fastest while the milk is cooling, and if we can repeat the cooling process we accom- plish more efficient work. There is a variety of opinions as to the neces- 00 AMERICAN DAIRYING. sary time for milk to set to secure the best results by the deep, cold-setting system. My experience is that a larger yield of butter is secured when it is held 24 hours in ice water than when held 12 hours, and if held in water at 60 deg. Fah. it is best to let it set 36 hours, and in some cases 48 hours. The breed and period of lactation have much influence on the cream raising. The cream METHOD OF SKIMMING MILK FROM COOLEY CANS. globules are larger in the milk of some breeds than others, and this fact must be taken into account in the gravity methods of cream-rais- ing. The milk of all cows creams more readily when they are fresh than when they are ad- vanced in the period of lactation. This will apply to all methods of creaming, whether the shallow pan, the deep, cold system, or the separator, although the separator will secure a MILK FROM COW TO CREAM VAT. 87 larger increase of butter over the gravity meth- ods when we have a hard-skimming milk than when we have a milk that creams readily. The conditions must be the most favorable to secure thorough creaming with the gravity methods, but the separator can be adjusted to get prac- tically all the cream from any and all milk. Care in skimming. — The skimming of the Cooley and "shot-gun" deep-setting cans is very different. In the Cooley can the skim-milk is drawn from the bottom and the cream is not disturbed except as it settles as the milk is drawn out of the can, but with the "shot-gun" CONE SKIMMER, FOR USE WITH DEEP CAN can the cream is taken off the top with a con- ical dipper and great care is necessary to avoid mixing the cream and milk during the process of skimming. Experimental work in creaming. — The ex- periment stations of the United States have done much valuable work in this line. At the New York State Station a comparison of sub- merging milk in cans in spring water at 56 deg. Fah. and in ice water gave three-fourths of a pound more butter per 100 Ibs. of milk from the use of ice. The Wisconsin Station (Report 1884, page 17) 88 AMERICAN DAIRYING. found that the loss by setting in water at 55 deg. might be nearly a third larger than at 45 deg. and a tenth larger than at 50 deg. Snyder (Minnesota "Bulletin 19") found that creaming was more rapid and more complete in ice water than in water at 60 deg. Jordan at the Maine Station found that the creaming was more complete at a temperature below 45 deg. than at a temperature higher. At the New York State Station (Report 1889, page 210,) 12 hours setting in ice water was found insufficient and 24 hours adopted. Centrifugal separators.— When a centrifugal separator is to be used I would recommend that some power be applied, either water, steam, or some animal power. Do not calculate on the hired man, the boy, or the proprietor doing this work. If you have cows enough so you can afford to have a separator you can afford to have some power to operate it. I have had just enough experience in this line to know that it is hard work. It is the kind of work that does not induce the boys to stay on the farm. If any person is to do this work it cer- tainly should be the proprietor. I do not wish to be understood as opposed to the separator as I know very well that it will secure for us the most effectual work possible. On this point the Delaware Station, in "Bulletin 17," calculates that with a herd MILK FROM COW TO CREAM VAT. 89 averaging 100 Ibs. of milk morning and night the year through the separator would save about 280 Ibs. of butter in the year, which at 25 cents per pound would be a gain of $70 over cold 90 AMERICAN DAIRYING. setting; but if fair wages be counted for the hand-labor the profit would be much reduced, if not wiped out, and the station suggests that BABT DE LAVAL SEPARATOR. horse or other power be used in place of hand power. I believe that we can make butter with a more delicate flavor, or if you please a higher flavor, when the separator is used than with MILK FROM COW TO CREAM VAT. 91 the gravity methods of creaming. Especially will this be the case in the dairy, as the milk will be separated immediately after milking, and the quicker it is done the better. With the utmost cleanliness there is liable to be and 92 AMERICAN DAIRYING. at times will be elements in milk from contact with which it is best that the cream should be removed. Any person that has operated arid cleaned separators for a few months can realize this point fully. In proof of this point it has been learned that milk for cheese-making is improved by running it through a separator without separating the cream. I think Dr. Babcock has practiced this in an experimental way. When the separator is to be used it is best to separate as soon after milking as practicable. If power of some kind is used the separator can be put in operation soon after milking has commenced, or at least commence in time to have continuous work for the separator and get through separating as soon as practicable after the milking is done. The milk as it comes from the cow is in the best possible condition to separate. Farm skim-milk. — There is a great variety in the quality of work done in the line of skim- ming by farmers. I have tested farmers' skim- milk from the gravity process that contained 1-J per cent of fat. They had recovered less than two-thirds of the fat in the milk. This quality of work makes an enormous loss. No business except farming could stand such losses. The dairyman of the future is not going to make such wastes. It is only quite MILK FROM COW TO CREAM VAT. 93 recently that we have had a practical method of knowing what losses were being made, and now we are stopping these leaks rapidly. CHAPTER VI. RIPENING AND CHURNING. We will now suppose we have the cream separated from the milk by some one of the processes. The cream from the shallow setting when the milk was sour at the time the skim- ming was done may be churned as soon as con- venient after it is taken from the milk, as it has ripened on the milk and is in good con- dition to churn. Holding cream. — It may also be put in a can and held two or three days if hekl at a low temperature — 40 to 45 deg. — and cream may be added from each succeeding skimming and thoroughly mixed with the cream already in the cream can. The cream can should be large enough to hold a churning; then we are quite sure that the cream is all of a uniform ripe- ness. This is necessary to secure the most ex- haustive churning. When we mix cream of different degrees of ripeness in the churn there is sure to be a large loss in the buttermilk. If the churning is done at a low temperature the loss will be less than (94) RIPENING AND CHURNING. 95 if done at 60 or 62 deg. This rule will hold good with all kinds of cream and all degrees of ripeness. Some kind of a vessel about the same depth as the cream can and several inches larger in diameter is needed to put the cream can in and surround it with water, warm or cold, as need- ed to warm or cool the cream. A wooden vat may be used for this purpose. Deep cold-setting cream.— The cream from the deep cold-setting will be, or should be, at a low temperature when taken from the milk. This may be put in the cream can or vat and held at a low temperature, as low as 40 deg. if practical, adding the cream from each succeed- ing skimming until a churning is secured, or two to four days, giving the cream a thorough stirring every time fresh cream is added. About eighteen to twenty hours before you wish to churn warm this cream up to 65 deg. and hold it at this temperature until ripened, which will be about eighteen hours. Acidity of cream and an acid test for cream will be talked about in "Part II" of this book. Separator cream. — The cream from the sep- arator should be immediately cooled to a low temperature, the degree depending on when it is to be churned. If to be held two or three days cool it to 40 deg., or as near it as is prac- tical. If ice is used 40 deg. can be reached. 96 AMERICAN DAIRYING. The cream from each successive skimming may be added to the can and thoroughly mixed at each addition of cream. This cream may be ripened the same as the cream from the deep cold system. Different temperatures for churning.^We now have the cream from the shallow setting, the deep setting, and from the sepa- rator ripened ready to churn. The next point is to secure the proper temper- ature before put- ting it in the churn. It is best to cool the cream from the shallow-setting sys- tem to 54 to 56 deg. before churning. This cream is rich BARREL DAIRY CHURN. in fat and can be churned at this temperature without any diffi- culty. Let the cream stand at low temperature before churning long enough for the fats to solidify or harden. The cream from the deep cold system has a much larger per cent of milk in it. and conse- quently a smaller per cent of fat, and will need to be churned at a higher temperature. If we RIPENING AND CHURNING. 97 undertake to churn this cream below 55 deg. we will probably have trouble from its swell- ing and will find the churn full of frothy SQUARE BOX CHURN. cream. The proper temperature for this cream is 60 to 62 deg. in winter and 58 to 60 deg. in summer. The separator cream should be cooled to a 7 98 AMERICAN DAIRYING. temperature to correspond with the per cent of fat it contains. If the separator is adjusted to take from one-seventh to one-eighth of the whole milk as cream it will contain sufficient fat so we can churn it at a temperature below 55 deg., but if the separator is adjusted to take from one-fourth to one-fifth of the milk as cream we shall need to churn at the tempera- ture of 58 to 60 deg. This kind of cream gives us more buttermilk and a buttermilk with more fat in it. Eich cream and low temperature give the most exhaustive churning. When the cream is being cooled get the churn ready by first scalding with water that is above 180 deg , and if it boils, all the better, as it will then surely scald. After scalding cool thoroughly with cold water and ice if you have it. When cooled the churn is ready for the cream. Never fill the churn more than half full, as it will require more time and not do so thorough churning. Strain the cream into the churn. A perfo- rated tin strainer is good for this work. Strain- ing breaks up any dried cream there may be, also the curd if there is any, and enables us to wash it out of the granular butter with less labor and care. There should be no curd in the cream, and if it has been agitated frequently and not allowed to become too sour there will be none. RIPENING AND CHURNING. 99 Butter color. — If the butter needs coloring to satisfy your trade put it into the cream be- fore starting to churn. When purchasing but- ter color be sure that you get fresh goods, as it will sometimes become stale with age and in- jure the flavor of the butter. If you buy the small bottles at your grocery store you will RECTANGULAR CHURN. need to look well after this point. I have had butter color that would impart a flavor to the cream that could be detected before the churn was started. Temperature of churn room. — Have the temperature of the room in which the churn- ing is to be done as cold as the cream if possi- ble, and if it is 10 to 15 cleg, colder all the better, 100 AMERICAN DAIRYING. as the cream will then not warm during the churning process. But if the churn room is up to 75 to 80 deg. the cream will warm up very fast and the butter will not be in as good con- dition. It will need much more washing than when it gathers cold. Washing the butter. — The churn should be stopped when the granules of butter are the DOG POWER. size of wheat, the buttermilk drawn through a fine sieve, and the butter then washed as little as practical to remove the buttermilk. Here is where the cold churning has the advantage, as the butter will not need so much washing. When the butter gathers at 62 to 64 deg. it will need three washings to remove the buttermilk, and it will then show milky when being worked. But if the butter gathers at 52 to 54 RIPENING AND CHURNING. 101 deg. it will need but one washing, if any, and I am confident we will have a better flavor if not washed at all. When washing do not let the butter remain in the water any longer than is absolutely necessary. Remove it as soon as it has done its work. Allowing butter to lie in water is a vital mistake. Low temperature. — Churning at 50 to 52 deg. is a radical change from the general prac- tice and there are still many who do not be- lieve it practical, but it is the daily practice in our creameries in cold weather. It is not unusual, but the rule, that our butter will stand as low as 54 deg. in winter when the buttermilk is re- moved. To avoid too much washing churn at as low temperature as possible. To secure the most exhaustive churning churn at low temperature. To churn at a low temperature it is necessary to have a rich cream. Do not attempt to churn poor or thin cream at a low temperature, as you will have trouble. I have many times in my early experience with cream from deep, cold setting that was too cold and DAVIS SWING CHURN. 102 AMERICAN DAIRYING. swelled so as to fill the churn too full, there oy preventing churning, drawn out one-half of it and made two churnings. This will require less time and much less patience than it will to churn, or try to, when the churn is so full that there is no concussion. Handle with ladle.— Keep the butter 'in the granular form until it is put onto the worker and the salt added. Keep your hands out of the butter and handle it with a wooden scoop and ladle. CHAPTER VII. SALTING, WORKING, PACKING AND PRINTING. The salting may be done in the churn or on the worker. If the box or barrel churn is used it can be salted very nicely in the churn. Use a sieve and put the salt through it into the granular butter; then revolve the churn very slowly and the salt can be thoroughly mixed with the butter before it is taken from the churn and while it is in the granular form. The main objection I have to salting granular butter in the churn is the uncertainty as to the amount or weight of the butter. When a small churn is used this can be overcome by weigh- ing the churn with the butter in it. This was my practice until my dairy increased so as to require a churn of a size that could not be readily handled and weighed. The advantage of churning at a low temperature comes in here too, as butter at a low temperature does not pack so readily and the salt can be mixed with less working. (103) 104 AMERICAN DAIRYING. Use sufficient salt to suit your trade. Our experience is with a trade that wants three- quarters to one ounce per pound. Work the butter once or twice as you like. Take the butter out of the churn with a wooden scoop. A small hand scoop can be se- cured for dairy work. Some style of a hand EUREKA BUTTER-WORKER. butter-worker should be used. There are sev- eral styles or makes that are all right. Once working. — The butter should be worked enough to thoroughly incorporate the salt so that when it has stood twenty-four hours it will not show mottled or streaked when bored or cut with a ladle. If at any time you find this appearance in your butter you may know it is not sufficiently worked, and it is best to rework butter that has much of this appearance. SALTING, WORKING AND PACKING. 105 Twice working. — If twice working is prac- ticed it should be worked sufficiently at the first working to get the salt well incorporated with the butter; then it should stand long enough to allow the salt to dissolve, when it is ready for the final working At this working the but- ter is sufficiently treated when there are no 106 AMERICAN DAIRYING. streaks of white to be seen when cut with the ladle and held to the light. BUTTER SPADE— SHORT HANDLE. Do not confound this mottled or streaked appearance that comes from ANDERSON BUTTER LADLE. insufficient working with the white curd specks that come from too sour cream. With cream from shallow SPOON LADLE. BUTTER SPADE- LONG HANDLE. pans there is some danger of parts becoming so dry that they go through the SALTING, WORKING AND PACKING. 107 churning process and we find them in the but- ter as dried cream, and when color has been used they will show as light spots, though not white as the curd will. Straining the cream will remedy this trouble. You can readily tell the difference, as one is fat and will readily dis- solve between the thumb and finger and the LEVER BUTTER-WORKER. other is curd and will not dissolve either in the mouth or by heat. Kind of packages. — Use a package to suit your trade, but whatever you use be sure that it is clean and sweet. Stone and earthen jars must be looked after very carefully, especially if they have been previously used, as they quickly get out of condition if not properly 108 AMERICAN DAIRYING. cared for. Wooden packages should not be used a second time for packed butter. Most of them are cheaply made and are intended to be used but once, and it is a very difficult matter to have them kept so that it is safe to use a second time. The dairyman will have more of this to con- tend with than the creameryman will, and he must look sharply after it. I have had bad- smelling packages come from the best families. The mistress cannot see to everything, but must trust to someone, and she is sometimes de- ceived on this point. A desirable way to put up butter for near-by mar- kets is in prints. I find that the retailer prefers this form to the solid packed, as he can handle it like canned goods in filling orders. I have been told by grocerymen that when they sell small quanti- ties from a large package three cents margin is necessary to get back the money they paid for the butter. Another point in favor of the print BUTTER SHIPPING BOX. SALTING, WORKING AND PACKING. 109 butter is its better appearance. When it is nicely printed and wrapped in parchment paper it looks very neat and attractive. It can also be more readily put in good shape for the table. In the Eastern and some of the Middle States a large percentage of butter goes to market in prints. There are shipping-boxes for print butter for sale by dairy-implement dealers, some with ice- box attachment and others without. CHAPTER VIII. MARKETING DAIRY BUTTER. There are many ways of marketing dairy butter. At times it may be sold to good advan- tage at the country store, but this is the excep- tion, not the rule. The country store does not usually pay for butter on its merits. The seller is often a customer and they do not want to offend, and so they pay more for poor butter than it is worth, and to balance up must pay less for the good butter than it is worth. In many places a good market may be secured among the citizens of the village or city where you trad,e. Many are anxious to have a reliable source of supply, and are willing to pay well for butter that satisfies them. Poor butter makes a loss.— Poor butter makes a loss to the maker and usually to every one down the line that has anything to do with it, excepting the commission houses, and it makes them tired. The dealer makes his profit on the fine goods. Pine butter makes a profit. — There is no trouble in selling fine butter. The trouble will (110) MARKETING DAIRY BUTTER. Ill come from not oeing able to supply the demand. When you have reached this condition you are in position to secure an advance in price. This is what you have been working for. Now you 112 AMERICAN DAIRYING. have the move in the game and should try to keep it. This you can do only by continually trying to do better work. It will not answer to think you have reached the top and can stay there without an effort, as this feeling leads to defeat. Commission houses. — A good way is to con- sign to a reliable commission house. Here your butter will sell on its merits, and if there is GLASS BUTTER PACKAGE. anything wrong with it you can learn what the trouble is, and when you are told do not be offended about it, but go to work and remedy the trouble. In selecting a commission firm to sell your butter be careful not to make a mistake. There are plenty of reliable firms that advertise in the dairy papers. Many dairy papers will not re- ceive an advertisement from a firm that they do not know to be reliable. And this is right. When you have decided to let a commission man handle your butter and have selected your MARKETING DAIRY BUTTER. 118 man, remember that you and the commission man are both interested in having good sales made, and you can help him by shipping your butter on a regular day, as often as once per week. The commission man will soon have customers for your butter and they will depend on it. Have a brand for your butter, ana be sure you keep the quality up to standard. If at any time you have butter that is not up to stand- ard keep your brand off of it. Consign it to your regular man and tell him what the trouble is, if you know, and if you do not know ask him to help you over the difficulty and in many cases he will be able to do it. Treat him as a friend and nine times out of ten he will prove a friend. In my early dairy experience I had private customers, but I somehow drifted away from them. Sometimes I had a surplus to consign and at other times I did not have enough to supply or fill my orders, and if I bought to meet the demand there was in many cases dissatis- faction. Butter has individuality. — There is an indi- viduality about butter as much as in persons, and when customers become familiar with a certain brand of butter they prefer it to some other make that is equally good. This individ- uality must be preserved. If at any time you 114 AMERICAN DAIRYING. think it best to make a change in any of the details of your work let the change be made gradually, so the customers will adapt them- selves to the change and probably be pleased with it, when if you had made an abrupt change they would not have liked it. I recently had the pleasure of examining some butter made near one of our large cities. This butter was selling for seventy-five cents per pound. This caused me to examine it very carefully. The butter was very fine. It had a peculiar fla- vor, different from any flavor I had ever discov- ered in butter before. I was told that this pe- culiar flavor was virtually a trade-mark ; that the consumers soon learned to like it and pre- ferred it to any other flavor. I mention this in proof of the statement that customers prefer what they have become accustomed to rather than anything different that is equally good. Care pays well. — Do not be afraid that ex- tra time spent in fitting your butter for market will not pay. Remember that you are building a reputation that will enable you to secure a better price and cause your butter to sell read- ily at all times, and on a dull or declining mar- ket especially will it do you good, as your goods will move in time to escape a large part of the decline. Poor butter always gets caught when the market declines. This leaves it to go from bad to worse, and it will go at a terrible gait. MARKETING DAIRY SETTER. 115 This we are well aware of when the returns come. Profits from a dairy farm. — Acting on the judgment of several of my friends that it is a proper thing to do I give here a short business account, showing in a condensed way the profit of my farm in 1898: Sales. Hogs $1,726.49 Fat cows 480.90 Oats. 270.40 Butter and calves 4,410.69 $6,888.48 Expenses. Ground feed and corn bought $1,522.35 Five regular men 1,525.00 Taxes, insurance, blacksmithing, groceries, hardware, extra labor, etc 1,494.36 $4,541.71 Profits $2,346.77 My stock I appraise at $3,760.00, on which I figure 6 per cent interest, which amounts to $225.60. This taken from the balance of $2,346.77 leaves $2,121.17 to be credited to the land. My farm contains 354 acres, valued at $60 per acre, or $21,240. This is practically 10 per cent interest on the land and 6 per cent on the stock, or 9| per cent on the total invested in stock and tools. I do not live on my farm, but spend one day per week looking after it. I had more stock on the farm Jan. 1, 1894, than I did Jan. 1, 1893, This I did not take into account. CHAPTER IX. SKIM-MILK. There are comparatively few farmers that realize the value of skim -milk as a food for pigs and calves. My experience has taught me that when made the entire food of pigs weighing 50 to 75 Ibs. it produced a pound's increase from 16 Ibs. of skim-milk. With live hogs worth 4 cents per pound this would make the skim- milk worth 25 cents per 100 Ibs. Value fed alone. — I do not advise feeding pigs entirely on skim-milk. It is more profit- able to feed some grain food in connection with it. The combination will give better re- sults. The question arises, Where shall we credit the increased profit that comes from feeding the combination of skim -mi Ik and grain food over feeding either one separate, or making either skim-milk or the grain the entire food? I formerly divided this increased profit and gave one-half to the skim-milk and one-half to the grain feed. I am now in doubt about the justice of this practice. I believe (116) SKIM-MILK. 117 the skim-milk should have credit for all the in- creased profit there may be above what there would be in feeding the grain food alone. Cost of growth, with corn. — In June, 1874, a lot of 20 pigs weighing 51 Ibs. each fed entirely on corn and the increase weight cred- ited at 4 cents per pound, paid 84 cents per bushel for the corn. In January, 1875, a lot of 32 pigs weighing 223 Ibs. each fed entirely on corn made me 31J cents per bushel for the corn fed, with pork at 4 cents per pound, live weight. In February, 1875, a bunch of 30 pigs weigh- ing 263 Ibs. each fed on corn and the increase credited at 4 cents per pound brought me 34 cents per bushel for the corn. In January, 1876, 54 pigs weighing 254 Ibs. each were fed on corn and the increase figured at 4 cents per pound made me 39 8-10 cents per bushel for the corn fed. In October, 1877, 34 hogs weighing 302 Ibs. each were fed new corn and made me 49 cents per bushel with live hogs worth 4 cents per pound. The average of these four experiments gave me 37 cents per bushel for corn made into pork at 4 cents per pound, live weight; or, in other words, if the corn were figured at 35 cents per bushel the pork cost $3.78 per 100 Ibs., live weight. 118 AMERICAN DAIRYING. Wisconsin station work. — The Wisconsin Report of 1885, pages 34, 35, and 36, gives the results of some experiments showing the cost of producing pork with corn-meal at $16 per ton to have been 4.3 cents per pound; with wheat shorts at $14 per ton it cost 3.7 cents, and with a mixture of one-half each corn-meal and wheat shorts it cost 3.3 cents. With corn at 35 cents per bushel and wheat shorts at 70 cents per 100 Ibs., the ration being two parts corn and one part shorts, the cost per pound of increase was 4.1 cents in one instance and with another lot with the same feed the cost was 4.4 cents. The same lots immediately following these experiments were fed on corn at 35 cents per bushel and made pork at a cost of 4.8 cents and 4.6 cents. In the Wisconsin Report of 1888, page 109, it is recorded that the work with whole corn at 35 cents per bushel made the gain cost 4.9 cents per pound. On the same page the work shows wheat shorts at 70 cents per 100 Ibs. to have made pork at a cost of 3.6 cents. Where two parts corn and one part shorts were fed, corn being 35 cents per bushel and shorts 70 cents per 100 Ibs., the cost of gain was 3.85 cents per pound. When two parts shorts and one part corn was fed the cost was 3.25 cents per pound. On page 111 of the same report the average of three experiments with whole corn is given SKIM-MILK. 119 as 35 cents per bushel. The pork cost 4.9 cents per pound live weight. In five experiments with corn-meal in summer at 80 cents per 100 Ibs. the pork cost 4.28 cents, and in three ex- periments with corn-meal in winter it cost 4.14 cents per pound, live weight, to produce pork. Illinois station work.— The Illinois Experi- ment Station, in " Bulletin No. 16," gives the results in tabulated form of sixteen experi- ments made in feeding corn alone to pigs. These experiments were made in nine different months of the year and show excellent work. The average of the sixteen lots showed 11^ Ibs. live weight made from 56 Ibs. of corn. With corn worth 35 cents per bushel this would make pork cost a trifle over 3 cents per pound. The poorest results were obtained from work done in January, which showed 6.93 Ibs. from one bushel of corn fed to pigs weighing 108 Ibs. each. The next poorest results were obtained in June, July and August, and showed 8.28 Ibs. per bushel of corn fed to pigs weighing 208 Ibs. each. The third poorest result was in July, and showed 8.66 Ibs. per bushel fed to pigs of 223 Ibs. weight. The best work was done in December, and showed 16.81 Ibs. from one bushel of corn. Virginia station work. — The Virginia Ex- periment Station, in "Bulletin No. 10," found it to cost 5.3 cents per pound to produce pork 120 AMERICAN DAIRYING. with corn-meal at $20 per ton. On this basis if the corn-meal had been $16 per ton the pork would have cost 4J cents per pound live weight. Average farmer's work. — I am confident the average farmer feeding corn alone makes very little if any profit in producing pork on a basis of 35 cents per bushel for corn and $4 per 100 Ibs. live weight for hogs. There are short periods, for instance with hogs that have been at pasture or that have been having a part ration of skim-milk or when being fed new corn before it becomes hard, that there may be and is a good profit at the above-mentioned prices of corn and pork. On the other hand there are times when hogs have been fed an exclusive corn diet for several months that there is a severe loss at above-mentioned prices of corn and pork. We cannot expect the aver- age farmer to do as good work feeding as the experiment stations, but we have farmers that can and do get equally good results. Prof. Cooke's opinion. — In the 1892 report of the Vermont Experiment Station Prof. W. W. Cooke says: "It would be a proper method of accounting to take out from the amount re- ceived for the pork made the cost of the grain food and consider the balance as what was re- ceived for the skim-milk." He also says: "The only reason for keeping and feeding the SKIM-MILK. 121 pigs was to serve as a method of utilizing the skim-milk." Credit skim-milk. — If I am right in my conclusions that there is little if any profit in producing 4-cent pork from 35-cent corn it will be just and fair to credit skim-milk with the profit that comes with feeding a combination of skim-milk and grain food when the growth is credited at 4 cents. When pork is worth more than 4 cents, as it frequently or generally is, we are on a new basis and both grain food and skim-milk will receive more credit. Feeding sow with pigs. — In 1878 I made some experiments with feeding pigs, taking a litter of eight pigs and their dam when the pigs were twelve days old. The dam weighed 290 Ibs. and the eight pigs 61 Ibs., making a total of 351 Ibs. Eighteen days later the dam weighed 295 Ibs. and the eight pigs 112 Ibs., a total weight of 407 Ibs. This was a gain in eighteen days of 56 Ibs. worth 4 cents per pound, or $2.24. They were fed 141 Ibs. of corn-meal and wheat bran worth $14 per ton, or 98 cents. They were also fed 530 Ibs. skim- milk. We will deduct from the value of the increase weight ($2.24) the cost of meal and bran (74 cents) and we have $1.26 for tjie 530 Ibs. skim-milk, or 23 4-5 cents per 100 Ibs. of skim-milk. Same pigs at 40 Ibs. — June 8 the eight pigs 122 AMERICAN DAIRYING. weighed 327 Ibs. June 21 they weighed 423 Ibs. — a gain of 96 Ibs. in thirteen days which was worth 4 cents per pound, or $3.86. They were fed 217 Ibs. of corn which at 35 cents per bushel would be worth $1.36, which deducted from $3.86 would leave $2.48 to the credit of the 439 Ibs. of skim-milk, or 56^ cents per 100 Ibs. We will take this $3.84 which we get for the 96 Ibs. of growth at 4 cents per pound and charge up the corn fed at 50 cents per bushel: 3J bushels at 50 cents would amount to $1.93, which deducted from $3.84 would leave $1.91, or 43 cents per 100 Ibs. for the 439 Ibs. of skim- milk fed. Let us figure this another way. We will suppose 200 Ibs. of skim-milk equal to one bushel of corn, and we have 3.87 bushels of corn, and the 439 Ibs. of skim-milk would equal 2.19 bushels, making 6.06 bushels, for which we received $3.84, or 63 cents per bushel. Now charge the pigs with the skim-milk at 25 cents per 100 Ibs. and the corn at 35 cents per bushel and we have the following account: 439 Ibs. skim-milk at 25 cents $1.10 3| bushels of corn at 35 cents. 1.35 Cost of the 96 Ibs. growth $2.45 Cost per pound of growth 02i Same pigs at 125 Ibs. weight. — This bunch of pigs after reaching a weight of 125 Ibs. made SKIM-MILK. 128 growth at a cost of 2.64 cents per pound with corn figured at 35 cents per bushel and skim- milk at 25 cents per 100 Ibs. I was a farmer when I did this work and am a farmer yet, but do not now milk the cows and feed the pigs and calves as I did when liv- ing on the farm. Wisconsin experiments. — The Wisconsin report of 1888, page 92, gives some interesting reports of work done in feeding corn-meal and skim-milk, also whole corn and skim-milk. A saving of about 10 per cent was found by grind- ing the corn into meal, which amount scarcely paid for the grinding. Taking the figures and charging up the corn-meal at 80 cents per 100 Ibs. and crediting 4 cents per pound for the in- crease in weight made and giving the skim- milk credit for all the profit made, we have as follows: 183 Ibs. sweet skim-milk and 366 Ibs. corn-meal made 100 Ibs. gain; 366 Ibs. corn- meal at 80 cents per 100 Ibs. equals $2.93, to be deducted from $4, the price of the 100 Ibs. gain, and we have $1.07 to the credit of the 183 Ibs. of sweet skim-milk, which is 58 cents per 100 Ibs. This lot of hogs averaged 288 Ibs. An- other lot averaging 204 Ibs. each, fed at the same time and in exactly the same way, made 40 cents per 100 Ibs. for the sweet skim-milk. Work done at the same time in feeding sweet skim-milk and whole corn, estimating the corn 124 AMERICAN DAIRYING. at 40 cents per bushel and allowing 4 cents per pound for the increase and crediting the skim- milk with the whole profit, gives us 50 cents per 100 Ibs. for it. The hogs were fed two pounds of grain food to each pound of skim- milk. The Wisconsin experimenters did not figure the trial in this way. I have taken the responsibility of putting their work in this shape. They may well feel proud of their work in this line. On page 96 of the Wisconsin report of 1888 is a statement of the results of feeding different amounts of sweet skim-milk and corn-meal to pigs. In this work there were three lots of pigs of three each. Lot A was fed 350 Ibs. of sweet skim-milk to 100 Ibs. of corn-meal. Lot B was fed 100 Ibs. of sweet skim-milk to 110 Ibs. of corn-meal. Lot C was fed 100 Ibs. of sweet skim-milk to 300 Ibs. of corn- meal. Fig- uring the corn-meal to be worth 80 cents per 100 Ibs. arid the skim-milk 25 cents per 100 Ibs., the cost of the increase was as follows: Lot A, fed 350 Ibs. sweet skim-milk to 100 Ibs. corn-meal, cost 3i cts. per Ib. Lot B, 'fed 100 Ibs. sweet skim-milk to 110 Ibs. corn-meal, cost 3 cts. per Ib. Lot C, fed 100 Ibs. sweet skim-milk to 300 Ibs. corn-meal, cost 3 cts. per Ib. Prof. Henry says: "This trial shows that to produce pork rapidly a large proportion of milk to corn-meal may be fed, but that such feeding SKIM-MILK. 125 is not the most economical when cost of prod- uct is considered, and that one pound to one pound and a half of milk to one pound of corn- meal is as much as can be profitably fed when milk is valued at 20 to 25 cents per 100 Ibs. and corn-meal at 75 cents per 100 Ibs." Old and young animals. — The Wisconsin re- port of 1889, page 24, gives some results of work done to show the value of skim-milk fed to mature versus growing hogs. With lot 1, hogs weighing 400 Ibs., it required 1,430 Ibs. of skim-milk and 301 Ibs. of corn-meal to produce 100 Ibs. increase. Crediting the in- crease at 4 cents per pound and charging 80 cents per 100 Ibs. for the corn-meal, we have 11 cents per 100 Ibs. left for the skim-mirk fed. With lot 2, hogs weighing 144 Ibs., it required 1,024 Ibs. of skim-milk and 174 of corn-meal to produce 100 Ibs. live weight. Figuring this on the same basis as lot 1, we secure 25 cents per 100 Ibs. for the skim-milk. These figures illustrate the facts so often brought out, that to do profitable work we must have young and growing animals. Before and after weaning. — In the 1889 Wisconsin report is recorded some very valu- able work in feeding pigs before and after weaning. In these trials there were four lots of pigs. The experiment made before weaning continued from 55 to 64 days, the sows being 126 AMERICAN DAIRYING. weighed with the pigs. They were fed corn- meal and shorts and skim-milk. Figuring the corn-meal and shorts at $14 per ton and the sweet skim-milk at 25 cents per 100 Ibs., the growth cost as follows: With lot 1 $3.10 per 100 Ibs. With lot 2 3.44 per 100 Ibs. With lot 3 3.03 per 100 Ibs. With lot 4 3.00 per 100 Ibs. Figured on the same basis after weaning the growth cost as follows: Lot 1 $3.23 per 100 Ibs. Lot 2 2.95 per 100 Ibs. Lot 3 2.61 per 100 Ibs. Lot 4 2.60 per 100 Ibs. The trial after weaning covered from 30 to 46 days. Figuring the gain made by these pigs at 4 cents per pound, and deducting therefrom the cost of the ground feed at $14 per ton for corn- meal and shorts, half of each, thereby giving the skim-milk credit for all the profit, we find that in the work before weaning we receive 30 cents, 40 cents, 41 cents and 43 cents per 100 Ibs. of sweet skim-milk, and after weaning on the same basis we receive 38 cents, 43 cents, 51 cents and 55 cents per 100 Ibs. of skim-milk. We have found in one instance that 400-1 b. hogs paid us 11 cents per 100 Ibs. for skim-milk, and in other cases we have found with pigs about three months old that we received as SKIM-MILK. 127 high as 50 cents per 100 Ibs. of skim-milk. How much of this do we poor mortals need to get ourselves in the proper condition to receive good from such work? Let us not sit down and say we cannot accomplish any such work, for we can. Some of us have done it and more of us can when we go about it intelligently. New Hampshire station work. — The New Hampshire Experiment Station, "Bulletin No. 11," gives some valuable work on pig-feeding. Every hog-raiser in the country should read it. It gives the results of feeding skim-milk and corn-meal versus corn-meal and middlings. The work commenced with pigs six weeks old and weighing 28 Ibs. each. The experiment commenced Sept. 3 and ended Jan. 14, extend- ing over four and one-third months' time and at a season of the year that gave a fair average of temperature. At the commencement of the experiment skim-milk is assumed to be worth 25 cents per 100 Ibs.; later in the work the re- sults are figured so as to show the actual value of the skim-milk. A valuable point. — The most noticeable point about the work is the marked superiority of the skim-milk and corn-meal ration over the corn-meal and middlings, notwithstanding the fact that the latter contained the most digesti- ble matter. Another noticeable point is in- 128 AMERICAN DAIRYING. creased cost of producing pork as the pigs grew older. Cost increases with age. — Lot 1, Sept. 3 to 24, with skim-milk at 25 cents per 100 Ibs. and corn-meal $20 per ton, it cost .0258 to produce a pound's increase of live weight. With the same lot and same feed Oct. 15 to Nov. 5 it cost .035 per pound, and Dec. 10 to Jan. 24 it cost .0434. Lot 2 showed nearly the same results. The following is clipped from this bulletin: With grain costing, as this did, $20 per ton for corn-meal and $26 for middlings such pigs as these were cannot be fed without loss when pork sells at 4 cents alive or 5 cents dressed. With skim-milk, however, the case is different for two reasons: First, less "raw material," that is digestible mat- ter, is required to produce a pound of growth, as shown be- low. DIGESTIBLE MATTER PER 100 LBS. OF GROWTH. Average digestible dry matter required to produce 100 Ibs. gain: Lot l. Lot 3. Skim-milk and corn-meai 242 220}£ Meal and middlings 334*4 334^ Average for entire time i 279 288M and secondly, because with skim-milk and corn-meal a greater quantity of food can be handled daily. Thus by both of these factors the time required for producing a 200-lb. pig is reduced very materially. This point is not sufficiently ap- preciated by many who feed pigs. With the present prices there is but one way in which pork can be produced at a profit and that is by producing a 200-lb. pig in the shortest possible time. We see from Table II that the cost of growth and the amount of food required to produce 100 Ibs. of growth in- crease as the pigs grow older, and it would have been much SKIM-MILK. 129 more profitable to have sold them when averaging 175 Ibs. each than when averaging 240 Ibs. Thus far we have, for convenience, figured all results on the assumption that the skim-milk used was worth 25 cents per 100 Ibs. We will now see what its value actually was under the conditions of this experiment, the price of live hogs being 4 cents per pound and the cost of grain as previously men- tioned. For our present purpose we will neglect the first cost of the pigs and note the value of the gain of live weight for each period where skim-milk was used as a part of the ration: TABLE IV. Total. Av'ge $2.32 3. $1.01 7.28 $15.68 $10.49 $1.31 1.48 2.40 $5.19 196 Ibs. 406 Ibs. 1,295 Ibs, 1,897 Ibs. Ig fri" "ibTeT 36} 18} $0.27^ I $13.22 $1.68 $7.66 $1.90 294 Ibs. 3.62; 1,116 Ibs. $5.56 1,410 Ibs. 1! ^5. ll $0.64^ $0.39^ This table is constructed by determining the value of the gain for each skim-milk period and subtracting therefrom the cost of the corn-meal which was fed with the skim-milk; the remainder represents the value of the skim-milk, which, divided by the amount, gives the value per 100 Ibs. The showing is certainly a favorable one, and with thrifty pigs from 20 to 30 cents per 100 Ibs. ought to be and can be real- ized for skim-milk when live hogs sell at 4 cents per pound. It must be constantly kept in mind, however, that they must be sold by the time they reach a live weight of from 200 to 230 Ibs. FEEDING WITH GRAIN ALONE. Table V gives the results of feeding with corn-meal and middlings: 9 130 AMERICAN DAIRYING. TABLE V. LOT ONE. LOT TWO. Value of gain at 4c.per Ib. Cost of grain fed. Cost of gain per pound. Value oj gain at 4c. per ib. Cost of grain fed. Cost of gain per pound. J $2 04 $1 61 3 1 cts 2 $2 54 $2 41 3 8 cte 3 3 14 3 61 4 5 92 8 29 5 6 cts 5 6 96 11 02 Total $8 46 $10 70 $12 14 $16 25 5 0 cts 5 3 cts This table seems conclusive so far as these pigs were con- cerned, and we are obliged to say that on grain alone there was a loss of more than one cent for every pound of growth. These results show us that we cannot blindly follow the teachings of feeding tables, for should we so do one of these rations would be as good as the other, but as a matter of fact, while chemically the skim-milk ration was not quite as rich in nutritive material as the grain ration, yet the former was, on an average, 30 per cent more efficient in actual results than the latter. "Table IV" is a highly interesting and valu- able one. Prof. Whitcher in the work here tabulated charges the corn-meal at cost and gives the skim-milk credit for the balance of the gain. This seems fair, as he shows in "Table V" that when corn-meal and middlings were fed the cost of producing was one cent per pound more than the increase made by the skim-milk was credited with. In "Part II" of this bulletin F. W. Morse makes an interesting and instructive report of his work to determine the digestibility of rations. I wish again to call attention to the time this experiment covered — 19 weeks. This SKIM-MILK. 131 makes it much more reliable and valuable than if it covered a short time. I use Prof. Whit- cher's conclusions entire: 1. For each 100 Ibs. of live weight eight pounds of skim- milk and four pounds of corn-meal make an ample and well- proportioned daily ration. 2. In the absence of skim-milk two and one-half pounds of corn-meal, two and one-half pounds of middlings, and eight pounds of water will give an equal amount of nutritive matter. 3. One hundred pounds of digestible matter in the skim- milk and corn-meal ration was equal to 146.9 Ibs. in the corn- meal and middlings ration. 4. The superiority of the skim-milk ration is due in part, doubtless, to its greater digestibility; but still more, in my opinion, to the fact that there is less waste matter — that is indigestible matter — to be carried through the system, and to the noticeable difference in the character of the dung, men- tioned by Prof. Morse in " Part II" of this bulletin. The pigs on mixed grain invariably grew constipated, while those on skim-milk were not so affected. 5. The cost of a pound of gain on skim-milk and corn-meal was 3.6 cents, on mixed grain ration, 5.2 cents. 6. Digestible dry matter required to produce 100 Ibs. of gain of live weight on skim-milk and corn-meal, 231 Ibs., on mixed grain, 334i Ibs. » j Lot 1 when dressed shrunk 19.6 per cent. * J Lot 2 when dressed shrunk 18.4 per cent. 8. Calling skim-milk worth 25 cents per 100 Ibs. and we get the following balance sheet, on the basis of the cost as given in "Conclusion No. 5 ": 30-lb. pig, first cost $2.00 170 Ibs. of growth on skim-milk and corn-meal, at 3.6 cts . 6. 12 200-lb. pig cost $8.12 which equals 4.06 cents per pound. HO-lb. pig, first cost $2.00 170 Ibs. growth on corn-meal and middlings, at 5.2 cts . . 8.84 200-lb. pig cost $10.84 which equals 5.42 cents per pound. 132 AMERICAN DAIRYING. Massachusetts station work. — The Massa- chusetts Experiment Station has done a great deal of valuable work in the line of experimen- tation in pig-feeding. The following conclu- sions were drawn after closing its nineteenth experiment: Briefly stated, from a practical standpoint, these two ex- periments and many others made at the station teach us the following lessons: 1. Skim-milk, together with corn-meal, gluten-meal, wheat bran, gluten feed, maize feed, etc., combined as above stated, have proved healthy and profitable foods for the production of pork for our markets. 2. With skim-milk reckoned at 1 .8 cents per gallon, gluten feed from $21 to $23 per ton, and corn-meal at $23 to $24 per ton, we have been enabled in these experiments to produce dressed pork at from 4.6 to 5.3 cents per pound. The net cost of the dressed pork produced (obtained by deducting the value of the manure produced) was from 3.3 to 3.8 cents per pound. 3. Farmers having a quantity of skim-milk at their dis- posal can utilize it profitably by feeding it to growing pigs, as above described. If this milk can be sold, however, at 1 cent per quart, or more, it would undoubtedly be more profit- able to sell it than to use it in the production of pork. 4. Experiments made at this station have proved that it is not profitable to feed pigs after they reach a weight of 180 to 190 Ibs., excepting perhaps when pork commands an ex- ceptionally high price. Fed beyond this weight the food consumed increases and the percentage of gain in live weight steadily decreases, so that the daily cost of food consumed is more than the value of the daily increase in weight. This fact has since been confirmed by other stations. Ex-Gov. Hoard's work. — Several years ago ex-Gov. Hoard made an experiment in feeding skim-milk to pigs. The pigs weighed 100 Ibs. SKIM-MILK. 133 each and cost 4J cents per pound. They were fed 56 days on clear skim-milk which was weighed to them daily and fed sweet. At the end of 56 days they were sold and the growth figured at 4^ cents per pound paid 22^ cents per 100 Ibs. of skim-milk fed. As Gov. Hoard says, this work was not done under the best condi- tions nor in the most economical way, as it would without doubt have paid better to feed some kind of grain food with the skim-milk. C. P. Goodrich's work. — Mr. C. P. Goodrich of Fort Atkinson, Wis., kindly gave me the re- sults of some experimenting he did in feeding pigs. A bunch of six-months-old pigs weighing 125 Ibs. each were divided into three lots as nearly equal as practicable. Lot 1 was fed entirely on skim-milk and made 5 Ibs. growth from 100 Ibs. of skim-milk. Lot 2 was fed entirely on corn and made 10 Ibs. growth from one bushel of' 70 Ibs. of ear corn. Lot 3 was fed skim -milk and corn in propor- tion of one bushel of corn to 100 Ibs. of skim- milk. This combination produced 18 Ibs. of growth. This illustrates very nicely the econ- omy of feeding a combination ration. When the bushel of corn and the 100 Ibs. of skim-milk were fed separate they made 15 Ibs. of growth; when combined they made 18 Ibs. of growth. 134 AMERICAN DAIRYING. Here is 20 per cent better results obtained from the combination of foods. And this is not all the meat in this nut by any means, as the farmer can feed three times as many pigs when he feeds one bushel of corn to 100 Ibs. of skim- milk as he can when he feeds clear skim- milk, as the bushel of corn has in this case twice the feeding value of the 100 Ibs. of skim- milk. I think it is fair to conclude from this work that there is twice the profit when the skim-milk is fed with the proper amount of grain food than when fed alone. This is in line with my own experience and also wTith much experiment station work. Mr. Goodrich is a farmer and did this work for his own informa- tion. Salt, ashes, and copperas. — Keep a mixture of ashes, salt, and copperas by the pigs and hogs at all times. Mix one bushel of ashes, eight quarts of salt, and four quarts of copperas. Put in a trough where it is dry and accessible at all times. It will keep them clear of worms and lice and help promote thrift. My hogs consume a barrel of copperas annually. Skim-milk for calves. — Skim-milk as a food for calves, and especially separator skim-milk, is underestimated very much by dairymen in general. I teach the calves to drink their mother's milk. The calf must have the first milk from its mother if not allowed to suck. SKIM-MILK. 135 The milk must be fed the calf when drawn. This is a law of Nature and must not be ignored. If it is there will be trouble and the calf injured or ruined. My calves are fed new milk for a few days; then we begin to mix some skim- milk and increase it until the new milk is dropped entirely. ^Rules for calf-feeding.— There are a few simple rules to follow in growing calves on skim-milk and there will seldom be any trouble. The milk must be sweet; it must be as warm as the mother's milk, or 98 deg., and care must be exercised not to feed too much milk. Four quarts at a feed twice per day is sufficient for the average-sized calf for the first month. Add a spoonful of oil-meal to each feed of milk. Let them eat what oats or shorts and hay they will. Oats are an excellent feed for young calves. Never feed a young calf cold milk. Many times calves are injured by being fed too much milk, especially skim-milk. Many persons apparently think that because the cream is taken out they need to feed more of it. This is a mistake. Overfeeding causes the calf to scour. This is the greatest cause of scours. Remedy for scours. — The calves must be watched and when there is a tendency to loose- ness of the bowels feed less milk. If this does not remedy the trouble heat some ski in- milk to the boiling point, then cool it and feed the calf. 136 AMERICAN DAIRYING. If taken in time this will check it. I raise about thirty heifer calves every winter on separator skim-milk and have not had an un- thrifty calf in two years. Linseed-meal is an excellent food to use with skim-milk. My practice is to add a spoonful to the milk at the time it is fed. Keep calves dry. — Great care must be taken to keep the calves dry at all times. This re- quires a large amount of bedding. Calves will not thrive unless kept dry. I have had grade Short-horn calves gain two and one-half pounds each per day when four to five months old and were fed skim-milk, corn-meal and timothy hay. These were steer calves that were fed for veal. My heifer calves that I raise for cows I do not want to get fat, but keep them in a thrifty condition and growing all the time until they become mothers. A bunch of nice, thrifty calves is one of the prettiest sights on a farm. Massachusetts station work. — The Massa- chusetts Experiment Station after a number of years' experiments (one object of which was to learn the value of skim-milk as a pig food) commenced some work to learn the value of skim-milk as a food for young calves. In this work there were seven calves, each kept, weighed, and fed independent of the others, so there were seven trials going on at the same SKIM-MILK. 187 time. A summary of results shows that when live weight sells for four and one-half cents per pound the average of the seven calves returned three-fourths of a cent per quart for the skim- milk fed. This would be the same as 35 cents per 100 Ibs. These calves were fed ten weeks and gained an average of one and one-half pounds per day. Dr. Goessman's comments on the results I use entire : The experiments have shown that calves grown upon skim-milk alone or upon skim-milk and grains during the first eight weeks of their lives make good gains in live weight, namely, from 0.9 to 2.13 Ibs. per day, with an aver- age of 1.49 Ibs. These animals, however, put on very little fat, either when fed on skim-milk alone or when fed on skim- milk and grains. They were not able to digest the neces- sary amount of corn-meal, Buffalo gluten feed, or wheat flour or middlings, when fed in connection with the nitrog- enous milk, to promote the formation of fat. The meat of the animals thus described was quite white in appearance, but not as tender as calves that were fed whole milk. The ribs and flanks of animals thus fed were thinner than those consuming whole milk, and the shrinkage in dressing is from 5 to 7 per cent more. Butchers offered from 4 to 4i cents per pound of live weight, whole-milk veal being worth at the time 5i to 6 cents per pound. It is to be remarked, however, that at retail as much per pound was charged for the skim-milk as for the whole-milk veal. It will be noticed that when skim- milk veal, so called, brought 4 cents per pound of live weight, an average of 0.63 of a cent per quart, or 2.52 cents per gal- lon, was obtained for the skim-milk fed; while when live weight brought 4£ cents per pound the return for the skim- milk was 0.76 of a cent per quart, or 3 cents per gallon. When the skim-milk was fed to pigs, and dressed pork 138 AMERICAN DAIRYING. brought 5i cents per pound, there was a return of 0.2 of a cent per quart for the milk; and when dressed pork brought 7 cents per pound, 0.6 of a cent was obtained per quart for the milk and 0.7 of a cent was obtained when dressed pork brought 7i cents per pound. These results are interesting and instructive, and worthy of the careful consideration of dairy farmers. "It must be admitted that calves require rather more attention than pigs. The milk must not be sour and must be fed warm, and their condition must be carefully watched lest they be attacked with scours. A small quantity of lime water added to the milk at each feeding seems to act as a preventive. No beneficial results were noticed when cod-liver oil was fed in small quantities to calf 7. Its smell and taste were obnoxious to the calf, and quite often he refused the milk containing it. The experiment indicates that in order to secure the greatest profit it is not wise as a rule to feed calves as above described after they have reached 160 Ibs. of live weight. The daily gain decreases and the food consumption steadily increases, so that the commercial value of a pound of live weight is about balanced by the cost of the food consumed to produce it. This experiment is presented as the beginning of a series designed for the purpose of studying the most economical way in which to feed skim-milk to growing calves, especially to calves intended for veal. Whole milk forms a complete food for calves, and by its use they can be sold from five to seven weeks from birth in a fat condition. How to secure a food equal in its effect to whole milk by utilizing the skim- milk and substituting a cheaper fattening material in place of the cream removed, is the problem for future solution. Indiana station work.— The Indiana Exper- iment Station " Bulletin No. 47," November, 1893, reports the results of four experiments made in feeding calves. In experiment No. 1 were two calves, one of which was fed skim- SKIM-MILK. 139 milk and one whole milk. They were fed 62 days. The one fed skim-milk consumed 19.3 Ibs. per day and gained 78 Ibs. in 62 days, a daily gain of 1J Ibs. The calf fed whole milk drank 11.9 Ibs. per day and gained 73 Ibs. in 62 days, a daily gain of 1.17 Ibs. Estimating the skim-milk at 25 cents per 100 Ibs. the 78 Ibs. of growth on this calf cost $3; cost per pound, 3.84 cents. With the calf fed whole milk, estimating it to be worth $1 per 100 Ibs., the 73 Ibs. of growth cost $7.42, or over 10 cents per pound. These calves were both pure-bred Jerseys. There was but one day's difference in their ages. The one fed skim-milk was a male and the one fed whole milk a female. In experiment No. 2 pure-bred Holstein- Friesian male calves were used. These calves were fed 61 days. The calf on skim-milk diet was fed 23.5 Ibs. per day and gained 1.77 Ibs. per day. The calf fed whole milk drank 17.6 Ibs. daily and gained 1.67 Ibs. per day. In this experiment with the calf fed skim-milk the growth cost 3J cents per pound, estimating the skim-milk at 25 cents per 100 Ibs., and the calf fed whole milk made growth at a cost of 10^ cents per pound, estimating the milk to be worth $1 per 100 Ibs. Two other experiments were made in which skim-milk only was fed. Prof. Plumb says in closing: 140 AMERICAN DAIRYING. Taking the average result of the above six calves fed skim-milk, 15.6 Ibs. skim-milk produced a gain of 1 Ib. live weight. Will it pay to feed calves simply skim-milk as has been done in the above examples? The six calves consumtd 9,345 Ibs. of skim-milk to make a gain of 598 Ibs. This increased gain in this locality would sell for five cents a pound , or $29.90. The milk drank, estimating its market value at 15 cents per 100 Ibs., would cost $14.02, showing a difference of $15.88. The writer believes that a still greater gain would have been made by these calves if the fat removed from the milk had been replaced by flaxseed or some other substitute. Taking the growth of these six calves — 598 Ibs., worth 5 cents per pound — we have $29.90 to be credited to the 9,345 Ibs. of skim-milk, which is 32 cents per 100 Ibs. Mississippi station work. — The Mississippi Experiment Station (report of 1888, page 43) found that calves receiving 10 Ibs. of skim-milk made nearly as large gains as those receiving 8 Ibs. of whole milk. Iowa station work. — The Iowa Experiment Station in "Bulletin No. 14" reports the cost of producing a pound of gain (estimating new milk at 87 cents per 100 Ibs., skim-milk at 15 cents per 100 Ibs., grain at 1 cent per pound, hay at $5 per ton, and flaxseed-meal at 3J cents per pound) was 7.6 cents for the fresh milk and 5 cents for the skim-milk ration. Pennsylvania station work. — The annual report of the Pennsylvania State College for 1891 gives the results of work done with whole SKIM-MILK. 141 milk and skim-milk fed to calves. In the sum- mary of results they say: "Counting whole milk at $1 per 100 Ibs. and skim-milk at 12 cents per 100 Ibs.^it cost 9.9 cents to make a pound of increase when whole milk was fed, and 3.4 cents to make a pound of increase when skim-milk was fed." Separator milk good.— The Vermont Ex- periment Station Report of 1891 says: "There is a belief quite prevalent among certain classes that the separator has some mysterious influence on the skim-milk to make it of dif- ferent quality from the skim-milk of ordinary setting. This difference is considered to extend not merely to the fat but to influence the other ingredients. To ascertain the truth of the matter three samples of milk were tested before and after being run through the separator." After concluding the work with the samples the station says: "It is evident from these fig- ures that the milk serum is not influenced by the separator and that the only difference between the whole milk and the skim-milk derived from ifc is in the amount of fat they contain." Buttermilk. — There is probably very little difference in the feeding value of skim-milk and buttermilk. Some farmers prefer butter- milk to skim-milk. One reason for this is that it does not curdle and separate so quickly -as 142 AMERICAN DAIRYING. skim-milk. Another reason is that previous to the introduction of the Babcock test the butter- milk contained considerable more fat than the separator skim-milk did. At^the present time with skill at the cream vat and churn there is not much difference in the percentage of fat in the two. Some may ask what the Babcock test has to do with the churn ? A great deal. With it we tested the buttermilk daily and commenced to investigate for the causes of the differences in different day's work until we are able to churn nearly as close as we can skim. Buttermilk should be fed carefully to young pigs, as it is more apt to physic than skim-milk is. Especially is this the case with buttermilk from the shallow-setting system. I nearly ruined a bunch of fifty pigs before learning this. Since that time I have found old farmers who had known this for a long time. Butter- milk can be safely fed to calves by changing gradually from whole or skim-milk, but the change must be gradual or there will be trouble. The figures on the following page from the Vermont Experiment Station report of 1891 show the analyses of skim-milk and buttermilk. This work shows the skim-milk to have a larger percentage of total solids than the butter- milk, but the buttermilk has the largest per cent of fat. 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