Charles Louis Flint

“ The American farmer should always plan to economize labor. That is the great item of expense on the farm. I do not mean that he should try to shirk or avoid work, but that he should make the least amount of work accomplish the largest and most profitable results. Labor-saving machinery on the farm is applied not to reduce the number of hours’ labor, or to make the owner a man of leisure,—who is, generally, the unhappiest man in the world,—but to enable him to accomplish the greatest results in the same time that he would be compelled to labor to obtain smaller ones. ”

“ It is very common all over New England and the Middle States, coming into old worn-out fields and moist pastures spontaneously, and along every roadside. It derives its name from its sweetness of smell when partially wilted, or crushed in the hand, and it is this chiefly that gives the delicious fragrance to all new-mown hay. It is almost the only grass that possesses a strongly-marked aromatic odor, which is imparted to other grasses with which it is cured. Its seed weighs eight pounds to the bushel. ”

“ Many things, indeed, concur to produce the best results, and it would be useless to underrate the importance of any; but, with the best of cows to impart the proper color and consistency to butter, the sweetest feed and the purest water to secure a delicate flavor, the utmost care must still be bestowed by the dairymaid upon every process of manufacture, or else the best of milk and cream will be spoiled, or produce an article which will bring only a low price in the market, when, with greater skill, it might have obtained the highest. ”

“ We want cattle for distinct purposes, as for milk, beef, or labor. In a large majority of cases,—especially in the dairy districts, comprising the Middle and Eastern States, at least,—the farmer cares more for the milking qualities of his cows, especially for the quantity they give, than for their fitness for grazing, or aptness to fatten. These latter points become more important in the Western and some of the Southern States, where far greater attention is paid to breeding and to feeding, and where comparatively little attention is given to the productions of the dairy. ”

“ But, though we have already an exceedingly valuable foundation for improvement, no one will pretend to deny that our cattle, as a whole, are susceptible of it in many respects. They possess neither the size, the symmetry, nor the early maturity, of the short-horns; they do not, as a general thing, possess the fineness of bone, the beauty of form and color, nor the activity, of the Devons or the Herefords; they do not possess that uniform richness of milk, united with generous quantity, of the Ayrshires, nor the surpassing richness of milk of the Jerseys ”

“ Great milkers are found of all shapes, and the chief object of improving their form is to improve their feeding qualities, or, in other words, to unite, as far as possible, the somewhat incompatible properties of grazing and milking. Graceful, well-rounded, and compact forms, which constitute beauty in the eyes of the grazier, as well as in the estimation of those not accustomed to consider the intrinsic qualities of an animal, or not capable of appreciating them in a milch cow, will very rarely be found united, to any considerable extent, with active mammary glands or milk vessels. ”

“ I have found in my own practice, and in the practice of the most successful dairymen, that, in order to encourage the largest secretion of milk in stalled cows, one of the best courses is, to feed in the morning, either at the time of milking—which I prefer—or immediately after, with cut feed, consisting of hay, oats, millet, or corn-stalks, mixed with shorts, and Indian, linseed, or cotton-seed meal, thoroughly moistened with water. If in winter, hot or warm water is far better than cold. If given at milking-time, the cows will generally give down the milk more readily. ”

“ In the management of the dairy, an ice-house and a good quantity of ice for summer use are not only very convenient for regulating the temperature of the dairy-room, and for keeping butter at the proper consistence, and preserving it, but are also profitable in other respects. And now, when ice-houses are so easily constructed, and ice is so readily procured, no well-ordered dairy should be without a liberal supply of it. It is housed at a time when other farm-work is not pressing, and ponds are so distributed over the country that it may be generally procured without difficulty ”

“ Judging from the anxiety manifested by those who enter superior milch cows for the premiums offered by agricultural societies to show that they have had nothing, or next to nothing, to eat, it is evident that the false ideas with regard to the feeding and treatment of this animal have not yet wholly disappeared. But, if little improvement has been made in our dairy stock except that produced by more liberal feeding, it simply shows that our efforts have not been made in the right direction. ”

“ There being a wide difference in the quality as well as in the quantity of milk of different cows, no dairyman should neglect to test the milk of each new addition to his dairy stock, whether it be an animal of his own raising or one brought from abroad. A lactometer is a very convenient instrument here; but any one can set the milk of each cow separately at first, and give it a fair and full trial, when the difference will be found to be great. Economy will dictate that the cows least adapted to the purpose should be disposed of, and their place supplied by better ones. ”

“ If gentle and mild treatment is observed and persevered in, the operation of milking appears to be one of pleasure to the animal, as it undoubtedly is; but if an opposite course is pursued,—if, at every restless movement, caused, perhaps, by pressing a sore teat, the animal is harshly spoken to,—she will be likely to learn to kick as a habit, and it will be difficult to overcome it ever afterwards. To induce quiet and readiness to give down the milk freely, it is better that the cow should be fed at milking-time with cut feed, or roots, placed within her easy reach. ”

“ About the first of August, when heat and flies are too oppressive for cows to feed quietly in the day-time, I commence feeding them with what corn they will eat in the morning, daily, which is cut up with a grass-scythe, and drawn on a sled or wagon to the milk-barn and fed to them in the stalls, which is one hour’s work for a man at each feeding. ”

“ A cow with a large, coarse head will seldom fatten readily, or give a large quantity of milk. A coarse head increases the proportion of weight of the least valuable parts, while it is a sure indication that the whole bony structure is too heavy. The mouth should be large and broad; the eye bright and sparkling, but of a peculiar placidness of expression, with no indication of wildness, but rather a mild and feminine look. These points will indicate gentleness of disposition. Such cows seem to like to be milked, are fond of being caressed, and often return caresses. ”

“ Cows, of whatever breed, having the best developed external marks of good milkers, will very rarely disappoint the practised eye or the skilful hand; while cows of breeds in highest repute for the dairy, and which do not show these marks, will as certainly fail to answer the expectations of those who select them simply for the breed. Those who would obtain skill in judging of these marks, and by means of them be able to estimate the value of a cow, need not expect to attain this end without long study and practical observation, for which some men have far greater talent than others ”

“ The feeding which young stock often get is not such as is calculated to make good-sized or valuable cattle of them. They are often fed on the poorest of hay or straw through the winter, not unfrequently left exposed to cold, unprotected and unhoused, and thus stinted in their growth. This seems to me to be the very worst economy, or rather no economy at all. Properly viewed, it is an extravagant wastefulness which no farmer can afford. No animal develops its good points under such treatment ”

“ The manner of milking exerts a more powerful and lasting influence on the productiveness of the cow than most farmers are aware of. That a slow and careless milker soon dries up the best of cows, every practical farmer and dairyman knows; but a careful examination of the beautiful structure of the udder will serve further to explain the proper mode of milking, to obtain and keep up the largest yield. ”

“ Those signs, then, which in cows arrived at maturity are almost sufficient in themselves to warrant a conclusion as to their merits as milkers, are, to a great extent, wanting in younger animals, and altogether in calves, of which there is often doubt whether they shall be raised; and here a knowledge of the form of the mirror is of immense advantage, since it gives, at the outset, and before any expense is incurred, a somewhat reliable means of judging of the future milking capacities of the animal or, if a male, of the probability of his transmitting milking qualities to his offspring. ”

“ Nothing is more susceptible to external influences, as has been remarked elsewhere, than milk and cream, both of which are liable to taint from the food of the cows, from impurities derived from careless milking, from exposure to foul or impure air in the cellar or milk-room, and from sudden changes in the atmosphere. The most scrupulous cleanliness is, therefore, required to produce a first quality of cheese, even under favorable circumstances. ”

“ The first and most important object of the farmer is to get the greatest money-return for his labor and his produce; and it is for his interest to obtain an animal—a calf, for instance—that will yield the largest profit on the outlay. If a calf, for which the original outlay was five dollars, will bring at the same age, and on the same keep, more real net profit than another, the original outlay for which was but twenty-five cents, it is certainly for the farmer’s interest to pay the larger original outlay, and have the superior animal. ”

“ Let cows receive through winter nearly as large a proportion of nutritive matter as is contained in the clover, lucerne, and fresh grasses, which they eat in summer, and, no matter in what precise substance or mixture that matter may be contained, they will yield a winter’s produce of milk quite as rich in caseine and butyraceous ingredients as the summer’s produce, and far more ample in quantity than almost any dairyman with old-fashioned notions would imagine to be possible. ”

“ Then, if desirable, a part of the crop may be harvested for winter use, and the remainder left in the ground till the frost is out, in March or April, when they can be dug as wanted, and are exceedingly relished by milch cows, and stock of all kinds. They make an admirable feed at the time of milking, and produce the richest cream, and the yellowest and finest-flavored butter, of any root with which I am acquainted. The good dairy farmers on the island of Jersey often feed to their cows from thirty to thirty-five pounds of parsnips a day, in addition to hay or grass. ”

“ I consider the best mixture of grain, ground into meal, for milk, is equal quantities of rye, buckwheat, and oats. For the last ten years I have not made less than five hundred pounds of cheese and twenty pounds of butter to each cow; and one year I made six hundred and forty pounds of cheese and twenty pounds of butter to each cow.
“A cow will give more milk on good fresh grass than any other feed. When the grass begins to fail, I make up the deficiency by extra feed of meal and corn fodder. I feed all my whey to my cows. ”

“ Instead of being exceptional, or peculiar to an individual, they become the permanent characteristics of a breed. Hence the origin of a great variety of breeds or races, the characteristics of each being due to local circumstances such as climate, soil, and the special objects of the breeder, which may be the production of milk, butter and cheese, or the raising of beef or working cattle. ”

“ The capacity of cows for giving milk is varied much by habit. In fall, after the season of feeding is past, I feed four quarts of wheat bran or shorts made into slop with whey, or a peck of roots to each cow, till milking season closes (about the first of December) . When confined in stables and fed hay and milked, they are fed each one pail full of thin slop at morning before foddering, and also at evening, to render their food more succulent, and they will not drink so much cold water when let out in the middle of the day. In cold weather cows are kept well attended in warm stables. ”

“ An animal regularly fed eats till it is satisfied, and no more than is requisite. A part of the nutritive elements in hay and other forage plants is needed to keep an animal on its feet,—that is, to keep up its condition,—and if the nutrition of its food is not sufficient for this the weight decreases, and if it is more than sufficient the weight increases, or else this excess is consumed in the production of milk or in labor. ”

“ I think it will generally be conceded that the size of the male is of less importance than his form, his tendency to lay on large amounts of fat in proportion to the food he eats, or his early maturity. Smallness of bone and compactness of form indicate early maturity; and this is an essential element in the calculations of the dairy farmer, who generally raises for pork rather than for bacon, and whose profit will consist in fattening and turning early, or, at most, as young as from twelve to fifteen months. ”

“ Then at Smithfield, where the quality of the beef passes its final judgment, the pound of Hereford beef pays better than the pound of short-horn beef. Short-horn beeves produce at the same age a greater weight, it is true, but they also consume more food. I can easily conceive why, in the magnificent pastures of Lincolnshire, and some of the northern counties of England, they may prefer the short-horns; and that is, that they may keep a less number on a given quantity of land, and only the short-horn could, under these conditions, produce a greater weight of beef per acre. ”

“ If the larger number on poorer feed is urged for the sake of the manure, which is the only ground on which it can be put, it is sufficient to remark that it is a very expensive way of making manure. It is not too much to say that a proper regard to profit and economy would require many an American farmer to sell off nearly half his cows, and to feed the whole of his hay and roots hitherto used into the remainder.
A certain German farmer was visited, one day, by some Swiss from over the border, who desired to buy of him all the milk of his cows for the purpose of making cheese. ”

“ It seems worthy of remark that a cow can yield a far greater weight of butter than she can store up in solid fat; numerous instances occur where a cow gives off two pounds of butter per day, or fourteen pounds per week, whilst half that quantity will probably rarely be laid on in fat. If you allow a cow to gain sixteen pounds per week, and reckon seven for fat, there will only remain nine pounds for flesh, or, deducting the moisture, scarcely three pounds (2.97) per week, equal to .42, or less than half a pound per day, of dry fibrin. ”

“ These different objects should, therefore, be kept in view, in the selection of cows; for animals which would be most profitable for the milk-dairy might be very unprofitable in the butter-dairy—a fact of almost daily experience. The productiveness of the cow does not depend on her breed so much as upon her food and management, her temperament and health, and the activity and energy of the organs of digestion and secretion. ”

“ In the regular operations of the dairy, however economically conducted, there will always be more or less refuse in the shape of whey, butter-milk, or skim-milk, which may be consumed with profit by swine, and which might otherwise be lost. Dairy-fed pork is distinguished for its fineness and delicacy; and the dairy refuse, in connection with grains, potatoes, and scraps, is highly nutritious and fattening.
There is a wide difference between the profit to be derived from the different breeds. Some are far more thrifty than others, and arrive at maturity earlier. ”

“ A cow that is of a quiet and contented disposition feeds at ease, is milked with ease, and yields more than one of an opposite temperament; while after she is past her usefulness as a milker she will easily take on fat, and make fine beef and a good quantity of tallow, because she feeds freely, and when dry the food which went to make milk is converted into fat and flesh. But there is no breed of cows with which gentleness of treatment is so indispensable as with the Ayrshire, on account of her naturally nervous temperament. ”

“ It appears from these, and other similar instances of successful soiling, or stall-feeding in summer on green crops cut for the purpose, that the largely increased quantity of the yield fully counterbalances the slightly deteriorated quality. And not only is the quantity yielded by each cow increased, but the same extent of land, under good culture, will carry double or treble the number of ordinary pastures, and keep them in better condition. There is also a saving of manure. But with us the economy of soiling is the exception, and not the rule. ”

“ To one leading feature of my practice I attach the greatest importance—the maintenance of the condition of my cows giving a large yield of milk. I am enabled, by the addition of bean-meal in proportion to the greater yield of milk, to avert the loss of condition in those giving sixteen to eighteen quarts per day; whilst on those giving a less yield, and in health, I invariably effect an improvement. ”

“ A cow of a race or family not noted as milkers may chance to be an excellent milker, and this is enough, if we do not desire to breed from her; but she would not transmit her exceptional qualities like a cow of which these qualities were the fixed characteristics, constant and transmissible in the breed. These considerations apply also, as already said, in the choice of a bull. The attention of practical men has been so much directed to the best points of good cows, of late years, that it becomes necessary to study to propagate these, if the breeder desires to find buyers for his stock. ”

“ As I am differently circumstanced,—a considerable portion of my dairy produce being intended for butter, for which poor milk is not adapted,—and as I fatten not only my own cows, but purchase others to fatten in addition, I have endeavored to devise food for my milch cows adapted to their maintenance and improvement, and with this view I have paid attention to the composition of milk. ”

“ With such treatment, the cow loses in condition during the process of milking, and when no longer profitable is sold to purchasers in farming districts where food is cheaper, to be fattened or otherwise replenished for the use of the dairy keeper. We thus find a disposition in the cow to apply the aliment of her food to her milk, rather than to lay on flesh or fat; for not only are the elements of her food diverted to this purpose, but, to all appearance, her accumulated stores of flesh and fat are drawn upon, and converted into components of milk, cheese, or butter. ”

“ If the calf is so soon to be taken away, I should prefer not to suffer the cow to become attached to it at all, since she is apt to withhold her milk when it is removed, and a loss is sustained. The farmer will be governed by the question of profit, whatever course it is proposed to adopt. In raising blood stock, however, or in raising beef cattle, without any regard to economy of milk, the system of suckling the calves, or letting [157] them run with the cow, may and will be adopted, since it is usually attended with somewhat less labor. ”

“ The attention of farmers there is at the present time devoted especially to the dairy, and the manufacture of butter and cheese. They support themselves, to a considerable extent, upon this branch of farming; and hence it is held in the highest respect, and carried to a greater degree of exactness and perfection, perhaps, than in any other part of the world. They are especially particular in the breeding, keeping, and care of milch cows, as on them very much of their success depends. ”