Dairyman

“ An anonymous writer very truly remarks that the dairyman, by the force of circumstances, has to become versed in the breeding and management of stock, especially that of dairy breeds; hence, in the very nature of things, he becomes a thoughtful, studious, observing man, and, what is better, he attains a higher intelligence. The advantages of dairying call out, among other things, enhanced revenues, because butter and cheese have become necessities; it enriches the farm, and is perfectly adapted to foster the breeding and raising of better and more stock. ”

“ Every dairyman should have a good dairy house distinct from the dwelling apartments. It need not, necessarily, be a separate building, but it should not be subject to the inflowing of odors from the kitchen and sitting rooms. The dairy house should be so constructed that the temperature may at all times be kept under perfect control. ”

“ There being a great difference in the quality as well as in the quantity of the 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. ”

“ As we have just seen, a man in paying reverence to the dairy bows down and touches the threshold with his forehead, and the threshold also frequently plays a part in the dairy ceremonial. The dairyman bows down and touches the threshold of his dairy before entering upon his work, and this is also one of the acts performed on his entrance into office on ordination. ”

“ The dairyman will regard the quantity of milk—the quality—its value for the production of butter and cheese—the time that the cow continues in milk—the character of the breed for quietness, or as being good nurses—the predisposition to garget or other disease, or dropping after calving—the natural tendency to turn every thing to nutriment—the ease with which she is fattened when given up as a milker, and the proportion of food requisite to keep her in full milk or to fatten her when dry. ”

“ Cows fed on turnips in the stall always produce butter inferior to that of cows living upon the fresh and aromatic grasses of the pastures.
Succulent food in which water abounds—the green grass of irrigated meadows, green clover, brewers’ refuse, distillers’ refuse, etc.—increases the quantity, rather than the quality, of the milk; and by feeding these substances the milk-dairyman studies his own interest, and makes thin milk, without diluting it with water, though, in the opinion of some, this may be no more legitimate than watering the milk. ”

“ The herd is the fountain head. If there is failure here there is failure everywhere. Many a dairyman has remained poor all his days because he spent his time and energies on an unprofitable herd. This is the first thing to be looked after. The selection of a herd is a matter of both knowledge and judgment—knowledge of the characteristics of breeds and of the requisites of a good dairy cow, and judgment as to whether the individual cow in question possesses these characteristics and requisites. ”

“ Any dairyman will tell you that with such treatment the cows would probably go dry in a few weeks. Even if they didn't object to the frequent change of the milkers, their flow of milk would be greatly diminished, as they are not fond of strangers fussing with them. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Milk requires not only favorable conditions for its production, as above indicated, but needs great care and cleanliness after it is drawn from the cows. A foul yard or stable will impart its odors to the milk. ”

“ It embraces the feeding and management of milch cows, the supplying of cream and milk, and the making of butter and cheese, etc. The term dairy husbandry is applied to a system of farming under which cows are kept and bred, and the principal crops grown with special reference to the dairy herd. Dairy was formerly used to designate the place or house where the milk was kept, cheese was made, etc. Like almost all other occupations, dairying has become in recent years divided into several distinct and special lines. ”

“ I have no doubt from what you say, that your cows are kept in the cow-house during the night, and only turned out during the day, as this would account for the difference in the quantity of milk. But such a mode of management, though it saves trouble to the dairy-maid, who finds it much easier to milk the cows in the cow-house than in the open field, is bad for both the cows and the dairy; as the cows, after feeding on grass all day, cannot of course relish dry food at night, and [Pg 310] whenever they fast unnaturally very little milk is secreted. ”

“ The cow should not only be a good milker, but give milk suited to the line of dairying pursued. If cheese making is the object, there must be a large flow of milk rich in caseine. In butter making, a large flow of milk is not essential, but there must be a large percentage of fat in it. And the breeding must be such as to keep up the status of the herd. Some depend on purchasing cows, and exercise great care and judgment in so doing. In exceptional cases, a herd may be kept up in this way. But somebody must breed and rear good cows, or soon none can be had at any price. ”

“ Milk, either in its natural state, or in the form of butter and cheese, is an article of diet so useful, wholesome and palatable, that dairy management, which includes all that concerns its production and treatment, constitutes a most important branch of husbandry. The physical conditions of the different countries of the world have determined in each case the most suitable animal for dairy purposes. ”

“ It has always kept an open mind on the subject of dairy methods, especially relating to the handling of milk and cream in large cities, and in practice have kept fully abreast of scientific research.
EVERY housewife should be interested enough in the purity of the milk and cream that she uses in her household to personally inspect the Dairy from which the supply comes. A visit to the City Dairy is a liberal education in all pertaining to methods for clarifying, pasteurizing, and delivering in bottles, "air-tight," safe and wholesome milk. ”

“ It is not far underground, as you see, and the windows are large, for the sake of light and air. But it is always cool in summer and sufficiently warm in winter, and dry as well. Here is our dairy. There is the cream separator, of which we are very proud, and there is the churn, of an improved pattern. It is not much work, in these days, to take care of the milk of a dozen cows."
"But where, Jean, are the potatoes, turnips, onions, and all that? ”

“ Here dairy system's understood,
And they are made both large and good.
LINES READ AT A DAIRYMAIDS' SOCIAL, 1887. Where the young lady waiters were dressed as dairymaids.
Throughout the world they do extol
The fame of our town Ingersoll,
The capital of dairyland,
To-night it seems like fairy land,
The youth and beauty here arrayed,
So sweet and neat each dairymaid.
And worthy of a poet's theme,
Sweet and smooth flows milk and cream,
For song or glee what is fitter
In this land of cheese and butter,
But no young man should be afraid
To court a pretty dairymaid. ”

“ The farmer and some of his family went home with the dairy-man, and found the milk like it often is in summer when the buck (spittle-fly) is on the grass, that, so it is believed, makes milk curdle then without becoming sour. The farmer and his wife couldn't tell what to think of milk being in that state early in spring; he took home the cow, however, and let the dairy-man have another, and when she was milked by Jemmy her milk 'runned' too, like that of the former one, which was then all right in the master's dairy. ”

“ No branch of agriculture underwent greater changes during the closing quarter of the 19th century than dairy-farming; within the period named, indeed, the dairying industry may be said to have been revolutionized. The two great factors in this modification were the introduction about the year 1880 of the centrifugal cream-separator, whereby the old slow system of raising cream in pans was dispensed with, and the invention some ten years later of a quick and easy method of ascertaining the fat content of samples of milk without having to resort to the tedious processes of chemical analysis. ”

“ A peculiar feature of the dairy industry is the fact that it is constantly moving. The dairy herds begin to pasture in the lowlands as soon as the snow melts, and as fast as the snow line recedes up the mountains the cattle follow. The milk is converted into butter and cheese wherever the herds may be, and the second crop of grass below them is cut and cured for winter forage. ”

“ The city milk supply comes from a large number of farmers who produce milk as a side issue. The methods of feeding and caring for cattle on these farms is in the main contrary to the instructions given by the dairy department at the State Farm. The men who made dairying a business here were learning and following agricultural college methods. They had good grade dairy cattle and produced fully twice as much per cow as do the farmers now in the business. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Though I do not imagine your knowledge of a dairy to be very great, I suppose you are aware that the milk is drawn from the cow into a can or wooden pail, and brought into the dairy, where it is strained, and then put into shallow vessels or milk-pans, in which it is left for several hours in order that the cream may rise. ”

“ 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. ”

“ But now a considerable portion of what would otherwise be lost is saved by passing the milk through separators, and churning the cream into butter.
Previously to the enormous development of the urban trade in country milk, dairy farms were in the main self-sustaining in the matter of manures and feeding-stuffs, and the cropping of arable land was governed by routine. To-day, on the contrary, many dairy farms are run at high pressure by the help of purchased materials,—corn, cake, and manure,—and the land is cropped regardless of routine and independent of courses. ”

“ The general treatment of milk and the management of cream have been already alluded to in a former chapter. It has been seen that the first requisites to successful [220] dairy husbandry are good cows, and abundant and good feeding, adapted to the special object of the dairy, whether it be milk, butter, or cheese; and that, with both these conditions, an absolute cleanliness in every process, from the milking of the cow to bringing the butter upon the table, is indispensably necessary.
Cleanliness may, indeed, with propriety be regarded as the chief requisite in the manufacture of good butter ”

“ In spring the best feeding for dairy cows will be much the same as that for winter; the roots in store over winter, such as carrots, mangold wurzel, turnips, and parsnips, furnishing very valuable aid in increasing the quantity and improving the quality of milk. Towards [132] the close of this season, and before the grass of the pastures is sufficiently grown to make it judicious to turn out the cows, the best dairymen provide a supply of green fodder in the shape of winter rye, which, if cut while it is tender and succulent, and before it is half grown, will be greatly relished. ”

“ Strange to say, we have our best milk when the winter has almost killed the grass, or when the weather is too stormy for the cows to go out; for then they are fed with the tops of pea-nut plants, either green, or dried like hay, and up for sale in great bundles. This is delicious food for the cows, and when they have it then we have good milk indeed, with a thick, white cream upon it.
HE NATIVE HUMPBACK COW.
Sometimes they have cut grass to eat, which has [99] been brought from steep places on the hills to which the cows cannot go. ”

“ One of the especially attractive features pertaining to the dairy section is the exhibit of 150 high-grade Holsteins for utility purposes. This herd is in full flow of milk and is maintained by a large milk condensing plant. This exhibit, in the daily care given these perfect specimens of dairy cattle, the yield of Milk, the quality of feed and the appliances used, forms one of the most attractive units in the department. An important event in this section was the pure milk and cream contest, June 14 to 19, in Congress Hall. ”