It is now three years since he brought comfort to his home in more ways
than one. His little farm is improving every year in fertility and value,
and even now blossoms like a thing of beauty. Some of his neighbors have
followed his example, for he tells them:
“Any one who has a place to put a cow can keep one with profit, if he
will make her comfortable; that it matters not whether protection from
the weather is secured by logs, straw, sods, rough boards, or planed
boards well painted. She must have exercise, sunshine, and fresh air.
These can be obtained in a small dry yard, kept clean, as well as in
‘Uncle Sam’s’ pasture, the open prairie. She must have something of a
variety of wholesome food, and a plentiful supply of pure water. No
domestic animal, in proportion to its weight, needs as much water as a
milch cow. She must be kept clean by litter, card, and brush. If these
rules are observed with judgment and kindness, very seldom will any help
be needed at time of calving. If anything goes wrong there is no better
rule than to use one’s common sense, taking the advice of experienced
neighbors.
“To economize manure, an abundance of good litter should be used, and
the compost heap kept under cover, if possible; at any rate, not under
the eaves of the barn. If, with this home-made manure, your land does
not produce all it can, and you wish to buy some fertilizing material,
your first choice should be good stable manure; if you cannot get that
reasonably, use some reliable brand of commercial fertilizer. Have your
cow ‘come in’ when it will be most for your profit or convenience,
avoiding hot weather. The calf may be killed when one to three days old,
saving its hide and rennet; it may be kept until five or six weeks old,
fed on new milk, and ‘vealed,’ or sold for that purpose, or it may be
raised on skim-milk (after it is three or four weeks old), and sold in
the fall to some farmer.
“Milking should be done gently but quickly, as near twelve hours apart
as possible. Milk clean but do not “strip;” use the whole hand, and not
the thumb and finger only; sing or whistle, if you want to while milking;
if you are good friends with your cow, she will enjoy it.
“Since the first year I have not bought any coarse feed, and only a
little fertilizer for grass and clover, the cow and pig furnishing all
that is needed for the plowed ground, and this last year I have a surplus
of feed. I tell you, friends, my cow is the best savings bank I ever
knew.”
This and much more said Joseph Earnest to his neighbors.