At half-past five A. M. I feed her four quarts of a mixture consisting
of one part each of corn meal and oat meal, and two parts of bran. Four
quarts of this is mixed with a heaping half bushel of cut (chaffed) hay,
moistened but not soaked. While she is occupied in eating, I clean the
manure from the stable, remove all dirt from her udder, and any that
would be likely to drop into the pail while milking. Sometimes a sponge
and water are required to accomplish this, but usually an old piece of
a blanket kept for the purpose is all that is necessary. I then milk
and carry the milk directly to the house before it has time to cool or
absorb odors, which, even with the utmost care and cleanliness cannot
be entirely avoided. After breakfast, I give the cow a peck of sliced
beets, on which has been sprinkled about a dessert spoonful of salt,
which completes her breakfast. At this time it is a very good plan to use
the curry comb or card for ten or fifteen minutes, though I must confess
that I sometimes neglect this part of the programme: still I think that
my cow gets far more indulgence in this direction than most cows in the
neighborhood. After she has finished eating, if the weather is not too
unfavorable, I allow her to run out in the yard, where, at noon, I give
her just as much long hay as she will eat up clean, and no more.
There is at all times plenty of fresh water in the yard, to which she
can help herself whenever she so desires; otherwise she would need
to have it supplied to her at least twice a day, but not immediately
before or after a feed of grain. At half-past five in the afternoon
she receives the same amount of food, and prepared in the same manner
as in the morning. This method is continued until the crop of rye is
large enough for use. All changes from dry to green feed must be made
gradually, if we would avoid loss. By this time our supply of roots will
be exhausted, but the green food, in a measure, takes the place of them.
I continue to give the same amount of grain throughout the summer as
I did through the month of April, and also to mix it with chaffed hay
slightly moistened, as this insures the complete mastication and thorough
intermingling with the saliva, which is so essential to perfect digestion
and assimilation. As the supply of green food increases, I diminish the
quantity of chaffed hay until but one-half the former amount is used,
which quantity is continued through the soiling season. The one-eighth
acre of rye will last until about June fifteenth, at which time the red
clover will be large enough to feed. We should not change abruptly from
one kind of green food to another, but increase the one and diminish the
other gradually until the change is complete. To ascertain the exact
amount needed for a feed of this kind, as well as of the other green
crops, requires some judgment on the part of the feeder; but a very safe
rule is to feed just such an amount as the cow will eat clean, and no
more. We cannot specify exactly what would be a proper amount in every
case, neither can we spend time to weigh each ration, but, by observing
carefully, we are enabled to determine very closely. I find that my cow
will eat, besides her other feed, a good armful of green fodder three
times a day. I always cut a day’s supply on the afternoon preceding, and
allow it to remain in the swath, where it will wilt, and a portion of
the water evaporate, thereby rendering it more wholesome than when fed
immediately after cutting, and I think my cow relishes it better. By the
fifteenth or twentieth of July the clover will have become so ripe as
to necessitate the cutting and curing of any that may be left at that
time. It may still be fed, however, for a few days, or until the sowed
corn becomes large enough to take its place, which is generally about the
first of August. This crop, and the second cutting of the clover, will
complete the course, and will furnish feed until well along into October,
or the first of November, after which I depend on purchased food.
[Illustration: Fig. 21.—THE DUTCH (HOLSTEIN) COW “CROWN PRINCESS.”]