When I was a boy it was the prevailing opinion in the section of country
where I was raised, that it was better that a cow should be rather thin
in flesh at the time of calving than otherwise. There was but very little
grain fed in winter, to any stock in that section, except to working
oxen. Cows in milk were fed hay, while dry cows, and young stock, were
fed on straw or corn stalks. The result was that at the time of calving,
cows were generally thin enough to conform to the popular idea of a
proper condition. Cows giving a large yield of milk were scarce enough
in those days, and it was very seldom that you would meet one that would
yield ten quarts of milk per day (beer measure), during the flush of
feed. My faith in the theory, that a cow should be thin in flesh at the
time of calving, received a very severe shock, very soon after I became
the owner of one, and experience and observation have only served to
confirm my doubts of its correctness.
In the spring of 1848, I purchased my first cow. I came across her some
twenty miles from home. She had just calved, and displayed a very large
udder. Her owner warranted her to give twelve quarts of milk per day, and
to be, in every respect, a good family cow. The cow suited my fancy in
every particular, save one, she was too fat. But having nine points in
her favor, I did not feel disposed to forego her purchase for the want
of the tenth. When I drove her home, the adverse criticism on her was
immense, solely on account of her condition. Said an old farmer to me:
“That is a fancy cow, just suited for some rich man, who can afford to
indulge his fancy, and expend for her keeping, twice as much as the value
of her milk. You will find that you have got to keep her in just the
condition that she is now in, or you will get no milk. If you do not keep
her in this condition, you will find she will shrink in milk, before she
shrinks in flesh, and she won’t give half as much, on the same keeping,
as she would if she was no fatter than my cows.”
I must own, that after listening to this and that criticism in the same
strain, I felt a little sick of my bargain, and would have willingly sold
her at a discount, but no purchaser appearing, I concluded to make the
best of a bad bargain.
My purchase was made April second. Twelve hundred pounds of hay furnished
her with feed until the eighteenth of May. I then hired a pasture, for
fifteen dollars, where I kept her until November, when I sold her.
I found that, although the cow lost flesh under my keeping, and a good
deal of it too, she gave quite as much milk as she was recommended to
give, and at the time she was sold, her account stood as follows, no
account having been made of the milk used in the family, then consisting
of three persons: