THE PIGGERY AS A PART OF THE DAIRY ESTABLISHMENT.
The keeping of swine is incidental to the well-managed dairy, and both
the farmer and the dairyman unite it, to some extent, with other
branches of farming.
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. But the choice of a breed will depend, to considerable
extent, on the locality and the object in view, whether it be to breed
for sale as stock, or for pork or bacon.
To get desirable crosses, some breeds must be kept pure, especially in
the hands of stock breeders, or those who raise to sell as pure-bred,
even though as pure breeds they may not be most profitable to the
practical farmer and dairyman. Those who confine themselves to the pure
breeds, therefore, do good service to the community of farmers and
dairymen, who can avail themselves of the results of their experience
and skill.
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. A fine and delicate quality of pork is at the present
time highly prized in the markets, and commands the highest price. For
bacon, a much larger hog is preferred; but there can be little doubt
that the cross of the pure Suffolk or Berkshire boar and the large,
heavy and coarse sow, not uncommon in the Western States, would produce
an offspring far superior to the class of hogs usually denominated
“subsoilers,” with their long and pointed snouts, and their thin, flabby
sides. The principles of breeding, as stated on pp. 70 and 71, and
elsewhere in the preceding pages, are equally applicable here, and are
abundantly suggestive on many other points. This is the important point,
the selection of the proper breed and the proper cross: for there is
scarcely any class of stock which varies so much in its net returns as
this; and there is none which, if properly selected and judiciously
managed, returns the investment so quickly.
Those who feed for the early market, and desire to realize the largest
profits with the least outlay of time and money, will resort to the
Suffolk, the Berkshire, or the Essex, to obtain crosses with sows of the
larger breeds, and will breed up more or less closely to these breeds,
according to the special object they have in view. The Suffolks are
nearly allied to the Chinese, and possess much the same characteristics.
Though generally regarded as too small for profit except to those who
breed for stock, their extraordinary fattening qualities and their early
maturity adapt them eminently for crossing with the larger breeds. The
form of the well-built Suffolk, when not too closely inbred, is a model
of compactness, and lightness of bone and offal. Though often too short
in the body, a large-boned female will generally correct this fault, and
produce an offspring suited to the wants of the dairy farmer.
The Berkshire is also mixed in with the Chinese, and owes no small part
of its valuable characteristics to that race. The Berkshires, as a
breed, often attain considerable size and weight.
The improved Essex are the favorites of some, and for early maturity
they are difficult to surpass. Some think they require greater care and
better feeding than the Berkshire.
What is wanted is to unite, so far as possible, the early maturity and
the facility to take on fat of the Suffolk, the Chinese, or the Essex,
with a tendency at the same time to make flesh as well as fat; or, in
other words, to attain a good growth and size, and to fatten easily when
the time comes to put them down. The Chinese or the Suffolk are but ill
adapted for hams and bacon; but, crossed upon the kind of hog already
described, the produce will be likely to be valuable.
The most judicious practical farmers are new fully satisfied, I think,
that the tendency, for the last ten years, in the Eastern States more
especially, has been to breed too fine; and that the result of this
error has been to cover our swine with fat at a very early age, and
before they have attained a respectable size. In other words, the flesh
and bone have been too far sacrificed to fat. A reäction has already
taken place in the opinions on this point, and perhaps some caution may
be necessary, that it does not load too far in the opposite direction.
Some practical dairymen think that with a dairy of twenty or thirty cows
they can keep from forty to fifty swine, by turning into the orchard or
the pasture, in early spring, and as pigs, where they will easily
procure a large part of their food, till the close of fall, when they
are taken in and fed up gradually at first, but afterward more highly,
and fattened as rapidly and turned as soon as possible.
Others say there is no profit in working hogs, and that they should be
kept confined and constantly and rapidly growing up to the time of
turning them for pork, growing steadily, but not laying on too much fat
till fed up to it.
I am inclined to think the farmers of the Eastern States confine their
swine too closely; and that, while still kept as store-pigs, a somewhat
greater range in the orchard, or the pasture, would prove to be good
economy, particularly up to the age of eight or nine months.
The judicious dairyman will study the taste and demands of the market
where his pork is to be sold. If he supplies a city customer, he knows
he must raise a fine and delicate quality of pork; and to do this he
must select stock that will early arrive at maturity, and that will bear
forcing ahead and selling young. If he supplies a market where large
amounts of pork are salted and packed for shipping, or for bacon, a
larger and coarser hog, fed to greater age and weight, will turn to
better advantage, though I think a strain of finer blood will even then
be profitable to the feeder. In either case, the refuse of the dairy is
of considerable value, and should be saved with scrupulous care, and
judiciously fed. “Many a little makes a mickle.”
APPENDIX.
The following is Mr. Thomas Horsfall’s statement, referred to on page
138, with the omission of a few passages, relating to matters not
immediately connected with the dairy. It is entitled
THE MANAGEMENT OF DAIRY CATTLE.
On entering upon a description of my treatment of cows for dairy
purposes, it seems pertinent that I should give some explanation of the
motives and considerations which influence my conduct in this branch of
my farm operations.
I have found it stated, on authority deserving attention, that store
cattle of a fair size, and without other occupation, maintain their
weight and condition for a length of time, when supplied daily with one
hundred and twenty pounds of Swedish turnips and a small portion of
straw. The experience of the district of Craven, in Yorkshire, where
meadow hay is the staple food during winter, shows that such cattle
maintain their condition on one and a half stone, or twenty-one pounds,
of meadow hay each per day. These respective quantities of turnips and
of hay correspond very closely in their nutritive properties; they
contain a very similar amount of albuminous matter, starch, sugar, etc.,
and also of phosphoric acid. Of oil--an important element, especially
for the purpose of which I am treating--the stated supply of meadow hay
contains more than that of turnips. If we supply cows in milk, of
average size, with the kind and quantity of food above mentioned, they
will lose perceptibly in condition. This is easily explained when we
find their milk rich in substances which serve for their support when in
store condition, and which are shown to be diverted in the secretion of
milk.
In the neighborhood of towns where the dairy produce is disposed of in
new milk, and where the aim of dairymen is to produce the greatest
quantity, too frequently with but little regard to quality, it is their
common practice to purchase incalving cows. They pay great attention to
the condition of the cow; they will tell you, by the high comparative
price they pay for animals well stored with flesh and fat, that
condition is as valuable for them as it is for the butcher; they look
upon these stores as materials which serve their purpose; they supply
food more adapted to induce quantity than quality, and pay but little
regard to the maintenance of the condition of the animal. 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.
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. From several analyses I have
selected one by Haidler, which I find in publications of repute. Taking
a full yield of milk, four gallons per day, which will weigh upwards of
forty pounds, this analysis assigns to it of dry material 5.20, of which
the proportion, with sufficient accuracy for my purpose, consists of
Pure caseine, 2.00 pounds.
Butter, 1.25 “
Sugar, 1.75 “
Phosphate of lime, .09 “
Chloride of potassium,
Other mineral ingredients, .11 “
----
5.20 “
It appeared an object of importance, and one which called for my
particular attention, to afford an ample supply of the elements of food
suited to the maintenance and likewise to the produce of the animal; and
that, if I omitted to effect this, the result would be imperfect and
unsatisfactory. By the use of ordinary farm produce only, I could not
hope to accomplish my purpose. Turnips are objectionable on account of
their flavor; and I seek to avoid them as food for dairy purposes. I use
cabbages, kohl rabi, and mangold wurzel, yet only in moderate
quantities. Of meadow hay it would require, beyond the amount necessary
for the maintenance of the cow, an addition of fully twenty pounds for
the supply of caseine in a full yield of milk (sixteen quarts); forty
pounds for the supply of oil for the butter, whilst nine pounds seem
adequate for that of the phosphoric acid. You cannot, then, induce a cow
to consume the quantity of hay requisite for her maintenance, and for a
full yield of milk of the quality instanced. Though it is a subject of
controversy whether butter is wholly derived from vegetable oil, yet the
peculiar adaptation of this oil to the purpose will, I think, be
admitted. I had, therefore, to seek assistance from what are usually
termed artificial feeding substances, and to select such as are rich in
albumen, oil, and phosphoric acid; and I was bound also to pay regard to
their comparative cost, with a view to profit, which, when farming is
followed as a business, is a necessary, and in any circumstances an
agreeable accompaniment.
I think it will be found that substances peculiarly rich in nitrogenous
or other elements have a higher value for special than for general
purposes, and that the employment of materials characterized by peculiar
properties for the attainment of special objects has not yet gained the
attention to which it is entitled.
I have omitted all reference to the beat-supplying elements--starch,
sugar, etc. As the materials commonly used as food for cattle contain
sufficient of these to effect this object, under exposure to some degree
of cold, I have a right to calculate on a less consumption of them as
fuel, and consequently a greater surplus for deposit as sugar, and
probably also as fat, in consequence of my stalls being kept during
winter at a temperature of nearly sixty degrees.
* * * * *
The means used to carry out his objects are stated on page 138.
* * * * *
As several of these materials--rape-cake, shorts, bean-straw, etc.--are
not commonly used as food, I may be allowed some observations on their
properties. Bean-straw uncooked is dry and unpalatable. By the process
of steaming, it becomes soft and pulpy, emits an agreeable odor, and
imparts flavor and relish to the mess. For my information and guidance I
obtained an analysis of bean-straw of my own growth, on strong and
high-conditioned land; it was cut on the short side of ripeness, but
yielding a plump bean. The analysis by Professor Way shows a percentage
of
Moisture, 14.47
Albuminous mater, 16.38
Oil or fatty matter, 2.23
Woody fibre, 25.84
Starch, gum, etc., 31.63
Mineral matters, 9.45
------
Total 100.00
In albuminous matter, which is especially valuable for milch cows, it
has nearly double the proportion contained in meadow hay. Bran also
undergoes a great improvement in its flavor by steaming, and it is
probably improved in its convertibility as food. It contains about
fourteen per cent. of albumen, and is peculiarly rich in phosphoric
acid, nearly three per cent. of its whole substance being of this
material. The properties of rape-cake are well known: the published
analyses give it a large proportion (nearly thirty per cent.) of
albumen; it is rich in phosphates, and also in oil. This is of the
unctuous class of vegetable oils, and it is to this property that I call
particular attention. Chemistry will assign to this material, which has
hitherto been comparatively neglected for feeding, a first place for the
purpose of which I am treating. If objection should occur on account of
its flavor, I have no difficulty in stating that by the preparation I
have described I have quite overcome this. I can easily persuade my
cattle (of which sixty to eighty pass through my stalls in a year),
without exception, to eat the requisite quantity. Nor is the flavor of
the cake in the least perceptible in the milk or butter.
During May, my cows are turned out on a rich pasture near the homestead;
towards evening they are again housed for the night, when they are
supplied with a mess of the steamed mixture and a little hay each
morning and evening. During June, when the grasses are better grown,
mown grass is given to them instead of hay, and they are also allowed
two feeds of steamed mixture. This treatment is continued till October,
when they are again wholly housed.
The results which I now proceed to relate are derived from observations
made with the view of enabling me to understand and regulate my own
proceedings.
GAIN OR LOSS OF CONDITION ASCERTAINED BY WEIGHING CATTLE
PERIODICALLY.--For some years back I have regularly weighed my feeding
stock, a practice from which I am enabled to ascertain their doings with
greater accuracy than I could previously. In January, 1854, I commenced
weighing my milch cows. It has been shown, by what I have premised, that
no accurate estimate can be formed of the effect of the food on the
production of milk, without ascertaining its effect on the condition of
the cows. I have continued the practice once a month, almost without
omission, up to this date. The weighings take place early in the
morning, and before the cows are supplied with food. The weights are
registered, and the length of time (fifteen months) during which I have
observed this practice enables me to speak with confidence of the
results.
The cows in full milk, yielding twelve to sixteen quarts each per day,
vary but little; some losing, others gaining, slightly; the balance in
the month’s weighing of this class being rather to gain. It is common
for a cow to continue a yield from six to eight months before she gives
below twelve quarts per day, at which time she has usually, if not
invariably, gained weight.
The cows giving less than twelve quarts and down to five quarts per day
are found, when free from ailment, to gain, without exception. This
gain, with an average yield of nearly eight quarts per day, is at the
rate of seven pounds to eight pounds per week each.
My cows in calf I weigh only in the incipient stages; but they gain
perceptibly in condition, and consequently in value. They are milked
till within four weeks to five weeks previous to calving. I give the
weights of three of these, and also of one heifer, which calved in
March, 1855:
-+--------------------+-------------------++--------------------------
N| | ||
o| | ||
.| | 1854. || 1855. |Gain.
-+--------------------+-----+-------------++------+-------------+-----
| | |cwt. qr. lbs.|| |cwt. qr. lbs.| lbs.
1|Bought and weighed, |July.| 10 1 20 ||April.| 11 3 0 | 148
2|Bought and weighed, | “ | 8 2 10 || “ | 10 2 0 | 214
3|Bought and weighed, | “ | 8 2 0 || “ | 10 0 0 | 184
4|Heifer, which calved| | || | |
|also in March, 1855,| | || | |
|weighed | “ | 7 0 0 || “ | 9 3 0 | 300
-+--------------------+-----+-------------++------+-------------+-----
These observations extend over lengthened periods, on the same animals,
of from thirty to upwards of fifty weeks. A cow, free from calf, and
intended for fattening, continues to give milk from ten months to a year
after calving, and is then in a forward state of fatness requiring but
a few weeks to finish her for sale to the butchers.
It will thus appear that my endeavors to provide food adapted to the
maintenance and improvement of my milch cows have been attended with
success.
On examining the composition of the ordinary food which I have
described, straw, roots, and hay, it appears to contain the nutritive
properties which are found adequate to the maintenance of the animal,
whereas the yield of milk has to be provided for by a supply of extra
food; the rape-cake, bran, and bean-meal, which I give, will supply the
albumen for the caseine; it is somewhat deficient in oil for the butter,
whilst it will supply in excess the phosphate of lime for a full yield
of milk. If I take the class of cows giving less than twelve quarts per
day, and take also into account a gain of flesh of seven to nine pounds
per week, though I reduce the quantity of extra food by giving less of
the bean-meal, yet the supply will be more in proportion than with a
full yield; the surplus of nitrogen and phosphoric acid, or phosphate of
lime, will go to enrich the manure.
I cannot here omit to remark on the satisfaction I derive from the
effects of this treatment on the fertility of the land in my occupation.
My rich pastures are not tending to impoverishment, but to increased
fertility; their improvement in condition is apparent. A cow in full
milk, giving sixteen quarts per day, of the quality analyzed by Haidlen,
requires, beyond the food necessary for her maintenance, six to eight
pounds per day of substances containing thirty or twenty-five per cent.
of protein. A cow giving on the average eight quarts per day, with which
she gains seven to nine pounds per week, requires four to five pounds
per day of substances rich in protein, beyond the food which is
necessary for her maintenance. Experience of fattening gives two pounds
per day, or fourteen pounds per week, as what can be attained on an
average, and for a length of time. If we considered half a pound per day
as fat, which is not more than probable, there will be one and a half
pounds for flesh, which, reckoned as dry material, will be about one
third of a pound, which is assimilated in increase of fibrin, and
represents only one and one third to two pounds of substances rich in
protein, beyond what is required for her maintenance.
If we examine the effects on the fertility of the land, my milch cows,
when on rich pasture, and averaging a yield of nine quarts per day, and
reckoning one cow to each acre, will carry off in twenty weeks
twenty-five pounds of nitrogen, equal to thirty of ammonia. The same
quantity of milk will carry off seven pounds of phosphate of lime in
twenty weeks from each acre.
A fattening animal, gaining flesh at the rate I have described, will
carry off about one third of the nitrogen (equal to about ten pounds of
ammonia) abstracted by the milch cow, whilst if full grown it will
restore the whole of the phosphate.
It is worthy of remark that experience shows that rich pastures, used
for fattening, fully maintain their fertility through a long series of
years, whilst those used for dairy cows require periodical dressings to
preserve their fertility.
If these computations be at all accurate, they tend to show that too
little attention has been given to the supply of substances rich in
nitrogenous compounds in the food of our milch cows, whilst we have laid
too much stress on this property in food for fattening cattle. They tend
also to the inference that in the effects on the fertility of our
pastures used for dairy purposes we derive advantage not only from the
phosphate of lime, but also from the gelatine of bones used as manure.
On comparing the results from my milch cows fed in summer on rich
pasture, and treated at the same time with the extra food I have
described, with the results when on winter food, and whilst wholly
housed, taking into account both the yield of milk and the gain of
weight, I find those from stall-feeding full equal to those from
depasture. The cows which I buy as strippers, for fattening, giving
little milk, from neighboring farmers who use ordinary food, such as
turnips with straw or hay, when they come under my treatment increase
their yield of milk, until after a week or two they give two quarts per
day more than when they came, and that too of a much richer quality.
RICHNESS OF MILK AND CREAM.--I sometimes observe, in the weekly
publications which come under my notice, accounts of cows giving large
quantities of butter. These are usually, however, extraordinary
instances, and not accompanied with other statistical information
requisite to their being taken as a guide; and it seldom happens that
any allusion is made to the effects of the food on the condition of the
animals, without which no accurate estimate can be arrived at. On
looking over several treatises to which I have access, I find the
following statistics on dairy produce: Mr. Morton, in his “Cyclopædia of
Agriculture,” p. 621, gives the results of the practice of a Mr. Young,
an extensive dairy-keeper in Scotland. The yield of milk per cow is
stated at six hundred and eighty gallons per year; he obtains from
sixteen quarts of milk twenty ounces of butter, or for the year two
hundred and twenty-seven pounds per cow; from one gallon of cream three
pounds of butter, or twelve ounces per quart (wine measure). Mr. Young
is described as a high feeder; linseed is his chief auxiliary food for
milch cows. Professor Johnston (“Elements of Agricultural Chemistry”)
gives the proportion of butter from milk at one and a half ounces per
quart, or from sixteen quarts twenty-four ounces, being the produce of
four cows of different breeds,--Alderney, Devon, and Ayrshire,--on
pasture, and in the height of the summer season. On other four cows of
the Ayrshire breed he gives the proportion of butter from sixteen quarts
as sixteen ounces, being one ounce per quart. These cows were likewise
on pasture. The same author states the yield of butter as one fourth of
the weight of cream, or about ten ounces per quart. Mr. Rowlandson
(“Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society,” vol. xiii., p. 38) gives
the produce of 20,110 quarts of milk churned by hand as 1109 pounds of
butter, being at the rate of fully 14 ounces per 16 quarts of milk; and
from 23,156 quarts of milk 1525 pounds of butter, being from 16 quarts
nearly 16³⁄₄ ounces of butter. The same author states that the yield of
butter derived from five churnings, of 15 quarts of cream each, is
somewhat less than 8 ounces per quart of cream. Dr. Muspratt, in his
work on the “Chemistry of Arts and Manufactures,” which is in the course
of publication, gives the yield of butter from a cow per year in
Holstein and Lunenburg at 100 pounds, in England at 160 pounds to 180
pounds. The average of butter from a cow in England is stated to be
eight or nine ounces per day, which, on a yield of eight to nine quarts,
is one ounce per quart, or for sixteen quarts sixteen ounces. The
quantity of butter derived from cream is stated as one fourth, which is
equal to about nine ounces per quart. The richest cream of which I find
any record is that brought to the Royal Society’s meeting during the
month of July, for the churns which compete for the prize. On referring
to the proceedings of several meetings, I find that fourteen ounces per
quart of cream is accounted a good yield.
I have frequently tested the yield of butter from a given quantity of my
milk. My dairy produce is partly disposed of in new milk, partly in
butter and old milk, so that it became a matter of business to ascertain
by which mode it gave the best return. I may here remark that my dairy
practice has been throughout on high feeding, though it has undergone
several modifications. The mode of ascertaining the average yield of
butter from milk has been to measure the milk on the churning-day, after
the cream has been skimmed off, then to measure the cream, and having,
by adding together the two measurements, ascertained the whole quantity
of milk (including the cream), to compare it with that of the butter
obtained. This I consider a more accurate method than measuring the new
milk, as there is a considerable escape of gas, and consequent
subsidence, whilst it is cooling. The results have varied from
twenty-four to twenty-seven and a quarter ounces from sixteen quarts of
milk. I therefore assume in my calculation sixteen quarts of milk as
yielding a roll (twenty-five ounces) of butter.
As I have at times a considerable number of cows bought as strippers,
and fattened as they are milked, which remain sometimes in my stalls
eight or nine months, and yield towards the close but five quarts per
day, I am not enabled to state with accuracy and from ascertained data
the average yield per year of my cows kept for dairy purposes solely.
However, from what occurs at grass-time, when the yield is not
increased, and also from the effects of my treatment on cows which I
buy, giving a small quantity, I am fully persuaded that my treatment
induces a good yield of milk.
As the yield of butter from a given quantity of cream is not of such
particular consequence, I have not given equal attention to ascertain
their relative proportions. I have a recollection of having tested this
on a former occasion, when I found fourteen to sixteen ounces per quart,
but cannot call to mind under what treatment this took place.
On questioning my dairy-woman, in December, 1854, as to the proportion
of cream and butter, she reported nearly one roll of twenty-five ounces
of butter to one quart of cream. I looked upon this as a mistake. On its
accuracy being persisted in, the next churning was carefully observed,
with a like proportion. My dairy cows averaged then a low range of milk
as to quantity--about eight quarts each per day. Six of them, in a
forward state of fatness, were intended to be dried for finishing off in
January; but, owing to the scarcity and consequent dearness of calving
cows, I kept them on in milk till I could purchase cows to replace them,
and it was not till February that I had an opportunity of doing so. I
then bought four cows within a few days of calving; they were but in
inferior condition, and yielded largely of milk. Towards the close of
February and March, four of my own dairy cows, in full condition,
likewise calved. During March, three of the six which had continued from
December, and were milked nearly up to the day of sale, were selected by
the butcher as fit for his purpose. Each churning throughout was
carefully observed, with a similar result, varying but little from
twenty-five ounces of butter per quart of cream; on Monday, April 30,
sixteen quarts of cream having yielded sixteen rolls (of twenty-five
ounces each) of butter. Though I use artificial means of raising the
temperature of my dairy, by the application of hot water during cold
weather, yet, my service-pipes being frozen in February, I was unable to
keep up the temperature, and it fell to forty-five degrees. Still my
cream, though slightly affected, was peculiarly rich, yielding
twenty-two ounces of butter per quart. Throughout April the produce of
milk from my fifteen dairy cows averaged full one hundred and sixty
quarts per day.
My cows are bought in the neighboring markets with a view to their
usefulness and profitableness. The breeds of this district have a
considerable admixture of the short-horn, which is not noted for the
richness of its milk. It will be remarked that during the time these
observations have been continued on the proportion of butter from cream,
more than half of my cows have been changed.
Having satisfied myself that the peculiar richness of my cream was due
mainly to the treatment of my cows which I have sought to describe, it
occurred to me that I ought not to keep it to myself, inasmuch as these
results of my dairy practice not only afforded matter of interest to the
farmer, but were fit subjects for the investigation of the physiologist
and the chemist. Though my pretensions to acquirements in their
instructions are but slender, they are such as enable me to acknowledge
benefit in seeking to regulate my proceedings by their rules.
In taking off the cream I use an ordinary shallow skimmer of tin
perforated with holes, through which any milk gathered in skimming
escapes. It requires care to clear the cream; and even with this some
streakiness is observable on the surface of the skimmed milk. The
milk-bowls are of glazed brown earthen ware, common in this district.
They stand on a base of six to eight inches, and expand at the surface
to nearly twice that width. Four to five quarts are contained in each
bowl, the depth being four to five inches at the centre. The churn I use
is a small wooden one, worked by hand, on what I believe to be the
American principle. I have forwarded to Professor Way a small sample of
butter for analysis; fifteen quarts of cream were taken out of the
cream-jar, and churned at three times in equal portions:
The first five quarts of cream gave 127 ounces of butter.
Second five “ “ “ “ 125 “ “ “
Third five “ “ “ “ 120¹⁄₂ “ “ “
------
372¹⁄₂
Equal to 24³⁄₄ ounces per quart.
At a subsequent churning of fourteen quarts of cream,
The first seven gave 7 rolls, or 175 ounces of butter.
Second seven gave 7 rolls 2 oz., or 177 “ “ “
---
352
Equal to 25¹⁄₇ ounces per quart.
On testing the comparative yield of butter and of butter-milk, I find
seventy per cent. of butter to thirty per cent. of butter-milk, thus
reversing the proportions given in the publications to which I have
referred. An analysis of my butter by Professor Way gives:
Pure fat or oil, 82.70
Caseine or curd, 2.45
Water, with a little salt, 14.85
------
Total, 100.00
The only analyses of this material which I find in the publications in
my hand are two by Professor Way, “Journal,” vol. xi., p. 735, “On
butter by the common and by the Devonshire method;” the result in one
hundred parts being:
Raw. Scalded.
Pure butter, 79.72 79.12
Caseine, &c., 3.38 3.37
Water, 16.90 17.51
------ ------
Total, 100.00 100.00
The foregoing observation of dairy results was continued up to grass
time in 1855. In April and May the use of artificial means was
discontinued, without diminution in the yield of butter or richness of
cream, the natural temperature being sufficient to maintain that of my
dairy at 54° to 56°.
I now proceed to describe the appearances since that time. In the summer
season, whilst my cows were grazing in the open pastures during the day
and housed during the night, being supplied with a limited quantity of
the steamed food each morning and evening, a marked change occurred in
the quality of the milk and cream; the quantity of the latter somewhat
increased, but, instead of twenty-five ounces of butter per quart of
cream, my summer cream yielded only sixteen ounces per quart.
I would not be understood to attribute this variation in quality to the
change of food only. It is commonly observed by dairy-keepers that milk,
during the warm months of summer, is less rich in butter, owing probably
to the greater restlessness of the cows, from being teased by flies,
etc. I am by no means sure that, if turning out during the warm months
be at all advisable, it would not be preferable that this should take
place during the night instead of during the day time. Towards the close
of September, when the temperature had become much cooler, and the cows
were supplied with a much larger quantity of the steamed food, results
appeared very similar to those which I had observed and described from
December to May, 1855. During the month of November the quality was
tested with the following result:
From two hundred and fifty-two quarts of old milk were taken twenty-one
quarts of cream, of which twenty were churned, and produced four hundred
and sixty-eight ounces of butter, which shows:
27.50 ounces of butter from 16 quarts of new milk.
23.40 “ “ “ “ each quart of cream.
During May, 1856, my cows being on open pasture during the day were
supplied with two full feeds of the steamed mixture, together with a
supply of green rape-plant each morning and evening.
The result was that from three hundred and twenty-four quarts of old
milk twenty-three quarts of cream were skimmed, of which twenty-two were
churned, and produced five hundred and fifteen ounces of butter, which
shows:
24 ounces of butter from 16 quarts of new milk.
22.41 “ “ “ “ each quart of cream.
There is, doubtless, some standard of food adapted to the constitution
and purposes of animals, combining with bulk a due proportion of
elements of respiration, such as sugar, starch, &c., together with those
of nutrition, namely, nitrogenous compounds, phosphates, and other
minerals; nor can we omit oil or fat-forming substances; for, however we
may be disposed to leave to philosophy the discussion as to whether
sugar, starch, &c., are convertible into fat, yet I think I shall not
offend the teacher of agricultural chemistry by stating that the more
closely the elements of food resemble those in the animal and its
product, the more efficacious will such food be for the particular
purpose for which it is used.
Sugar, starch, &c., vary very considerably in form and proportion from
vegetable oils, which closely resemble animal fats.
When we consider that plants have a two-fold function to
perform,--namely, to serve as food for animals, and also for the
reproduction of the like plants,--and that, after having undergone the
process of digestion, they retain only one half or one third of their
value as manure, the importance of affording a due but not excessive
supply of each element of food essential to the wants and purposes of
the animal will be evident. If we fall short, the result will be
imperfect; if we supply in excess, it will entail waste and loss.
Linseed and rape-cake resemble each other very closely in chemical
composition; the latter is chiefly used for manure, and its price ranges
usually about half that of linseed-cake. In substances poorer in
nitrogen, and with more of starch, gum, oil, &c., the disparity in value
as food and as manure will be proportionately greater.
During the present season, Mr. Mendelsohn, of Berlin, and Mr. Gausange,
who is tenant of a large royal domain near Frankfort on the Oder, on
which he keeps about one hundred and fifty dairy cows, have been my
visitors. These gentlemen have collected statistics in dairy countries
through which they have travelled. I learned from them that in
Mecklenburg, Prussia, Holland, &c., fourteen quarts of milk yield, on
the average, one pound of butter; in rare instances twelve quarts are
found to yield one pound. Both attach great importance to the regulation
of the temperature. Mr. Mendelsohn tells me that the milk from cows fed
on draff (distillers’ refuse) requires a higher temperature to induce
its yield of butter than that from cows supplied with other food.
On inquiry in my own neighborhood, I find it is computed that each quart
at a milking represents one pound of butter per week. Thus, a cow which
gives four quarts at each milking will yield in butter four pounds per
week, or from fifty-six quarts sixty-four ounces of butter, or from
fourteen quarts of milk one pound of butter. Taking the winter produce
alone, it is lower than this; the cream from my neighbors’ cows, who use
common food, hay, straw, and oats, somewhat resembles milk in
consistence, and requires three to four hours, sometimes more, in
churning. On one occasion, a neighboring dairy-woman sent to borrow my
churn, being unable to make butter with her own; I did not inquire the
result. If she had sent her cow, I could in the course of a week have
insured her cream which would make butter in half an hour. These dairy
people usually churn during winter in their kitchen, or other room with
a fire. Each of them states that from bean or oat meal used during
winter as an auxiliary food they derive a greater quantity of butter,
whilst those who have tried linseed-oil have perceived no benefit from
it.
My own cream during the winter season is of the consistence of paste,
or thick treacle. When the jar is full, a rod of two feet long will,
when dipped into the cream to half its length, stand erect. If I take
out a teacupful in the evening, and let it stand till next morning, a
penny-piece laid on its surface will not sink; on taking it off, I find
the under side partially spotted with cream. The churnings are performed
in a room without fire, at a temperature in winter of forty-three to
forty-five degrees, and occupy one half to three quarters of an hour.
Several who have adopted my system have reported similar effects--an
increase in the quantity with a complete change as to richness of
quality. I select from these Mr. John Simpson, a tenant farmer residing
at Ripley, in Yorkshire, who, at my request, stated to the committee of
the Wharfdale Agricultural Society that he and a neighbor of his, being
inconvenienced from a deficient yield of milk, had agreed to try my mode
of feeding, and provided themselves with a steaming apparatus. This
change of treatment took place in February, 1855. I quote his words:
“In about five days I noticed a great change in my milk; the cows
yielded two quarts each, per day, more; but what surprised me most was
the change in the quality. Instead of poor winter cream and butter, they
assumed the appearance and character of rich summer produce. It only
required twenty minutes for churning, instead of two to three hours;
there was also a considerable increase in the quantity of butter, of
which, however, I did not take any particular notice. My neighbor’s cow
gave three quarts per day in addition, and her milk was so changed in
appearance that the consumers to whom he sold it became quite anxious to
know the cause.”
My dairy is but six feet wide by fifteen long and twelve high. At one
end (to the north) is a trellis window; at the other, an inner door,
which opens into the kitchen. There is another door near to this, which
opens into the churning-room, having also a northern aspect; both doors
are near the south end of the dairy. Along each side, and the north
end, two shelves of wood are fixed to the wall, the one fifteen inches
above the other; two feet higher is another shelf somewhat narrower, but
of like length, which is covered with charcoal, whose properties as a
deodorizer are sufficiently established. The lower shelves being two
feet three inches wide, the interval or passage between is only one foot
six inches. On each tier of shelves is a shallow wooden cistern, lined
with thin sheet-lead, having a rim at the edges three inches high. These
cisterns incline downwards slightly towards the window, and contain
water to the depth of three inches. At the end nearest the kitchen each
tier of cisterns is supplied with two taps, one for cold water in
summer, the other with hot for winter use. At the end next the north
window is a plug or hollow tube, with holes perforated at such an
elevation as to take the water before it flows over the cistern.
During the summer the door towards the kitchen is closed, and an
additional door is fixed against it, with an interval between well
packed with straw; a curtain of stout calico hangs before the trellis
window, which is dipped in salt water, and kept wet during the whole day
by cold water spirted over it from a gutta-percha tube. On the milk
being brought in, it is emptied into bowls. Some time after these bowls
(of which a description is given in a former part of this) have been
placed on the cistern, the cold-water taps are turned till the water
rises through the perforated tube, and flows through a waste pipe into
the sewer. The taps are then closed, so as to allow a slight trickling
of water, which continues through the day. By these means I reduce the
temperature, as compared with that outside the window, by twenty
degrees. I am thus enabled to allow the milk to stand till the cream has
risen, and keep the skimmed milk sweet, for which I obtain one penny per
quart.
Having heard complaints during very hot weather of skimmed milk, which
had left my dairy perfectly sweet, being affected so as to curdle in
cooking on being carried into the village, I caused covers of thick
calico (the best of our fabrics for retaining moisture) to be made;
these are dipped in salt water, and then drawn over the whole of the tin
milk-cans. The contrivance is quite successful, and is in great favor
with the consumers. I have not heard a single complaint since I adopted
it.
Finding my butter rather soft in hot weather, I uncovered a draw-well
which I had not used since I introduced water-works for the supply of
the village and my own premises. On lowering a thermometer down the well
to a depth of twenty-eight feet, I found it indicated a temperature of
forty-three degrees--that on the surface being seventy degrees. I first
let down the butter, which was somewhat improved, but afterwards the
cream. For this purpose I procured a movable windlass with a rope of the
required length; the cream-jar is placed in a basket two feet four
inches deep, suspended on the rope, and let down the evening previous to
churning. It is drawn up early next morning, and immediately churned. By
this means the churning occupies about the same time as in winter, and
the butter is of like consistence.
The advantage I derive from this is such that, rather than be without
it, I should prefer sinking a well for the purpose of reaching a like
temperature.
When winter approaches, the open trellis window to the north is closed,
an additional shutter being fixed outside, and the interval between this
and an inner shutter closely packed with straw, to prevent the access of
air and cold; the door to the kitchen is at the same time unclosed to
admit warmth. Before the milk is brought from the cow-house, the
dairymaid washes the bowls well with hot water, the effect of which is
to take off the chill, but not to warm them. The milk is brought in as
milked, and is passed through a sile into the bowls, which are then
placed on the cistern. A thermometer, with its bulb immersed in the
milk, denotes a temperature of about ninety degrees. The hot water is
applied immediately, at a temperature of one hundred degrees or
upwards, and continues to flow for about five minutes, when the supply
is exhausted. The bowls being of thick earthen ware,--a slow
conductor,--this does not heighten the temperature of the milk. The
cooling, however, is thereby retarded, as I find the milk, after
standing four hours, maintains a temperature of sixty degrees. This
application of hot water is renewed at each milking to the new milk, but
not repeated to the same after it has cooled. The temperature of the
dairy is momentarily increased to above 60°, but speedily subsides, the
average temperature being 52° to 56°.
It will be observed that the churnings in summer and winter occupy half
an hour or upwards. By increasing the temperature of the cream I could
easily churn in half the time, but I should thereby injure the quality
of the butter. When the butter has come and gathered into a mass, it is
taken, together with the butter-milk, out of the churn, which is rinsed
with water; the butter is then placed again in the churn with a quantity
of cold spring water, in which salt has been dissolved, at the rate of
one ounce per quart of cream; after a few minutes’ churning, the butter
is again taken out; the water in which it has been washed assumes a
whitish appearance. By this process the salt is equally diffused through
the butter, which requires little manipulation, and is freed from a
portion of caseous matter. A recent analysis of my butter shows only
1.07 instead of 2.45 per cent. of caseine, as before. That it ranks as
choice may be inferred when I state that my purchaser willingly gives me
a penny per roll more than the highest price in Otley market, and
complains that I do not supply him with a greater quantity.
In this dairy of the small dimensions I have described, my produce of
butter reaches at times sixty to seventy pounds per week. Though the
size may appear inconveniently small, yet I beg to remark on the greater
facility of regulating the temperature of a small in comparison with a
large dairy. This difficulty will be found greater in summer than in
winter, as it is far easier to heighten than depress the temperature.
I have cooked or steamed my food for several years. It will be observed
that I blend bean-straw, bran, and malt-combs, as flavoring materials,
with oat or other straw and rape-cake; the effect of steaming is to
volatilize the essential oils, in which the flavor resides, and diffuse
them through the mess. The odor arising from it resembles that observed
from the process of malting; this imparts relish to the mess, and
induces the cattle to eat it greedily; in addition to which, I am
disposed to think that it renders the food more easy of digestion and
assimilation. I use this process with advantage for fattening, when I am
deficient in roots. With the same mixed straw and oat-shells, three to
four pounds each of rape-cake, and half a pound of linseed-oil, but
without roots, I have fattened more than thirty heifers and cows free
from milk, from March up to the early part of May; their gain has
averaged fully fourteen pounds each per week,--a result I could not have
looked for from the same materials, if uncooked. This process seems to
have the effect of rendering linseed-oil less of a laxative, but cannot
drive off any portion of the fattening oils, to volatilize which
requires a very high temperature. My experience of the benefits of
steaming is such that if I were deprived of it I could not continue to
feed with satisfaction.
I have weighed my fattening cattle for a number of years, and my milch
cows for more than two years. This practice enables me at once to detect
any deficiency in the performance of the animals; it gives also a
stimulus to the feeders, who attend at the weighings, and who are
desirous that the cattle intrusted to their care should bear a
comparison with their rivals. Another obvious advantage is in avoiding
all cavils respecting the weight by my purchasers, who, having satisfied
themselves as to the quality of the animal, now ask and obtain the most
recent weighing. The usual computation for a well-fed but not over fat
beast is, live to dead weight, as 21 to 12, or 100 to 59¹⁄₇ with such
modifications as suggest themselves by appearances.
Though many discussions have taken place on the fattening of cattle, the
not less important branch of dairy treatment has hitherto been
comparatively neglected. I therefore venture to call attention to
considerations which have arisen from observations in my own practice
affecting the chemistry and physiology, or, in other words, the science
of feeding. That I am seeking aid from its guidance will be apparent,
and I have no hesitation in admitting that, beyond the satisfaction from
the better understanding of my business, I have latterly derived more
benefit or profit from examination of the chemical composition of
materials of food than from the treatment or feeding experiments of
others which have come under my notice. So persuaded am I of the
advantage of this, that I do not feel satisfied to continue the use of
any material, with the composition of which I am not acquainted, without
resorting to the society’s laboratory for an analysis.
_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.
When we take into consideration the disposition of a cow to apply her
food rather to her milk than to her maintenance and improvement, it
seems fair to infer that the milk of a cow gaining flesh will not be
deficient either in caseine or butter.
I have already alluded to the efficiency of bean-meal in increasing the
quantity of butter: I learn, also, from observant dairymen who milk
their own cows and carry their butter to market, that their baskets are
never so well filled as when their cows feed on green clover, which, as
dry material, is nearly as rich in albumen as beaus. I am also told, by
those who have used green rape-plant, that it produces milk rich in
butter. From this we may infer that albuminous matter is the most
essential element in the food of the milch cow, and that any deficiency
in the supply of this will be attended with loss of condition, and a
consequent diminution in the quality of her milk.
I am clearly of opinion that you can increase the proportion of butter
in milk more than that of caseine, or other solid parts. From several,
who have adopted my treatment, I learn that on substituting rape-cake
for beans they perceive an increased richness in their milk. Mr. T.
Garnett, of Clitheroe, who has used bean-meal largely as an auxiliary
food for milch cows during the winter season, tells me that when
rape-cake is substituted, his dairymaid, without being informed,
perceives the change from the increased richness of the milk. Mr.
Garnett has also used linseed-cake in like quantity; still his dairy
people prefer rape-cake.
Mr. Whelon, of Lancaster, who keeps two milch cows for his own use, to
which he gave bean-meal and bran as auxiliaries, has recently
substituted rape-cake[4] for bean-meal; he informs me that in a week he
saw a change in the richness of milk, with an increase of butter.
[4] The analysis of cotton-seed cake, in comparison with rape and
linseed cake, in a former chapter of this work, will show the
comparative value of that as food for milch cows.
The vegetable oils are of two distinct classes: the _drying_ or
_setting_ represented by linseed, the _unctuous_ represented by
rape-oil. They consist of two proximate elements, margarine and oleine;
in all probability they will vary in their proportion of these, but in
what degree I have not been able to ascertain. Though the agricultural
chemists make no distinction, as far as I am aware, between these two
classes of oils, the practitioners in medicine use them for distinct
purposes. Cod-liver oil has been long used for pulmonary complaints;
latterly, olive, almond, and rape oils are being employed as
substitutes. These are all of the unctuous class of oils. Mr. Rhind, the
intelligent medical practitioner of this village, called my attention to
some experiments by Dr. Leared, published in the _Medical Times_, July
21st, 1855, with oleine alone, freed from margarine, which showed
marked superiority in the effect; and I now learn from Mr. Rhind that he
is at present using with success the pure oleine, prepared by Messrs.
Price & Co., from cocoa-nut oil, one of the unctuous class. That linseed
and others of the drying oils are used in medicine for a very different
purpose, it seems unnecessary to state.
The oleine of oil is known to be more easy of consumption and more
available for respiration than margarine--a property to which its use in
medicine may be attributable. If we examine the animal fats, tallow,
suet, and other fat, they are almost wholly of the solid class, stearine
or margarine, closely resembling or identical with the margarine in
plants; whilst butter is composed of oleine and margarine, combining
both the proximate elements found in vegetable oils.
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.
The analyses of butter show a very varying proportion of oleine and
margarine fats: summer butter usually contains of oleine sixty and
margarine forty per cent., whilst in winter butter these proportions are
reversed, being forty of oleine to sixty of margarine. By ordinary
treatment the quantity of butter during winter is markedly inferior. The
common materials for dairy cows in winter are straw with turnips or
mangel, hay alone, or hay with mangel. If we examine these materials, we
find them deficient in oil, or in starch, sugar, etc. If a cow consume
two stones or twenty-eight pounds of hay a day, which is probably more
than she can be induced to eat on an average, it will be equal in dry
material to more than one hundred pounds of young grass, which will
also satisfy a cow. That one hundred pounds of young grass will yield
more butter, will scarcely admit of a doubt. The twenty-eight pounds of
hay will be equal in albuminous matter and in oil to the one hundred
pounds of grass; but in the element of starch, sugar, etc., there is a
marked difference. During the growth of the plant, the starch and sugar
are converted into woody fibre, in which form they are scarcely
digestible or available for respiration. It seems, then, not improbable
that, when a cow is supplied with hay only, she will consume some
portion of the oleine oil for respiration, and yield a less quantity of
butter poorer in oleine.
If you assume summer butter to contain of oleine, 60 per cent.
If you assume summer butter to contain of margarine, 40 “ “
---
100 “ “
If the cow consume of the oleine, 36 “ “
---
The quantity of butter will be reduced from 100 to 64 “ “
And the proportions will then be, of oleine, 40 “ “
And the proportions will then be, of margarine, 60 “ “
---
100 “ “
If you supply turnips or mangel with hay, the cow will consume less of
hay; you thereby substitute a material richer in sugar, etc., and poorer
in oil. Each of these materials, in the quantity a cow can consume, is
deficient in the supply of albumen necessary to keep up the condition of
an animal giving a full yield of milk. To effect this, recourse must be
had to artificial or concentrated substances of food, rich in albuminous
matter.
It can scarcely be expected, nor is it desirable, that practical farmers
should apply themselves to the attainment of proficiency in the art of
chemical investigations; this is more properly the occupation of the
professor of science. The following simple experiment, however, seems
worth mentioning. On several occasions, during winter, I procured
samples of butter from my next neighbor. On placing these, with a like
quantity of my own, in juxtaposition before the fire, my butter melted
with far greater rapidity--by no means an unsafe test of a greater
proportion of oleine.
The chemical investigation of our natural and other grasses has hitherto
scarcely had the attention which it deserves. The most valuable
information on this subject is in the paper by Professor Way, on the
nutritive and fattening properties of the grasses, in vol. xiv., p. 171,
of the Royal Agricultural Society’s Journal. These grasses were nearly
all analyzed at the flowering time, a stage at which no occupier of
grass-land would expect so favorable a result in fattening. We much
prefer pastures with young grass not more than a few inches high,
sufficient to afford a good bite. With a view to satisfy myself as to
the difference of composition of the like grasses at different stages of
growth, I sent to Professor Way a specimen of the first crop of hay, cut
in the end of June, when the grass was in the early stage of flowering,
and one of aftermath, cut towards the close of September, from the same
meadow, the analyses of which I give:
HAY, FIRST CROP. | AFTERMATH HAY
Moisture, 12.02 | Moisture, 11.87
Albuminous matter, 9.24 | Oil and fatty matter, 6.84
Oil and fatty matter, 2.68 | Albuminous matter, 9.84
Starch, gum, sugar, 39.75 | Starch, gum, sugar, 42.25
Woody fibre, 27.41 | Woody fibre, 19.77
Mineral matter, 8.90 | Mineral matter, 9.43
------- | -------
100.00 | 100.00
A comparison between these will show a much greater percentage of woody
fibre,--27.41 in the first crop to 19.77 in the aftermath. The most
remarkable difference, however, is in the proportion of oil, being 2.68
in the first crop to 6.84 in the aftermath.
On inquiry from an observing tenant of a small dairy farm of mine, who
has frequently used aftermath hay, I learn that, as compared with the
first crop, he finds it induces a greater yield of milk, but attended
with some impoverishment in the condition of the cow, and that he uses
it without addition of turnips or other roots, which he gives when
using hay of the first crop--an answer quite in accordance with what
might be expected from its chemical composition.
It is likewise to be presumed that the quickness of growth will
materially affect the composition of grasses, as well as of other
vegetables. Your gardener will tell you that if radishes are slow in
growth they will be tough and woody; that asparagus melts in eating,
like butter, and salad is crisp when grown quickly. The same effect
will, I apprehend, be found in grasses of slow growth: they will contain
more of woody fibre, with less of starch or sugar. The quality of butter
grown on poor pastures is characterized by greater solidity than on rich
feeding pastures. The cows, having to travel over more space, require a
greater supply of the elements of respiration, whilst the grasses grown
on these poor pastures contain, in all probability, less of these in a
_digestible form_ available for respiration. The like result seems
probable as from common winter treatment--a produce of butter less in
quantity, and containing a greater proportion of margarine, and a less
of oleine.
It is well known that pastures vary greatly in their butter-producing
properties; there is, however, as far as I am aware, no satisfactory
explanation of this. If you watch cows on depasture, you observe them
select their own food; if you supply cows in stall alike with food, they
will also select for themselves. I give rape-cake as a mixture to all,
and induce them to eat the requisite quantity; yet some will select the
rape-cake first, and eat it up clean, whilst others rather neglect it
till towards the close of their meal, and then leave pieces in the
trough. Two Alderneys,--the only cows of the kind I have as yet
had,--whose butter-producing qualities are well known, are particularly
fond of rape-cake, and never leave a morsel. May not these animals be
prompted by their instinct to select such food as is best suited to
their wants and propensities? If so, it seems of the greatest importance
that the dairyman should be informed of the properties of food most
suitable for his purpose, especially whilst in a stall, where they have
little opportunity of selecting.
It appears worth the attention of our society to make inquiries as to
the localities which are known as producing milk peculiarly rich in
butter. When travelling in Germany, I well recollect being treated with
peculiarly rich milk, cream, and butter, on my tour between Dresden and
Toplitz, at the station or resting-place on the chaussée or
turnpike-road, before you descend a very steep incline to the valley in
which Toplitz is situated. I travelled this way after an interval of
several years, when the same treat was again offered. It was given as a
rarity, and can only be accounted for by the peculiar adaptation of the
herbage of the country for the production of butter.
COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT METHODS OF FEEDING DAIRY COWS.--Being desirous
of comparing the result of my method of feeding dairy cows with the
system usually practised in this locality, it occurred to me that, as my
cows had been accustomed to savory steamed food, a change to ordinary
food would be attended with less favorable results than if they had been
previously treated in the common mode; and that, under these
circumstances, it would be better to institute comparisons with two near
neighbors, Mr. Smith and Mr. Pawson, whose practice and results I had
the opportunity of inspecting.
Mr. Smith’s cow was of rather small frame, but noted for her usefulness
as a good milker. At the time of calving her third calf; about the 12th
of November, she was in good condition, and gave, soon after, seventeen
quarts of milk per day. Her owner states that in the first three weeks
(up to the time this comparison was begun) her condition sensibly
diminished--a result which I apprehend will be invariable with cows
giving this quantity of milk when fed on meadow hay only, with which Mr.
Smith’s cow was supplied _ad libitum_, and of which she consumed
twenty-eight pounds per day. Mr. Pawson’s was a nice heifer, three years
old at the time of calving her first calf, October 6th, in more than
ordinary condition, and gave about sixteen quarts per day. Her owner
states that on the first of January her condition was much diminished.
This is corroborated by Mr. Myers, a dealer in the village, who tells me
that, previous to her calving, he was desirous of purchasing her, and
would have given from seventeen pounds ten shillings to eighteen pounds,
and describes her as being at that time full of beef. Her weight on the
first of January, 7 cwt. 2 qrs., bespeaks her condition as much lowered.
During the month of October, and till late in November, she was turned
out in the daytime to graze on aftermath, and housed during the night,
where she was supplied with turnips. From the close of November till the
first week in February, her food consisted of
Meadow hay of inferior quality, 18 lbs. per day.
Swedish turnips, 45 “ “ “
Ground oats, 9 “ “ “
After this the ground oats were discontinued, and meadow hay of good
quality was given _ad libitum_, with forty-five pounds of turnips.
For comparison I selected a cow of my own, which calved about the 8th of
October, and gave soon after eighteen quarts of milk per day; she was
also of small size. At the time of calving her condition was somewhat
higher than that of Mr. Smith’s. When the experiment was begun, on the
first of January, no perceivable difference was found in the yield of
milk of Mr. Smith’s cow and my own, each giving fifteen and a half
quarts per day.
The following table gives the dates of calving of the three cows,
together with their weights and yield of milk at the commencement and
termination of the experiment:
---------------+--------+---------------------+---------------------
| | January 1. | March 6.
+--------+--------------+------+--------------+------
|Yield at| | | |
|calving.| Weight. |Yield.| Weight. |Yield.
When calved. +--------+----+----+----+------+----+----+----+------
|Quarts. |Cwt.|qrs.|lbs.| Qts. |Cwt.|qrs.|lbs.| Qts.
---------------+--------+----+----+----+------+----+----+----+------
Mr. Smith’s-- | | | | | | | | |
Nov. 12. | 17 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 15¹⁄₂| 8 | 0 | 0 | 9¹⁄₂
Mr. Pawson’s-- | | | | | | | | |
Oct. 6. | 16 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6¹⁄₄
My own--Oct. 8.| 18 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 15¹⁄₂| 10 | 1 | 0 |12¹⁄₂
---------------+--------+----+----+----+------+----+----+----+------
Mr. Smith’s cow lost in weight in nine weeks 84 pounds, being 9¹⁄₃
pounds per week, with an average yield of 12¹⁄₂ quarts per day. Mr.
Pawson’s lost 28 pounds. This loss, together with the diminished yield
of milk, occurred almost wholly after the oats had been withdrawn; her
weight on the 6th of February being still 7 cwt. 2 qrs., and her yield
of milk 11 quarts per day.
My cow has gained in the nine weeks 56 lbs., being 6¹⁄₄ pounds per week,
with an average yield of 14 quarts, the diminution being regular.
January 1st, 15¹⁄₂; Feb. 4th, 14; March 4th, 12¹⁄₂; making an average
yield of 14 quarts per day. The whole loss and gain of weight will be in
flesh and fat, the cows having kept up their consumption of food and
their bulk.
The weekly account of profit and loss will stand as follows:
_s._ _d._ _s._ _d._
Mr. Smith’s cow, average yield fer 9 weeks,
12¹⁄₂ quarts per day, at 2_d._ per quart, 14 7
Deduct loss in flesh, 9¹⁄₃ lbs., at 6_d._, 4 8
-----------
9 11
Cost of 14 stones hay, at 6_d._ per stone, 7 0
-----------
Profit, 2 11
Mr. Pawson’s cow, average during the first
five weeks, 11¹⁄₂ quarts per day, at 2_d._
per quart, 13 5
Cost of 9 stones inferior hay (at 4_d._ per
stone), per week, 3 0
Cost of 63 lbs. ground oats, 4_s._ 8_d._;
turnips, 1_s._ 6_d._, 6 2 9 2
------------
Profit, 4 3
My cow, average yield for 9 weeks, 14 quarts
per day, at 2_d._ per quart, 16 4
Gain of flesh, 6¹⁄₄ lbs per week, at 6_d._, 3 1¹⁄₂
-------------
19 5¹⁄₂
Cost of food:
Hay, 63 lbs., at 6_d._ per stone; straw and
shells of oats, 1_s._ 3_d._; mangel, 1_s._, 4 6¹⁄₂
Rape-cake, 35 lbs.; bran, 10¹⁄₂ lbs.; malt-
combs, 10¹⁄₂ lbs.; bean-meal, 10¹⁄₂ lbs., 4 0¹⁄₂ 8 7
-------------
Profit, 10 10¹⁄₂
The richer quality of the manure will probably compensate for the extra
labor, cooking, and attention bestowed upon my cow.
With a view of extending the comparison, give particulars of the whole
of my cows the weights of which were registered on the 8th of October,
and which were still on hand, free from calf, and in a state admitting
of comparison. These were bought at a neighboring market in but moderate
condition, and were young, having had two or three calves each. A cow in
full condition attains her maximum yield in a week or so after calving;
whilst those in lower condition continue, by my treatment, to increase
their quantity up to about a month after calving.
TABLE.
--------+---------+---------+--------------+--------------------
| | | | February 4.
| | |+-------------+--------------+-----
| | Greatest| | |Yield
| |yield per| October 8 | | per
No. | Calved. | day. | Weight. | Weight. | day.
--------+---------+---------+--------------+--------------+-----
| | Quarts. |Cwt. qrs. lbs.|Cwt. qrs. lbs.| Qts.
1. |July 28.| 12 | 9 2 0 |10 0 0 | 8
2. |Aug. 25.| 18 |10 0 0 |11 1 0 | 14
4. |July 28.| 18 | 8 2 0 |10 1 0 | 15
6. |Sept. 8.| 16 |10 2 0 |10 2 0 | 14
7. |Sept. 8.| 16 |10 2 0 |11 0 0 | 10
11. |Aug. 25.| 16 | 9 1 0 | 9 2 0 | 11
| +---------+--------------+--------------+-----
Average,| | 16 | | | 12
--------+---------+---------+--------------+--------------+-----
TABLE--CONTINUED.
--------+----------------------+----------------+-------+------
| March 4. | | | Gain
+--------------+-------+ | Gain, | in
| | Yield | |Oct. 8 |weight
| | per |Computed average| to | per
No. | Weight. | day. | per day during |Feb. 4.| week.
--------+--------------+-------+----------------+-------+------
|Cwt. qrs. lbs.|Quarts.|Weeks. Qts. | Lbs. | Lbs.
1. | 10 1 0 | 8 | 29 -- 10 | 84 | 4
2. | 11 1 0 | 14 | 27 -- 16 | 140 | 6³⁄₄
4. | 10 0 0 | 15 | 31 -- 15 | 168 | 8
6. | 10 3 0 | 14 | 25 -- 15 | 28 | 1¹⁄₃
7. | 11 0 0 | 10 | 25 -- 13 | 56 | 2²⁄₃
11. | 9 2 0 | 11 | 27 -- 13¹⁄₂| 28 | 1¹⁄₃
+--------------+-------+----------------+-------+------
Average,| | 12 | 27¹⁄₃ -- 14 | |
--------+--------------+-------+----------------+-------+------
My cows, during the period under consideration, were treated as follows:
During August and September they were on open pasture by day and housed
by night; evening and morning they were supplied with mown grass, and
two feeds of steamed mixture. Towards the close of September green rape
was substituted for the mown grass, with the same allowance of steamed
mixture; from the 8th of October, when they were wholly housed, they
were supplied with steamed food _ad libitum_ three times per day. After
each meal ten to twelve pounds of green rape-plant were given, and nine
pounds of hay per day till November; from that time steamed food with
cabbages or kohl rabi till the early part or February, when mangold
wurzel was substituted. It will be observed that I give hay and roots in
limited quantities, and the steamed food _ad libitum_. I prefer this to
apportioning the cake and other concentrated food in equal quantities to
each, as this steamed mixture contains more of the elements essential to
milk, and each cow is thus at liberty to satisfy her requirements with
it. Nos. 2 and 4, which have given the greatest quantity of milk, have
eaten more than their share; whilst No. 1, which has given the least
milk, has scarcely eaten more than half the quantity of steamed mixture
consumed by 2 or 4. The yield of milk and the live weights on the 4th of
February and the 4th of March scarcely vary. During February thirty-four
pounds of mangold were substituted for kohl rabi; with this change the
cows became mere relaxed. My experience in weighing, extending over
several years, has shown me that when animals, from change of food,
become more relaxed or more costive, their weighings in the former state
denote less, whilst in the latter they denote more, than their actual
gain in condition. I have known instances in which a month’s weighing,
accompanied by relaxation, has shown no gain, whilst, with restored
consistency, the gain doubled.
I now proceed to examine the materials of food, their composition, and
the probable changes they undergo in the animal economy.
_Quantity and description of food supplied to six cows during
twenty-seven and a third weeks, and its composition in proximate
elements and minerals._
-----------+----+------+---------+----------+------
| | Total| | |Weight
| |weight| | | of
| | of | Cost | | food
| Per| food | per | Total | when
|day.|given.| ton. | cost. |dried.
-----------+----+------+---------+----------+------
|lbs.| lbs. |£ s. d.| £ s. d.| lbs.
Meadow hay,| 56|10,715|4 0 0|19 2 9| 9,420
Rape-cake, | 30| 5,740|6 10 0|16 12 0| 5,456
Malt-combs,| 9| 1,722|5 9 0| 4 3 0| 1,660
Bran, | 9| 1,722|6 10 0| 5 0 0| 1,500
Beans, | 9| 1,722|9 6 8| 7 3 6| 1,500
Green food,| 204|39,032|0 10 0| 8 14 6| 5,740
Oat-straw, | 50| 9,566|1 15 0| 7 9 0| 8,407
Bean-straw,| 12| 2,296|1 15 0| 7 16 0| 1,964
+----+------+---------+----------+------
Total, | 379|72,515| |70 0 9|35,647
-----------+----+------+---------+----------+------
-----------+--------+-------+-----+------+------
| Albu- | | | | Min-
| men. |Starch.| Oil.|Fibre.|erals.
-----------+--------+-------+-----+------+------
| lbs. | lbs. | lbs.| lbs.| lbs.
Meadow hay,| 990 | 4,257| 287| 2,933| 953
Rape-cake, | 1,803 | 2,177| 611| 494| 171
Malt-combs,| 411 | 791| 51| 320| 88
Bran, | 246 | 800| 96| 258| 100
Beans, | 464 | 774| 34| 176| 53
Green food,| 862 | 3,074| 115| 1,148| 541
Oat-straw, | 287 | 3,066| 100| 4,526| 428
Bean-straw,| 376 | 725| 51| 594| 217
+--------+-------+-----+------+------
Total, | 5,439 | 15,664|1,345|10,449|2,551
|= Nitro-| | | |
| gen | | | |
|888 lbs.| | | |
-----------+--------+-------+-----+------+------
ANALYSIS OF MILK BY HAIDLEN.
Water, 873.
Butter, 30.
Caseine, 48.2
Milk sugar, 43.9
Phosphate of lime, 2.31
Magnesia, .42
Iron, .07
Chloride of potassium, 1.44
Sodium and Soda, .66
-------
1000.00
Production of milk by 6 cows, average 14 quarts per day each, for 27¹⁄₃
weeks = 16,072 quarts, which at 41 oz. per quart = 41,184 lbs.
lbs.
When dry or free from moisture, 5230
------
Butter in 16,072 quarts, at 30 per 1000 = 1235
Caseine in 16,072 quarts, at 48.2 per 1000, = 1977
Sugar of milk, = 1804
Minerals. {Phosphate of lime, 99}
{Other, 115} = 214
------
5230
Gain of weight 500 lbs., of which I compute 300 lbs. as fat.
200 lbs. as flesh.
---
500
Nitrogen, 316 lbs.
Phosphate of lime, 99
Phosphoric acid, = 45.50
Cost of food per cow per week, 8_s._ 6¹⁄₂_d._
When the yield of milk is less, the cost of food is reduced to 7_s._
8_d._ per week.
_s._ _d._
Gross return in milk, 16 4
“ “ “ weight, 1 6
“ “ “ manure, 2 8
---------
20 6
ANALYSIS OF EXCREMENT BY PROFESSOR WAY.
Per cent.
Moisture, 84.85
Phosphoric acid, .39
Potash, .58
Soda, .22
Other substances, 13.96
------
100.
Nitrogen, .41
Ammonia, .49
Manure, 88 lbs. per cow per day.
For 6 cows per day 528 lbs. = 3696 lbs. per week.
“ “ “ for 27¹⁄₃ weeks 101,028 lbs., containing of
Nitrogen, 414 lbs.
Phosphoric acid, 393
Potash, 585
Nitrogen incorporated in food, 888 lbs.
Caseine, 316.
Fibrin, 7.35
Manure, 414.
Balance consumed in perspiration, 150.65
------
888.00
The materials of food are shown to have cost £70 0_s_ 9_d._
£. _s._ _d._
Gross value 16,072 quarts of milk, at 2_d._ per quart, 133 18 8
Gain of weight 500 lbs., at 6_d._ per lb., 12 10 0
Nitrogen in manure 414 lbs. = Ammonia £. _s._ _d._
494 lbs., at 6_d._, 12 7 0
Phosphoric acid 393 lbs., at 1¹⁄₂_d._
per lb., 2 9 1
Potash 585 lbs., at 3_d._ per lb., 7 6 3
-------------
22 2 4
---------------
£168 11 0
Manure per cow per day 88 lbs., per week 616 lbs. _s._ _d._
Containing ammonia 3 lbs., 1 6
Phosphoric acid 2.40 lbs., 0 3¹⁄₂
Potash 3.57 lbs., 0 10¹⁄₂
------------
Value of a cow’s excrement, per week, 2 8
The analyses of the chief ingredients of my own produce, or such extra
materials as I usually purchase, have been made by Professor Way; for
other materials I have had recourse to a very useful compilation by Mr.
Hemming (vol. xiii., p. 449, of the Society’s Journal), and to Morton’s
“Cyclopædia of Agriculture.” The analysis of straw is that of oat-straw;
that of green food is derived from the analysis of rape-plant, cabbages,
and kohl rabi. During February and March I have been using wheat and
barley straw with marigold, and, as these materials contain less oil, I
give in the steamed food three ounces of linseed-oil per day to each
animal. For the composition of milk I adopt that by Haidlen, whose
method of analysis is reputed to be the most accurate, the proportion of
butter in my milk being this season very similar to that given by him.
It will be observed that this is the gross return for twenty-seven and
one third weeks from the time of calving, from which will have to be
deducted expense of attendance, etc.
£. _s._ _d._
The materials used for food are found to have cost 70 0 9
The value of these materials as manure consists of 888
lbs. nitrogen = 1061 lbs. ammonia, at 6_d._, 26 10 6
Phosphoric acid and potash, 9 15 4
--------------
Value of food if employed as manure, £36 5 10
The 16,072 quarts of milk, at 2_d._ per quart for new
milk, at which price it enters largely into
consumption as food for man, amount to £133 18 8
£. _s._ _d._
The nitrogen in the milk 316 lbs. =
ammonia 378 lbs., at 6_d._ per lb., 9 9 0
Phosphoric acid in ditto. 45¹⁄₂
lbs., at 1¹⁄₂_d._ per lb., 0 5 8
-------------
£9 14 8
From these statements it will be seen that materials used as _food for
cattle_ represent double the value they would do if used for manure,
whilst that portion converted into _food fitted for the use of man_
represents a value thirteen to fourteen times greater than it would as
manure.
It then appears clear that it is for the feeder’s profit to use his
produce as much as possible as food for cattle, with the view to convert
it with the utmost economy into food for man, and thus _increase rather
than enrich his manure-heap_.
The calculation of caseine in milk is based upon the supposition that my
milk is equal in its proportion of that element to that analyzed by
Haidlen. Several analyses by other chemists show a less percentage, 4 to
4.50. As my cows are adequately supplied with albuminous matter, I have
a right to presume on their milk being rich in caseine.
The loss of nitrogen by perspiration, 150.65 lbs., is nearly 17 per
cent. Boussingault found a loss of 13.50 of nitrogen in a cow giving
milk.
The abstraction of nitrogen in the milk is computed at £. _s._ _d._
316 lbs., value, 9 9 0
The abstraction of phosphoric acid in the milk is
computed at 48¹⁄₂ lbs., 0 5 8
Either the rape-cake or bran alone suffices for the restoration of the
phosphoric acid.
The amount of phosphoric acid in the manure is 393 pounds, being about
sixteen per cent. of the whole ash or mineral matter. The ash of meadow
hay contains about 14 per cent., that of rape-cake 30 per cent., bran 50
per cent., malt-combs 25 per cent., and turnips, &c., 10 per cent. of
phosphoric acid.
The amount of potash in the excrement is 616 pounds, being about 25 per
cent. of the whole ash or mineral matter. The ash of meadow hay contains
about 20 per cent.; rape-cake, 21 per cent.; malt-combs, 37 per cent.;
turnips (various), 44 per cent.; from which it may be inferred that the
sample of excrement sent to Professor Way for analysis did not contain
more than a fair proportion of these ingredients.
To ascertain the quantity of excrement, the contents of the tanks into
which the cows had dropped their solid and liquid excrement during five
weeks were weighed, and found to be 500 cwt. 2 qrs. 0 lbs, from 18 cows,
being 88 lbs. per cow per day. The sample for analysis was taken from
that which the cows had deposited within the preceding 24 hours. This
was collected in the mud-cart, well blended, and sent off quite fresh.
It is sufficiently proved, by the experience of this district, that 20
pounds of meadow hay suffice for the maintenance of a cow of fair size
in store condition; a like result is stated to be obtained from 120
pounds of turnips per day. The six cows will have then required, during
the 27¹⁄₃ weeks, for their maintenance, only
------------------+------+-------+-------------+------+----+------
| | | |Albu- | |
| | Total | |minous| |Starch,
Per day. |Weeks.|Weight.| | mat. |Oil.| &c.
------------------+------+-------+-------------+------+----+------
lbs.| | | lbs. | | lbs. |lbs.|lbs.
120 |of hay or for| 27¹⁄₃| 22,960|containing of| 2127 | 616|9130
150 |of turnips, | | | | | |
|or for | 27¹⁄₃|137,760| “ “ | 2295 | 306|9100
----+-------------+------+-------+-------------+------+----+------
They will further have required adequate food--
-------------------------------------+--------+-------+------
| Albumi-| |
| nous | |Starch
| matter,| | and
|fibrin, | Oil | sugar
| and | and | of
|caseine.|butter.| milk.
-------------------------------------+--------+-------+------
For the production of | 2,116 | 1,235 | 1,894
And for maintenance by turnips, | 2,295 | 306 | 9,100
+--------+-------+------
| 4,411 | 1,541 |10,994
The food supplied is computed to have| | |
contained | 5,459 | 1,345 |15,664
-------------------------------------+--------+-------+------
I omit the minerals, which are observed to be in excess of the
requirements.
For the maintenance of a fair-sized cow, for one day, in a normal state,
the following elements seem adequate:
-----------------------+-----+----+-------+-----+------------
| | | | | Mineral
| | | | |ingredients.
|Albu-| |Starch,| | Phosphoric
| men.|Oil.| &c. |Lime.| acid.
-----------------------+-----+----+-------+-----+------------
In 20 lbs. of hay, | 1.85|.536| 7.95 | .90 | 1.11
In 120 “ “ turnips,| 1.98|.26 | 7.82 | .97 | 1.9
-----------------------+-----+----+-------+-----+------------
When cows are in milk, there occurs a much greater activity of the
functions; they eat and drink more, evacuate more excrement, and, in all
probability, spend considerably more food in respiration. Whilst the
17.60 lbs. per day dry matter in 20 lbs. of hay are found adequate for
the maintenance of a cow in a store state, the six cows in milk have
eaten on the average 21.37 lbs. solid matter per day during the 27¹⁄₃
weeks. When I have fattened cattle together with a number of milch cows
of similar size, which gave on an average eight quarts of milk per day,
the whole being fed with moist steamed food, and receiving the same
allowance of green food, I have found the fattening cattle refuse water,
whilst the milch cows on the average drank upwards of 40 pounds per day
of water given separately. The eight quarts of milk contain only about
17.58 lbs. of water; still, in several analyses of excrement, I have
noticed little difference in the percentage of moisture in that from the
fattening animals as compared with that from cows giving milk.
These facts would seem to show that upwards of 20 lbs. more water were
given off from the lungs and pores of the skin of a milking than of a
fattening animal.
The excrement of the six milch cows, 88 lbs. per day on the average, is
found to contain of nitrogen 36, equal to that in 2.25 lbs. of albumen;
whilst 1.85 of albumen in the 20 lbs. of hay is found adequate for
maintenance.
On comparing the supply of the food to the six milch cows with their
requirements and production, there seems an excess in the albuminous
matter, a deficiency in the oil for the fat and butter, an excess in the
starch, &c. Taking, however, the increased activity of the animal
functions, and consequent consumption of food by the milch cow, I am not
encouraged to lower my standard of food. That it has sufficed is
abundantly proved, as each of the six cows under observation has gained
in condition during 27¹⁄₃ weeks.
My observations on nutrition tend to the conclusion that if you supply
animals with starch, sugar, &c., to satisfy their requirements for
respiration, you enable them to convert the oil of their food into
butter or fat to such extent as their particular organism is fitted for
effecting it.
On the 12th of March I purchased Mr. Smith’s cow (see p. 392) for twelve
pounds ten shillings, being more than her market value, for the purpose
of trying her on my food; her yield of milk had then diminished to 8
quarts per day. On the 31st of March, four weeks from the former
weighing, and nineteen days after being treated with my food, her yield
of milk had increased to 9¹⁄₂ quarts per day, and her weight to 8 cwt. 1
qr., being 28 lbs. increase.
Mr. Pawson’s cow, which was continued on the same food, namely, meadow
hay _ad libitum_, and a more limited supply of turnips, reduced her
yield of milk to less than 5 quarts per day, without alteration in her
weight.
My cow first placed on trial with those of Mr. Smith and Mr. Pawson gave
a yield of milk of 12 quarts per day, and gained 28 lbs. in the four
weeks, her weight on the 31st of March being 10 cwt. 2 qrs.
The weight and the yield of milk of the six, on the 31st of March, were:
----------------+-------------+--------+-------------+--------+------
| |Yield of| |Yield of|Gain
| | milk | | milk |in 4
| March 4. |per day.| March 31. |per day.|weeks.
----------------+-------------+--------+-------------+--------+------
|cwt. qr. lbs.|quarts. |cwt. qr. lbs.| quarts.|lbs.
Weight of No. 1.| 10 0 26 | 8 | 10 3 0 | 8.9 | 58
“ “ “ 2.| 11 1 0 | 14 | 11 3 0 | 14.9 | 56
“ “ “ 4.| 10 0 0 | 14¹⁄₂ | 10 1 0 | 13 | 28
“ “ “ 6.| 10 3 0 | 14 | 11 2 0 | 12 | 84
“ “ “ 7.| 11 0 0 | 10 | 11 3 0 | 10 | 84
“ “ “ 11.| 9 2 0 | 11 | 10 1 0 | 12 | 84
---------------------------------------------------------------------
On referring to the previous weighing, there was little or no gain from
Feb. 4th to March 4th, the cows being at that time in a somewhat more
relaxed state. During March they wholly regained their consistency. The
gain shown in the weighing, March 31, by the six cows, appears therefore
unusually great. It should, however, be computed as made during the
eight weeks from Feb. 4th to March 31, being with an average yield of
nearly 12 quarts (11.66) per day each, at the rate of 8¹⁄₆ lbs. each per
week on the average.
No. 11, it will be observed, is stated as giving more milk on the 31st
than on the 4th of March. It occasionally happens that cows drop their
yield of milk for a day or two, and then regain it, especially when in
use. The whole of these six cows were kept free from calf till February,
when Nos. 2 and 4 were sent to bull. I had some hesitation in regard to
No. 4, from her having suffered from pleuro. Her milk, tested by a
lactometer, denoted a less than average proportion of cream; still, in
quantity, and keeping up its yield for a length of time, being of more
than ordinary capability; I decided to retain her.
Nos. 1 and 7, which are giving respectively 8 and 10 quarts per day, are
in a state of fatness; they will probably be sold in June as prime fat,
when their yield of milk will probably be 6 and 8 quarts per day each.
They may be expected to fetch twenty pounds to twenty-three pounds. No.
6 is also in a state of forwardness. No. 11, which suffered considerably
from pleuro, is in comparatively lower condition.
During the season from the close of October to the close of January, I
avoid purchasing near-calving cows, which are then unusually dear, my
replenishments being made with cows giving a low range of milk, and
intended for fattening. I find them more profitable than those which are
quite dry. The present season I had additional grounds for abstaining
from buying high-priced cows, from the recent presence of pleuro.
On the 2d of March I had occasion to purchase a calving cow, which was
reported to have calved on the 28th of February. Her weight on the 4th
of March was 9 cwt. 1 qr. I supplied her with 35 lbs. of mangold, and
hay _ad libitum_., of which she ate 22 lbs. per day. The greatest yield
she attained was somewhat more than 13 quarts per day. On the 31st of
March her weight was 9 cwt., being a loss of 28 lbs. in four weeks. Her
yield of milk had diminished to 11¹⁄₄ quarts per day. A week after this
her milk, during six days, was kept apart, and averaged 10 quarts per
day; being at first rather more, at the close rather less, than this.
The cream produced from these 10 quarts was 9 pints, the butter 63 oz.
The butter from each quart of cream was 14 oz. The proportion of butter
to milk was 63 oz. from 60 quarts--rather more than 1 oz. per quart.
An equal quantity of milk from a cow (calved Oct. 8th) treated with
steamed food, and set apart for comparison, gave less than 7 pints of
cream, which produced 79 oz. of butter.
In quality and agreeableness the butter from steamed food and cake was
decidedly superior to that from hay and mangold.
Mr. Stansfeld, of Chertsey, has supplied me with the following
interesting particulars of two Alderney cows which were treated as
follows:
From Dec. 1st to Jan 15th, with Swedes and meadow hay.
From Jan. 15th to Feb. 17th, pulped and fermented Swedes, meadow hay,
and 3 lbs. rape-cake, 2 lbs. bean-meal, 2 lbs. bran, 2 lbs. malt-combs.
From Feb. 17th to May 1st, 5 lbs. rape-cake, 2 lbs. bran, 2 lbs.
malt-combs.
Results:
December 1st to January 15th, yield of butter from each quart of cream,
10³⁄₄ oz.
January 15th to February 17th, yield of butter from each quart of cream,
14 oz.
February 17th to May 1st, yield of butter from each quart of cream,
18²⁄₃ oz.
The yield of butter in proportion to milk, Dec. 1st to Jan. 15th, is
described as unsatisfactory.
The yield of butter in proportion to milk, Feb. 17th to May, as 2 oz.
per quart, which is their maximum proportion.
Soon after calving the two cows gave 18 quarts of milk per day; on the
15th of May, 15 quarts per day.
Mr. Stansfeld has completely satisfied himself that by the process of
fermentation the turnip loses its disagreeable taste, and that his
butter is of excellent quality.
If I take the supply of turnips, 120 lbs. per day, as requisite for the
maintenance only of the cow, the nutritive elements will be:
Albumen. Oil. Starch and sugar.
1.79 .264 7.92
Reckoning the oil as used for respiration, and computing
it in proportion of 5 to 2 as compared with starch = .66
----
8.58
The food supplied to the cow consists of:
--------+----+------+-----+-----+----+------+------+------+------
| | | | | |Starch| | | Phos-
| | | |Albu-| | and | | Min- |phoric
|Lbs.|Water.| Dry.| men.|Oil.|sugar.|Fibre.|erals.| acid.
--------+----+------+-----+-----+----+------+------+------+------
Hay, | 22 | 2¹⁄₄|19.36| 2.03|.59 | 8.74 | 6.05 | 1.95 | .30
Stored | | | | | | | | |
mangold,| 35 | 28.0 | 7. | 1.05| | 4.20 | 1.05 | .70 | .05
--------+----+------+-----+-----+----+------+------+------+------
| | |26.36| 3.08|.59 |12.94 | 7.10 | 2.65 | .35
--------+----+------+-----+-----+----+------+------+------+------
oz.
The 13 quarts of milk yielded of butter, 13.60
Deduct for moisture, &c., 2.28
-----
11.32
Butter in the skimmed milk estimated as .68
-----
12.00 oz.
12 ounces of pure oil in the butter are ³⁄₄ lb.= .75
lb.
The oil in the food, .59
The starch and sugar, 12.94
Used for animal respiration, 8.58
----
4.36
There appears, then, in this supply of food, .59 lbs. oil and 4.36 lbs.
starch for the production of .75 in the butter from 13 quarts per day,
the cow’s greatest yield. At the time the milk was tested, aftermath hay
was substituted for first-crop hay, in equal quantity. This, it will be
observed, is decidedly richer in oil. Her produce had lessened to 10
quarts per day; her production of butter was 10.50 oz. per day, or of
pure oil about 9 oz.; for the supply of oil the aftermath hay alone
would be much more than adequate.
On examining the adequacy of the food for the supply of albumen for the
caseine,
lbs.
I find this to be, 3.08
I assume that in 120 lbs. of turnips, as required for
maintenance, in a normal state, 1.98
----
1.10
Which, according to Haidlen’s analysis, will be adequate to the supply
of 8.60 quarts per day. The supply of mineral substances is in excess.
The cow, under this treatment, gave,
Soon after calving, fully 13 quarts per day.
Five weeks after calving, 11¹⁄₄ “ “ “
In less than 8 weeks after calving, 9 “ “ “
And with this there occurred also a loss of weight.
We find this cow supplied with food amply rich in every element suited
to her wants and purposes, with the exception of the nitrogenous
principle only, lowering her condition, and likewise her yield of milk,
till it approaches a quantity for which her food enables her to supply a
due proportion of caseine.
About the 20th of April, the cow’s yield being reduced to 9 quarts per
day, her food was changed to steamed mixture. Soon after this her yield
increased to 11 quarts per day. Her weight, April 28th, 9 cwt.; May
16th, 9 cwt. 14 lbs. yield of milk, 11 quarts.
I now introduce the dairy statistics of Mr. Alcock, of Aireville,
Skipton, who has for some time been practising my method of treatment,
with such modifications as are suited to his circumstances.
During the winter season, Mr. Alcock’s food consisted of mangold, of
which he gave 20 lbs. per day to each, uncooked, together with steamed
food _ad libitum_, consisting of wheat and bean straw, and shells of
oats.
Carob bean and Indian meal, for each, 3 lbs. per day
Bran and malt-combs, 1 “ “ “
Bean-meal, 3¹⁄₂ “ “ “
Rape-cake,[5] 3 “ “ “
------
Of extra food, 11¹⁄₄
[5] The rape-cake used by Mr. Alcock was of foreign manufacture,
evidently rich in oil, but containing mustard, and on this account
supplied in less proportion.
From March 19, when his store of mangold was exhausted, he increased his
supply of Indian meal to 4 lbs. per day, and omitted the carob bean.
During the month of January, Mr. Alcock obtained from 759 quarts of milk
1323 oz. of butter, being from each 16 quarts 26⁵⁄₈ oz.; during February
and March, from 7368 quarts of milk 12,453 oz. of butter, or from each
16 quarts fully 27 oz.: so that rather less than 9¹⁄₂ quarts of milk
have produced 16 oz. of butter. The average produce from each quart of
cream was 20¹⁄₂ oz.
Mr. Alcock fattens his cows whilst giving milk, and sells them whilst
giving 4 to 6 quarts per day. He quite agrees with me that it is far
more profitable to buy far-milked cows for fattening; and obtains, from
a change to his food, 2 to 3 quarts per day more than the cow had given
previously.
Though Mr. Alcock’s cream is not so rich as what I have described on pp.
377 and 378, it is more than ordinarily so. His mode of separating his
milk from his cream differs from my own, his milk being set up in leaden
vessels, from which, on the cream being formed, the old milk is drawn,
by taking a plug from a hollow tube, with perforated holes in the centre
of the vessel. To this difference I am disposed in some degree to
attribute the less richness of Mr. Alcock’s cream. On examining, the
cream with a spoon, after the dairy-keeper had drawn off the milk, I
observed some portion of milk, which would have escaped through my
perforated skimmer.
Mr. Alcock’s proportion of butter from milk, which is the matter of
practical importance, is greater than what I have shown on a preceding
page, being from each 16 quarts of milk 27 oz. of butter.
QUALITY OF BUTTER.--In January, 1857, samples of about 56 oz. each, of
butter of my own, and also of Mr. Alcock’s, were sent to the laboratory
of Messrs. Price & Co.’s candle-works, at Belmont.
My butter was found to consist of (taking the pure fat only),
Hard fat, mostly margarine, fusible at 950°, 45.9
Liquid, or oleine, 54.1
-----
100.0
Mr. Alcock’s,
Hard fat, mostly margarine, fusible at 10°, 36.0
Liquid, or oleine, 64.0
-----
100.0
For these analyses of butter the agricultural public is indebted to the
good offices of Mr. George Wilson, director of Messrs. Price & Co.’s
manufactory. It will be observed that Mr. Alcock’s milk is richer in
butter and that his butter is also richer in proportion of oleine to
margarine than my own.
Professor Thompson (“Elements of Agricultural Chemistry,” 6th edition,
p. 317) states that winter butter consists more of solid, and summer
more of liquid or oleine fat.
An analysis of butter made in Vosges gives:
Summer. Winter.
Solid or margarine fat, 40 65
Liquid (or oleine) fat, 60 35
--- ---
100 100
In Lehmann’s “Physiological Chemistry” (Leipsic edition, vol. ii., p.
329), an analysis of butter by Bromus gives:
Margarine, 68
Oleine, 30
Special butter-oil, 2
---
100
It will be observed that my butter may be classed as summer butter, and
that Mr. Alcock’s is the richest in the proportion of oleine. Both were
produced in the month of January.
These results are important, and completely establish the conclusion I
had previously formed, that the quantity and quality of butter depend
essentially on the food and treatment; and that by suitable means you
can produce _as much and as rich butter in winter as in summer_.
INDEX.
Aiton’s opinion of dairy stock, 13, 14, 19
Albuminous substances, value of as food, 122-128
American cattle, origin of, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55, 60
American cheese, 260
Analysis of milk, 216, 397
Analysis of butter, 239, 379, 409
Analysis of cheese, 268, 269
Analysis of hay and grasses, 390, 379
Analysis of cotton-seed cake, 127, 128, 197
Analysis and value of manure, 198, 308, 401
Animals, large and small, 10, 111
Annatto for coloring, 250, 251, 328
Artificial shades in pastures, 135
Ayrshires, as dairy cows, 11, 17, 19, 22, 25, 75, 77
Ayrshires, origin and points of, 11, 12, 14, 16, 22, 23, 25
Ayrshires, yield of, 18, 19, 20, 25
Barn, plan of a, 150, 151, 153
Barn, cellar, convenience of, 154
Barn, temperature of for cows, 154
Bean-vines, value of, 139, 370, 371
Beauty of stock, 28, 36, 41, 72, 73, 104
Berkshire swine, crosses of the, 362, 363
Boussingault’s equivalents, 125, 126
Breed, meaning of the term, 49
Breed, an element in judging dairy cows, 91, 92
Breeds, some must be kept pure, 361
Bull, selection of for breeding, 62, 63, 66, 75, 77
Butter, origin of, 217
Butter, not made by the early Jews, 217
Butter, from cream first skimmed the best, 218
Butter, making of, 220, 221, 228, 229, 230, 232, 309, 320
Butter, modes of churning, 226, 228, 232, 309, 311, 318
Butter, salting of, 238, 321, 386
Butter, composition of, 121, 239, 379
Butter, producing localities, 392
Butter, quantity of milk to make a pound of, 382
Butter, qualities of, 239, 391, 409
Butter, worker, 226, 231, 235, 236
Butter, from poor and rich pastures, 391
Butter, use of the sponge to remove butter-milk, 231, 234
Butter, fat or oil of, 239, 240
Butter, in winter, 233, 385, 410
Butter, in lumps, 238, 323, 327
Butter, time of churning, 229, 236, 319, 386
Butter, cleansing the casks for, 324, 325
Butter, mode of packing, 237, 238, 323, 326
Butter, coloring of, 328, 359
Butter, made by burying cream, 239
Butter-milk, use of, 329, 345, 361
Butter-milk, proportions of, 379
Buying dairy stock, 111
Calves, raising of, 155, 156, 157, 160, 162, 165, 167
Calves, value of Guénon’s method of judging, 102, 110, 155
Calves, feeding of by hand, 157, 159, 160, 163
Calves, diseases of, 290, 291, 292
Calves, must have the first milk, 157, 159, 290
Calves, immediately taken from the cow, 158, 159
Calves, starving and over-feeding, 161, 167, 168
Calves, feeding hay-tea to, 165
Calves, food required, 167, 168
Calving, treatment of the cow at, 13, 130, 131, 275
Cattle, importance of weighing, 387, 396
Cattle, fattening of, 388
Cheddar cheese, mode of making, 261
Cheddar cheese, analysis of, 269
Cheese, early history of, 241
Cheese, composition of, 121, 122, 268, 269
Cheese, made of cream, 242
Cheese, made of skim-milk, 243, 266, 331
Cheese, making of, 243, 245, 247, 252, 360
Cheese, breaking the curd, 245, 247, 253, 350
Cheese, new and sweet milks, 246, 339, 345, 348
Cheese, pressing of, 247, 251, 252, 254, 264, 268, 270, 334, 336, 342
Cheese, salting, 254, 258, 261, 338, 342
Cheese, varieties of, 254, 255, 330, 348
Cheese, coloring of, 250, 353
Cheese, Cheshire, how made, 256, 257, 258
Cheese, Stilton, how made, 259
Cheese, Gloucester, how made, 260, 269
Cheese, Cheddar, how made, 261, 269
Cheese, as a digester, 269, 270
Cheese, Dutch, making of, 330, 331, 339, 345, 346
Cheese, Gouda, how made, 330, 331, 339, 344
Cheese, Edamer, how made, 340
Cheese, moulds, 335, 337, 342, 351
Cheshire cheese, mode of making, 256, 257, 258
Choking, cure for, 283, 284
Churn, forms of the, 226, 227, 228, 310, 312, 315
Churning, 225, 228, 232, 236, 300, 383, 385
Churning, temperature for, 383, 385
Churning, by lever, 311, 313
Churning, by dog-power, 317
Churning, by horse-power, 225, 318
Cleanliness the first requisite, 146, 221, 255, 300, 324, 330, 357
Climate and its effect on stock, 16, 37
Clover, value of for milch cows, 183, 184, 187
Constitution, indications of, 86, 104
Cool-bath, use of the, 303, 304
Costiveness in calves, treatment of, 291, 292
Cotton-seed meal, analysis and use of, 127, 128, 197
Cows, in the natural or wild state, 9, 68, 136
Cows, in calf, treatment of, 130, 131
Cows, classification of, 102, 106, 108, 109
Cream, treatment of, 236, 378, 385
Cream, difference in quality, 377, 380
Cream-pots, 34, 298, 308
Crosses and their results, 23, 54, 55, 58, 62, 63, 74, 77
Dairy cows, management of, 113, 116, 117, 119, 123, 140, 367, 392
Dairy cows, too many for the food, 113, 116
Dairy cows, regularity of feeding, 117, 119, 120, 133, 137
Dairy room, 233, 237, 383, 384, 386
Dairy utensils, treatment of, 296, 297, 299, 322, 347
Dairy-fed pork, excellence of, 361
Dairyman’s motto, 117, 120
Dairy-woman, letter to a, 355
Denmark cattle, 53
Diarrhœa, cause and treatment of, 287, 291
Digestive organs, 22, 86, 109, 130, 277
Diseases of dairy stock, 271, 279, 286, 290
Dunlop cheese, 261, 262, 264
Dunlop cheese, analysis of, 269
Dutch cattle, 14, 15, 32, 37, 52, 104, 107
Dysentery, symptoms and treatment of, 288
Early maturity, importance of, 23, 36, 362, 364
Elements of food, 116, 120, 122, 125, 138, 397
Escutcheon, form of the, 24, 65, 66, 69, 91, 93, 95, 97, 99, 101,
103, 105
Escutcheon, transmission of the, 65, 66, 67, 68, 70
Escutcheon, of calves 102, 110, 155
Exceptional and characteristic qualities, 9, 59, 68
External signs of milkers, 80, 87, 88, 89, 110
False presentations in calving, 274, 275
Fat of animals, how formed, 120, 121, 127, 374
Fat forming elements, 120, 122, 128, 381
Feeding, course of, 118, 123, 124, 127, 129, 131, 133, 138, 140, 168
Food and shelter, 10, 56, 113, 116, 117, 119, 136, 168
Food to produce quantity, 117, 122, 127, 136, 139, 387
Food adapted to the animal, 381, 396
Food, economy of, 400
Food, bulk of, 144, 381
Food, variety of required, 121, 143, 144
Food, steaming the, 387, 396
Foul in the foot, treatment of, 284
Garget, symptoms and treatment, 271, 272
Gentleness in the care of stock, 147, 148, 164
Gloucester cheese, mode of making, 260, 261
Gloucester cheese, analysis of, 269
Grade and native cattle, 49, 54, 55, 60, 74
Grasses, culture of the, 169, 170, 172, 176, 180
Grasses, varieties of pasture, 169, 170, 184, 185
Grasses, cutting and curing of, 186, 187
Grass-fed cows, 128, 124, 133, 137
Great milkers, form of, 28, 72, 104
Guénon’s method of judging cows, 24, 64, 90, 91, 92, 109
Guénon’s method, explanation of, 65, 91
Hafting and its results, 21
Harley’s experience, 20, 137
Hay cut and moistened, value of, 117, 122, 127
Hereditary qualities, 24, 63
Herefords, origin and characteristics of, 38, 40, 43
Hornless cattle, 78
Hoove, cause and cure of, 282, 283, 292
Hoose, treatment of, 286
Horsfall’s system of feeding, 138, 365, 370, 380, 383
Hubback, fame of, 32, 33
Hungarian cattle, 78
Ice, use of in the dairy, 236, 240, 244
Ice-creams, modes of making, 214, 215
Inflammation of the glands, treatment of, 286
Inflammation of the lungs, treatment of, 286
Indian corn, culture and curing for fodder, 188, 189
Jersey cattle, origin and characteristics of, 26, 27, 29, 30
Jersey cattle, Haxton’s opinion of, 27
Jersey cows, milk of, 30, 76, 301
Lactometer, use of, 149, 210, 211
Letter to a dairy-woman, 355
Lice on cows, how to get rid of, 280
Linseed-meal, value and use of, 128, 197, 381
London dairies, 35, 74, 136
Loss of cud, cure for, 290
Male, selection of the, 62, 66, 75, 77, 362
Mange, symptoms and cure of, 288
Manures, economy and use of, 154, 198, 400, 401
Medicine chest, importance of, 293, 294
Medicine, easily procured, 293, 294
Milch cows, yield of, 18, 20, 25, 116, 133, 301, 372
Milch cows, selection of, 10, 61, 64, 67, 71, 79, 80, 86
Milch cows, teeth of, 81, 83, 85, 86
Milk, nature and composition of, 199, 200, 201, 203, 216, 369
Milk, oily parts of, 200, 204, 216, 217, 218, 239, 389
Milk, cheesy parts of, 200, 204, 216, 241, 369, 389, 400
Milk, temperature for raising cream, 200, 201, 205, 212, 228, 233
Milk, temperature for curdling, 244, 245, 246, 253, 267
Milk, intoxicating liquor from, 201, 202
Milk, difference in quality, 203, 207, 209, 219, 375, 383
Milk, specific gravity of, 203, 209, 210
Milk, setting for cream, 205, 207, 222, 223, 225, 228, 232, 234, 308
Milk, effect of climate on the quantity, 207
Milk, treatment of, 207, 208, 212, 219, 221, 223, 295, 302, 308
Milk, adulterating, 208, 209
Milk, ice-creams from, 214
Milk, of spayed cows, 215
Milk, measures for, 216, 296
Milk, room, 221, 222, 231, 383
Milk, testing the quality of, 149, 209, 211, 376, 397
Milk, feeding for, 56, 114, 115, 117, 123, 127, 129, 131, 132
Milk, greatest yield of on grass, 123, 124, 132, 137
Milk-fever, symptoms and treatment of, 275, 276, 277, 278
Milking, manner of affects the yield, 145, 146, 147
Milking, women best adapted for, 149, 295
Milking, in the Dutch dairies, 295
Milking, qualities, artificial, 9, 68, 136, 148
Milk-mirror, transmission of the, 66, 67, 68, 70
Milk-mirror, form of the, 24, 65, 66, 67, 69, 90, 91, 93, 95, 97, 99,
101
Milk-mirror, explanation of the, 65
Milk-pans, forms of, 223, 224, 296, 306
Milk-yoke, use of the, 295, 296
Milk-veins, size of the, 88, 104, 106, 110
Millet, culture and value of, 189
Mixed food, conducive to health, 121, 143
Moist and succulent food, 117, 122, 127, 133, 136, 139, 144, 387
Native or grade cattle, 14, 49, 50, 54, 56, 60, 61
Nitrogenous substances, value of, 122, 128, 381
North Devons, origin and qualities of, 44, 45, 47, 76
Nutritive value of articles of food, 125, 126
Oakes cow, yield of, 72, 73
Oil-cake, value of, 127, 129, 381
Origin of breeds and races, 9
Parmesan cheese, mode of making, 266, 360
Parturition, treatment at, 131, 273, 274
Pastures, different qualities of, 391
Patton stock, 35
Philadelphia-butter, quality of, 230, 234
Points of a dairy cow, 21, 22, 47, 51, 64, 73, 80, 86, 88, 110
Pork, best quality of, 362
Practice in judging stock, 80
Principles of breeding, 23, 32, 58, 61, 62, 69, 71, 74
Puerperal fever, treatment of, 275, 276
Purgatives in use for cattle, 281
Rape-cake, value of as food, 381, 391
Red water, treatment of, 285
Regularity, importance of, 117, 119, 133, 137, 143
Relative size of male and female, 16, 62, 70, 71, 362
Rennet, how prepared, 247, 248, 249, 259, 332, 349
Rennet, use of, 255, 257, 332
Rings on the horns, 81
Roots for stock, 118, 119, 122, 127, 167, 138, 396
Roots, culture of, 191, 192, 193, 196
Rye, culture and use of, 190
Scours in calves, treatment of, 291
Selection of cows, 10, 61, 71, 79, 80, 86, 110, 111
Shaving the milk-mirror, 95
Short-horns, origin and characteristics of, 31, 33, 35
Short-horns, influence on American cattle, 34, 35, 74
Short-horns, beef of the, 36, 42, 43
Simple fever, symptoms and treatment, 279, 280
Size of animals, relative, 10, 70, 111
Skim-milk cheese, 243, 266, 331, 360
Slinking the calf, 274
Soiling, plants for, 132, 135, 142, 143, 144
Soiling, advantages of, 141, 142, 143
Sponge and cloth, use of the, 231, 232, 234, 358
Spring, treatment of cows in, 131, 133, 137
Square box the best churn, 228
Stamping of butter, 323, 359
Stilton cheese, mode of making, 259, 260
Stock, improvement of, 57, 58, 60, 63, 71, 168
Stock, selection of, 10, 58, 60, 64, 66, 71, 86
Stock, age of, 80, 81
Suffolk swine, crosses with, 362, 363
Surfeited cows, treatment of, 138, 290
Swill-milk, how produced, 144, 208, 209, 210
Swine, the kind of wanted, 362, 363
Swine, treatment of, 364
Symptomatic fever, treatment of, 280
Teeth, indicative of age, 81, 83, 85, 86
The piggery, 361, 364
Time a cow should run dry, 130, 131, 273
Time of calving, 131, 272, 273
Treatment of dairy stock, 56, 130, 131, 133, 134, 136, 138, 140, 148,
168
Typhoid fever, treatment of, 281
Udder, attention to the, 43, 88, 89, 104, 108, 272
Udder, structure of the, 145, 146, 202
Vegetable oils, 379, 389, 409
Virginia, importation of cattle to, 35, 50
Warbles, injure the hide, 290
Warmth and ventilation requisite, 136, 149
Whey, use of the, 344, 354
Willowbank dairy, 20, 137
Winter food for cows, 127, 131, 134, 136, 139
Wood for butter casks and firkins, 324
Yorkshire cattle, notice of, 30, 32, 35, 74
Youatt’s opinion, 18, 47, 272, 277
Transcriber’s Notes
Inconsistent spelling, hyphenation, formatting and lay-out in the
source document have been retained, except as mentioned below. The use
of “ in lieu of the ditto sign „ has been retained as well.
p. vii, ... which I have translated from the German: several words
(including names) are given in their German, not the usual Dutch or
English, spelling.
p.96, as at M M, Fig. 30: there is just a single M visible in the
illustration.
p. 125, second table: presumably the rows correspond to the rows in
the first table on this page.
p. 126: White Silician Beet: possibly an error for White Sicilian or
White Silesian Beet.
p. 192, The nutritive equivalent ... one pound of hay: as printed in
the source document. The comparison between hay and potatoes is off by
a factor 100 (see also the table on page 126).
p. 216, table: the addition results in 1000.4, not in exactly 1000.
p. 217 and p. 241: The poem is from The Farmer’s Boy by Robert
Bloomfield (1800).
p. 329, crooked Rhine: this should read Crooked Rhine, Crooked being
part of the river’s name (Kromme Rijn).
p. 330, Commissions’ cheese: Commission’s cheese would have been a
more accurate translation.
p. 337, ... as appears in the press: probably an error for ... as
appears in the cut (or similar).
p. 347, 536,834,830 pounds: the amount appears to be a factor 10 too
high.
p. 353, tournesol: the colouring agent is more commonly called
turnsole.
p. 401, table on maintenance requirements: the text and the table
mention different amounts of foodstuffs; the calculation from daily to
total use of turnips seems to be mistaken.
Changes made:
Footnotes and illustrations have bee moved out of text paragraphs;
some tables have been re-aranged.
Non-English words have not been corrected, unless listed below.
Some obvious minor typographical and punctuation errors have been
corrected silently.
The Table of Contents was not present in the source document, and has
been created for this e-text.
The source document contained two illustrations each numbered Fig. 56,
Fig. 57 and Fig. 58. The first occurrences of these and the references
thereto have been renumbered Fig. 56a, Fig. 57a and Fig. 58a, the
second instances and references thereto Fig. 56b, Fig. 57b and Fig.
58b.
In some places the ditto sign (in this book “) has been replaced by
the dittoed text.
p. 212: “ inserted before To one hundred and twelve pounds ...
p. 243: “ removed from before The evening’s and morning’s milk
p. 393, table: Parson changed to Pawson
p. 401, table on maintenance requirements: header Per day moved to
include the first column; header lbs. added to last three columns.