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Title: Milch Cows and Dairy Farming - Comprising the Breeds, Breeding, and Management, in Health - and Disease, of Dairy and Other Stock, The Selection Of - Milch Cows, With A Full Explanation Of Guenon's Method; - The Culture Of Forage Plants
Author: Flint, Charles Louis
Language: English
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[Illustration]
MILCH COWS
AND
DAIRY FARMING;
COMPRISING
THE BREEDS, BREEDING, AND MANAGEMENT, IN HEALTH AND DISEASE,
OF DAIRY AND OTHER STOCK, THE SELECTION OF MILCH COWS,
WITH A FULL EXPLANATION OF GUENON’S METHOD;
THE CULTURE OF FORAGE PLANTS,
AND THE PRODUCTION OF
MILK, BUTTER, AND CHEESE:
EMBODYING THE MOST RECENT IMPROVEMENTS, AND ADAPTED TO
FARMING IN THE UNITED STATES AND BRITISH PROVINCES.
WITH A TREATISE UPON THE
DAIRY HUSBANDRY OF HOLLAND;
TO WHICH IS ADDED
HORSFALL’S SYSTEM OF DAIRY MANAGEMENT.
BY CHARLES L. FLINT,
SECRETARY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE; AUTHOR OF
“A TREATISE ON GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS,” ETC.
LIBERALLY ILLUSTRATED.
BOSTON:
PHILLIPS, SAMPSON AND COMPANY,
13 WINTER STREET.
1859.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by
CHARLES L. FLINT,
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the District of
Massachusetts.
Stereotyped by
HOBART A ROBBINS,
New England Type and Stereotype Foundery,
BOSTON.
PRINTED BY R. M. EDWARDS.
~TO~
THE MASS. STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE,
THE
MASS. SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF AGRICULTURE,
AND THE VARIOUS
AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES OF THE UNITED STATES,
WHOSE EFFORTS HAVE CONTRIBUTED SO LARGELY TO IMPROVE THE
DAIRY STOCK OF OUR COUNTRY
~This Treatise,~
DESIGNED TO ADVANCE THAT HIGHLY IMPORTANT INTEREST,
IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,
BY
THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS.
PREFACE. vii
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY.--THE VARIOUS RACES OF PURE-BRED CATTLE
IN THE UNITED STATES. 9
The Ayrshires -- The Jersey -- The Short-horns -- The Dutch --
Herefords -- The North Devons
CHAPTER II. AMERICAN GRADE OF NATIVE CATTLE.--THE PRINCIPLES OF
BREEDING. 49
CHAPTER III. THE SELECTION OF MILCH COWS. 79
CHAPTER IV. FEEDING AND MANAGEMENT OF DAIRY COWS. 113
Soiling -- Milking -- The Barn
CHAPTER V. THE RAISING OF CALVES. 155
CHAPTER VI. CULTURE OF GRASSES AND OTHER PLANTS RECOMMENDED FOR
FODDER. 169
Timothy grass -- June grass -- Meadow Foxtail -- Orchard grass, or
Rough Cocksfoot -- Rough-stalked Meadow grass -- Fowl Meadow grass
-- Rye grass -- Italian Rye grass -- Redtop -- English Bent -- Meadow
Fescue -- Tall Oat grass -- Sweet-scented Vernal grass -- Hungarian
grass, or Millet -- Red Clover -- White Clover -- Indian Corn --
Common Millet (Panicum miliaceum) -- Rye -- Oats -- Chinese Sugar-Cane
-- The Potato (Solanum tuberosum) -- The Carrot (Daucus carota) --
Turnip (Brassica rapa) -- Mangold Wurzel -- Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa)
-- Kohl Rabi (Brassica oleracea, var. caulorapa)--Linseed Meal--
Rape-Cake -- Cotton-seed Meal -- Manures
CHAPTER VII. MILK. 199
CHAPTER VIII. BUTTER AND THE BUTTER-DAIRY. 217
CHAPTER IX. THE CHEESE-DAIRY. 241
Cheshire Cheese -- Stilton Cheese -- Gloucester Cheese -- Cheddar
Cheese -- Dunlop Cheese -- Dutch Cheese -- Parmesan -- American Cheese
CHAPTER X. THE DISEASES OF DAIRY STOCK. 271
Garget -- Puerperal or Milk Fever -- Simple Fever -- Typhoid Fever --
Hoove or Hoven -- Choking -- Foul in the Foot -- Red Water -- Hoose --
Inflammation of the Glands -- Inflammation of the Lungs -- Diarrhœa --
Dysentery -- Mange -- Lice -- Warbles -- Loss of Cud -- Diseases of
Calves -- Diarrhœa, Purging, or Scours -- Constipation or Costiveness
-- Hoove -- Canker in the Mouth
CHAPTER XI. THE DAIRY HUSBANDRY OF HOLLAND. 295
Milking and Treatment of Milk. -- Determination of the Milking
Qualities of the Cows -- Treatment of Milk for Butter -- Methods of
Churning -- Churning in the Common Churn -- The Lever Churn --
Churning with an Elastic Rod -- Churning with the Treadle Lever --
Churning by Horse-power -- Duration of the Churning -- Working and
Treatment of Butter -- The Form of Fresh Butter -- The Packing of
Butter in Firkins and Barrels -- Coloring of Butter -- Use of the
Butter-milk -- The Manufacture of the different kinds of Dutch Cheese
-- Cheese-making in South Holland -- Manufacture of Sweet Milk Cheese
in South Holland -- The Use of the Whey of Sweet Milk Cheese -- May
Cheese -- Jews’ Cheese -- Council’s Cheese -- New Milk’s Cheese --
Cheese-making in North Holland -- The Utensils used in Cheese-making
in North Holland -- Variety of North Dutch Cheeses, and the Trade in
them -- Making of Edam Cheese -- The Red Color of Edam Cheese -- Use
of the Whey of the North Dutch Sweet Milk Cheese
CHAPTER XII. LETTER TO A DAIRY-WOMAN. 355
CHAPTER XIII. THE PIGGERY AS A PART OF THE DAIRY ESTABLISHMENT. 361
APPENDIX. 365
Gain or Loss of Condition ascertained by weighing Cattle Periodically
-- Richness of Milk and Cream -- Comparison of different methods of
Feeding Dairy Cows -- Quality of Butter
INDEX. 411
PREFACE.
This work is designed to embody the most recent information on the
subject of dairy farming. My aim has been to make a practically useful
book. With this view, I have treated of the several breeds of stock, the
diseases to which they are subject, the established principles of
breeding, the feeding and management of milch cows, the raising of
calves intended for the dairy, and the culture of grasses and plants to
be used as fodder.
For the chapter on the diseases of stock, I am largely indebted to Dr.
C. M. Wood, Professor of the Theory and Practice of Veterinary Medicine,
and to Dr. Geo. H. Dadd, Professor of Anatomy and Physiology, both of
the Boston Veterinary Institute. If this chapter contributes anything to
promote a more humane and judicious treatment of cattle when suffering
from disease, I shall feel amply repaid for the labor bestowed upon the
whole work.
The chapter on the Dutch dairy, which I have translated from the German,
will be found to be of great practical value, as suggesting much that is
applicable to our American dairies. This chapter has never before, to my
knowledge, appeared in English.
The full and complete explanation of Guénon’s method of judging and
selecting milch cows,--a method originally regarded as theoretical, but
now generally admitted to be very useful in practice,--I have translated
from the last edition of the treatise of M. Magne, a very sensible
French writer, who has done good service to the agricultural public by
the clearness and simplicity with which he has freed that system from
its complicated details.
The work will be found to contain an account of the most enlightened
practice in this country, in the statements those actually engaged in
dairy farming; the details of the dairy husbandry of Holland, where this
branch of industry is made a specialty to greater extent, and is
consequently carried to a higher degree of perfection, than in any other
part of the world; and the most recent and productive modes of
management in English dairy farming, embracing a large amount of
practical and scientific information, not hitherto presented to the
American public in an available form.
Nothing need be said of the usefulness of a treatise on the dairy. The
number of milch cows in the country, forming so large a part of our
material wealth, and serving as a basis for the future increase and
improvement of every class of neat stock, on which the prosperity of our
agriculture mainly depends; the intrinsic value of milk as an article of
internal commerce, and as a most healthy and nutritious food; the vast
quantity of it made into butter and cheese, and used in every family;
the endless details of the management, feeding, and treatment, of dairy
stock, and the care and attention requisite to obtain from this branch
of farming the highest profit, all concur to make the want of such a
treatise, adapted to our climate and circumstances, felt not only by
practical farmers, but by a large class of consumers, who can appreciate
every improvement which may be made in preparing the products of the
dairy for their use.
The writer has had some years of practical experience in the care of a
cheese and butter dairy, to which has been added a wide range of
observation in some of the best dairy districts of the country; and it
is hoped that the work now submitted to the public will meet that degree
of favor usually accorded to an earnest effort to do something to
advance the cause of agriculture.
DAIRY FARMING
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.--THE VARIOUS RACES OF PURE-BRED CATTLE IN THE UNITED
STATES.
The milking qualities of our domestic cows are, to some extent,
artificial, the result of care and breeding. In the natural or wild
state, the cow yields only enough to nourish her offspring for a few
weeks, and then goes dry for several months, or during the greater part
of the year. There is, therefore, a constant tendency to revert to that
condition, which is prevented only by judicious treatment, designed to
develop and increase the milking qualities so valuable to the human
race. If this judicious treatment is continued through several
generations of the same family or race of animals, the qualities which
it is calculated to develop become more or less fixed, and capable of
transmission. Instead of being exceptional, or peculiar to an
individual, they become the permanent characteristics of a breed. Hence
the origin of a great variety of breeds or races, the characteristics of
each being due to local circumstances such as climate, soil, and the
special objects of the breeder, which may be the production of milk,
butter and cheese, or the raising of beef or working cattle.
A knowledge of the history of different breeds, and especially of the
dairy breeds, is of manifest importance. Though very excellent milkers
will sometimes be found in all of them, and of a great variety of forms,
the most desirable dairy qualities will generally be found to have
become fixed and permanent characteristics of some to a greater extent
than of others; but it does not follow that a race whose milking
qualities have not been developed is of less value for other purposes,
and for qualities which have been brought out with greater care. A brief
sketch of the principal breeds of American cattle, as well as of the
grades or the common stock of the country, will aid the farmer, perhaps,
in making an intelligent selection with reference to the special object
of pursuit, whether it be the dairy, the production of beef, or the
raising of cattle for work.
In a subsequent chapter on the selections of milch cows, the standard of
perfection will be discussed in detail, and the characteristics of each
of the races will naturally be measured by that. In this connection, and
as preliminary to the following sketches, it may be stated that,
whatever breed may be selected, a full supply of food and proper shelter
are absolutely essential to the maintenance of any milking stock, the
food of which goes to supply not only the ordinary waste of the system
common to all animals, but also the milk secretions, which are greater
in some than in others. A large animal on a poor pasture has to travel
much further to fill itself than a small one. A small or medium-sized
cow would return more milk in proportion to the food consumed, under
such circumstances, than a large one.
In selecting any breed, therefore, regard should be had to the
circumstances of the farmer, and the object to be pursued. The cow most
profitable for the milk-dairy may be very unprofitable in the butter
and cheese dairy, as well as for the production of beef; while for
either of the latter objects the cow which gave the largest quantity of
milk might prove very unprofitable. It is desirable to secure a union
and harmony of all good qualities, so far as possible; and the farmer
wants a cow that will milk well for some years, and then, when dry,
fatten readily, and sell to the butcher for the highest price. These
qualities, though often supposed to be incompatible, will be found to be
united in some breeds to a greater extent than in others; while some
peculiarities of form have been found, by observation, to be better
adapted to the production of milk and beef than others. This will appear
in the following pages.
[Illustration: Fig. 1. Ayrshire Cow, imported and owned by Dr. Geo. B.
Loring, Salem, Mass.]
THE AYRSHIRES are justly celebrated throughout Great Britain and this
country for their excellent dairy qualities. Though the most recent in
their origin, they are pretty distinct from the other Scotch and English
races. In color, the pure Ayrshires are generally red and white,
spotted or mottled, not roan like many of the short-horns, but often
presenting a bright contrast of colors. They are sometimes, though
rarely, nearly or quite all red, and sometimes black and white; but the
favorite color is red and white brightly contrasted, and by some,
strawberry-color is preferred. The head is small, fine, and clean; the
face long, and narrow at the muzzle, with a sprightly yet generally mild
expression; eye small, smart, and lively; the horns short, fine, and
slightly twisted upwards, set wide apart at the roots; the neck thin;
body enlarging from fore to hind quarters; the back straight and narrow,
but broad across the loin; joints rather loose and open; ribs rather
flat; hind quarters rather thin; bone fine; tail long, fine and bushy at
the end; hair generally thin and soft; udder light color and capacious,
extending well forward under the belly; teats of the cow of medium size,
generally set regularly and wide apart; milk-veins prominent and well
developed. The carcass of the pure-bred Ayrshire is light, particularly
the fore quarters, which is considered by good judges as an index of
great milking qualities; but the pelvis is capacious and wide over the
hips.
On the whole, the Ayrshire is good-looking, but wants some of the
symmetry and aptitude to fatten which characterize the short-horn, which
is supposed to have contributed to build up this valuable breed on the
basis of the original stock of the county of Ayr; a county extending
along the eastern shore of the Frith of Clyde, in the south-western part
of Scotland, and divided into three districts, known as Carrick,
Cunningham, and Kyle: the first famous as the lordship of Robert Bruce,
the last for the production of this, one of the most remarkable dairy
breeds of cows in the world. The original stock of this county, which
undoubtedly formed the basis of the present Ayrshire breed, are
described by Aiton, in his _Treatise on the Dairy Breed of Cows_, as of
a diminutive size, ill fed, ill shaped, and yielding but a scanty return
in milk. They were mostly of a black color, with large stripes of white
along the chine and ridge of their backs, about the flanks, and on their
faces. Their horns were high and crooked, having deep ringlets at the
root,--the plainest proof that the cattle were but scantily fed; the
chine of their backs stood up high and narrow; their sides were lank,
short, and thin; their hides thick, and adhering to their bones; their
pile was coarse and open; and few of them yielded more than six or eight
quarts of milk a day when in their best plight, or weighed when fat more
than from twelve to sixteen or twenty stones avoirdupois, at eight
pounds the stone, sinking offal.
“It was impossible,” he continues, “that these cattle, fed as they then
were, could be of great weight, well shaped, or yield much milk. Their
only food in winter and spring was oat-straw, and what they could pick
up in the fields, to which they were turned out almost every day, with a
mash of weak corn and chaff daily for a few days after calving; and
their pasture in summer was of the very worst quality, and eaten so bare
that the cattle were half starved, and had the aspect of starvelings. A
wonderful change has since been made in the condition, aspect, and
qualities, of the Ayrshire dairy stock. They are not now the meagre,
unshapely animals they were about forty years ago; but have completely
changed into something as different from what they were then as any two
breeds in the island can be from each other. They are almost double the
size, and yield about four times the quantity of milk that the Ayrshire
cows then yielded. They were not of any specific breed, nor uniformity
of shapes or color; neither was there any fixed standard by which they
could be judged.”
Aiton wrote in 1815, and even then the Ayrshire cattle had been
completely changed from what they were in 1770, and had, to a
considerable extent, at least, settled down into a breed with fixed
characteristics, distinguished especially for an abundant flow and a
rich quality of milk. A large part of the improvement then manifested
was due to better feeding and care, but much, no doubt, to judicious
crossing. Strange as it may seem, considering the modern origin of this
breed, “all that is certainly known is that a century ago there was no
such breed as Cunningham or Ayrshire in Scotland. Did the Ayrshire
cattle arise entirely from a careful selection of the best native breed?
If they did, it is a circumstance unparalleled in the history of
agriculture. The native breed may be ameliorated by careful selection;
its value may be incalculably increased; some good qualities, some of
its best qualities, may be for the first time developed; but yet there
will be some resemblance to the original stock, and the more we examine
the animal the more clearly we can trace out the characteristic points
of the ancestor, although every one of them is improved.”
Aiton remembered well the time when some short-horn or Dutch cattle, as
they were then called, were procured by some gentlemen in Scotland, and
particularly by one John Dunlop, of Cunningham, who brought some Dutch
cows--doubtless short-horns--to his byres soon after the year 1760. As
they were then provided with the best of pasture, and the dairy was the
chief object of the neighborhood, these cattle soon excited attention,
and the small farmers began to raise up crosses from them. This was in
Cunningham, one of the districts of Ayrshire, and Mr. Dunlop’s were,
without doubt, among the first of the stranger breed that reached that
region. About 1750, a little previous to the above date, the Earl of
Marchmont bought of the Bishop of Durham several cows and a bull of the
Teeswater breed, all of a brown color spotted with white, and kept them
some time at his seat in Berwickshire. His lordship had extensive
estates in Kyle, another district of Ayrshire, and thither his factor,
Bruce Campbell, took some of the Teeswater breed and kept them for some
time, and their progeny spread over various parts of Ayrshire. A bull,
after serving many cows of the estates already mentioned, was sold to a
Mr. Hamilton, in another quarter of Ayrshire, and raised a numerous
offspring.
About the year 1767, also, John Orr sent from Glasgow to his estate in
Ayrshire some fine milch cows, of a much larger size than any then in
that region. One of them cost six pounds, which was more than twice the
price of the best cow in that quarter. These cows were well fed, and of
course yielded a large return of milk; and the farmers, for miles
around, were eager to get their calves to raise.
About the same time, also, a few other noblemen and gentlemen,
stimulated by example, bought cattle of the same appearance, in color
brown spotted with white, all of them larger than the native cattle of
the county, and when well fed yielding much larger quantities of milk,
and their calves were all raised. Bulls of their breed and color were
preferred to all others.
From the description given of these cattle, there is no doubt that they
were the old Teeswater, or Dutch; the foundation, also, according to the
best authorities, of the modern improved short-horns. With them and the
crosses obtained from them the whole county gradually became stocked,
and supplied the neighboring counties, by degrees, till at present the
whole region, comprising the counties of Ayr, Renfrew, Lanark,
Dumbarton, and Stirling, and more than a fourth part of the whole
population of Scotland, a large proportion of which is engaged in
manufactures and commercial or mechanical pursuits, furnishing a ready
market for milk and butter, is almost exclusively stocked with
Ayrshires.
The cross with larger cattle and the natives of Ayrshire produced, for
many years, an ugly-looking beast, and the farmers were long in finding
out that they had violated one of the plain principles of breeding in
coupling a large and small breed so indiscriminately together,
especially in the use of bulls proportionately larger than the cows to
which they were put. They did not then understand that no crosses could
be made in that way to increase the size of a race, without a
corresponding increase in the feed; and many very ill-shaped animals
were the consequence of ignorance of a natural law. They made large
bones, but they were never strong and vigorous in proportion to their
size. Trying to keep large animals on poor pasture produced the same
effect. The results of first crosses were therefore very unsatisfactory;
but gradually better feeding and a reduction in size came to their aid,
while in the course of years more enlightened views of farming led to
higher cultivation, and consequently to higher and better care and
attention to stock. The effect of crosses with the larger Teeswater or
short-horn was not so disastrous in Ayrshire as in some of the mountain
breeds, whose feed was far less, while their exposure on high and short
pastures was greater.
The climate of Ayrshire is moist and mild, and the soil rich, clayey,
and well adapted to pasturage, but difficult to till. The cattle are
naturally hardy and active, and capable of enduring severe winters, and
of easily regaining condition with the return of spring and good feed.
The pasture-land of the county is devoted to dairy stock,--chiefly for
making butter and cheese, a small part only being used for fattening
cows when too old to keep for the dairy. The breed has undergone very
marked improvements since Aiton wrote, in 1815. The local demand for
fresh dairy products has very naturally taxed the skill and judgment of
the farmers and dairy-men to the utmost, through a long course of years;
and thus the remarkable milking qualities of the Ayrshires have been
developed to such a degree that they may be said to produce a larger
quantity of rich milk and butter in proportion to the food consumed, or
the cost of production, than any other of the pure-bred races. The
owners of dairies in the county of Ayr and the neighborhood were
generally small tenants, who took charge of their stock themselves,
saving and breeding from the offspring of good milkers, and drying off
and feeding such as were found to be unprofitable for milk, for the
butcher; and thus the production of milk and butter has for many years
been the leading object with the owners of this breed, and symmetry of
form and perfection of points for any other object have been very much
disregarded, or, if regarded at all, only from this one point of
view--the production of the greatest quantity of rich milk.
The manner in which this result has been brought about may further be
seen in a remark of Aiton, who says that the Ayrshire farmers prefer
their dairy bulls according to the feminine aspect of their heads and
necks, and wish them not round behind, but broad at the hook-bones and
hips, and full in the flanks. This was more than forty years ago, and
under such circumstances, and with such care in the selection of bulls
and cows with reference to one specific object, it is not surprising
that we find a breed now wholly unsurpassed when the quantity and
quality of their produce is considered with reference to their
proportional size and the food they consume. The Ayrshire cow has been
known to produce over ten imperial gallons of good milk a day.
[Illustration: Fig. 2. Ayrshire Bull “ALBERT,”
Imported and owned by the Mass. Soc. for Promoting Agriculture.]
A cow-feeder in Glasgow, selling fresh milk, is said to have realized
two hundred and fifty dollars in seven months from one good cow; and it
is stated, on high authority, that a dollar a day for six months of the
year is no uncommon income from good cows under similar circumstances,
and that seventy-five cents a day is below the average. But this implies
high and judicious feeding, of course: the average yield, on ordinary
feed, would be considerably less.
Youatt estimates the daily yield of an Ayrshire cow, for the first two
or three months after calving, at five gallons a day, on an average; for
the next three months, at three gallons; and for the next four months,
at one gallon and a half. This would be 850 gallons as the annual
average of a cow; but allowing for some unproductive cows, he estimates
the average of a dairy at 600 gallons per annum for each cow. Three
gallons and a half of the Ayrshire cow’s milk will yield one and a half
pounds of butter. He therefore reckons 257 pounds of butter, or 514
pounds of cheese, at the rate of 24 pounds to 28 gallons of milk, as the
yield of every cow, at a fair and perhaps rather low average, in an
Ayrshire dairy, during the year. Aiton sets the yield much higher,
saying that “thousands of the best Ayrshire dairy-cows, when in prime
condition and well fed, produce 1000 gallons of milk per annum; that in
general three and three quarters to four gallons of their milk will
yield a pound and a half of butter; and that 27¹⁄₂ gallons of their milk
will make 21 pounds of full-milk cheese.” Mr. Rankin puts it lower--at
about 650 to 700 gallons to each cow; on his own farm of inferior soil,
his dairy produced an average of 550 gallons only.
One of the four cows originally imported into this country by John P.
Cushing, Esq., of Massachusetts, gave in one year 3864 quarts, beer
measure, or about 966 gallons, at ten pounds to the gallon, being an
average of over ten and a half beer quarts a day for the whole year. It
is asserted, on good authority, that the first Ayrshire cow imported by
the Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, in 1837,
yielded sixteen pounds of butter a week, for several weeks in
succession, on grass feed only. These yields are not so large as those
stated by Aiton; but it should, perhaps, be recollected that our climate
is less favorable to the production of milk than that of England and
Scotland, and that no cow imported after arriving at maturity could be
expected to yield as much, under the same circumstances, as one bred on
the spot where the trial is made, and perfectly acclimated.
In a series of experiments on the Earl of Chesterfield’s dairy farm, at
Bradley Ball, interesting as giving positive data on which to form a
judgment as to the yield, it was found that, in the height of the
season, the Holderness cows gave 7 gallons 1 quart per diem; the
long-horns and Alderneys, 4 gallons 3 quarts; the Devons, 4 gallons 1
quart; and that, when made into butter the above quantities gave,
respectively, 38¹⁄₂ ounces, 28 ounces, and 25 ounces.
The Ayrshire, a cow far smaller than the Holderness, at 5 gallons of
milk and 34 ounces of butter per day, gives a fair average as to yield
of milk, and an enormous production of butter, giving within 4¹⁄₂ ounces
as much from her 5 gallons as the Holderness from her 7 gallons 1 quart;
her rate being nearly 7 ounces to the gallon, while that of the
Holderness is considerably under 6 ounces.
The evidence of a large and practical dairyman is certainly of the
highest value; and in this connection it may be stated that Mr. Harley,
the author of the _Harleian Dairy System_, who established the
celebrated Willowbank Dairy, in Glasgow, and who kept, at times, from
two hundred and sixty to three hundred cows, always using the utmost
care in selection, says that he had cows, by way of experiment, from
different parts of the united kingdom. He purchased ten at one Edinburgh
market, of the large short-horned breed, at twenty pounds each, but
these did not give more milk, nor better in quality, than Ayrshire cows
that were bought at the same period for thirteen pounds a head; and, on
comparison, it was found that the latter were much cheaper kept, and
that they improved much more in beef and fat in proportion to their
size, than the high-priced cows. A decided preference was therefore
given to the improved Ayrshire breed, from seven to ten years old, and
from eight to twenty pounds a head. Prime young cows were too
high-priced for stall feeding; old cows were generally the most
profitable in the long run, especially if they were not previously in
good keeping. The cows were generally bought when near calving, which
prevented the barbarous practice called hafting, or allowing the milk to
remain upon the cow for a considerable time before she is brought to the
market. This base and cruel custom is always pernicious to the cow, and
in consequence of it she seldom recovers her milk for the season. The
middling and large sizes of cows were preferred, such as weighed from
thirty-five to fifty stone, or from five hundred to eight hundred
pounds.
According to Mr. Harley, the most approved shape and marks of a good
dairy cow are as follows: Head small, long, and narrow towards the
muzzle; horns small, clear, bent, and placed at considerable distance
from each other; eyes not large, but brisk and lively; neck slender and
long, tapering towards the head, with a little loose skin below;
shoulders and fore quarters light and thin; hind quarters large and
broad; back straight, and joints slack and open; carcass deep in the
rib; tail small and long, reaching to the heels; legs small and short,
with firm joints; udder square, but a little oblong, stretching forward,
thin-skinned and capacious, but not low hung; teats or paps small,
pointing outwards, and at a considerable distance from each other;
milk-veins capacious and prominent; skin loose, thin, and soft like a
glove; hair short, soft, and woolly; general figure, when in flesh,
handsome and well proportioned.
If this description of the Ayrshire cow be correct, it will be seen that
her head and neck are remarkably clean and fine, the latter swelling
gradually towards the shoulders, both parts being unincumbered with
superfluous flesh. The same general form extends backwards, the
forequarters being light, the shoulders thin, and the carcass swelling
out towards the hind quarters, so that standing in front of her it has
the form of a blunted wedge. Such a structure indicates very fully
developed digestive organs, which exert a powerful influence on the
exercise of all the functions of the body, and especially on the
secretion of the milky glands, accompanied with milk-veins and udder
partaking of the same character as the stomach and viscera, being large
and capacious, while the external skin and interior walls of the
milk-glands are thin and elastic, and all parts arranged in a manner
especially calculated for the production of milk.
A cow with these marks will generally be of a quiet and docile temper,
which greatly enhances her value. A cow that is of a quiet and contented
disposition feeds at ease, is milked with ease, and yields more than one
of an opposite temperament; while after she is past her usefulness as a
milker she will easily take on fat, and make fine beef and a good
quantity of tallow, because she feeds freely, and when dry the food
which went to make milk is converted into fat and flesh. But there is no
breed of cows with which gentleness of treatment is so indispensable as
with the Ayrshire, on account of her naturally nervous temperament. If
she receives other than kind and gentle treatment, she will often resent
it with angry looks and gestures, and withhold her milk; and if such
treatment is long continued, will dry up; but she willingly and easily
yields it to the hand that fondles her, and all her looks and movements
towards her friends are quiet and mild.
As already remarked, the Ayrshires in their native country are generally
bred for the dairy, and no other object; and the cows have obtained a
just and world-wide reputation for this quality. The oxen are, however,
very fitly as working cattle, though they cannot be said to excel other
breeds in this respect. The Ayrshire steer may be fed and turned at
three years old, but for feeding purposes the Ayrshires are greatly
improved by a cross with the short-horns, provided regard is had to the
size of the animals. It is the opinion of good breeders that a high-bred
short-horn bull and a large-sized Ayrshire cow will produce a calf which
will come to maturity earlier, and attain greater weight, and sell for
more money, than a pure-bred Ayrshire. This cross, with feeding from the
start, may be sold fat at two or three years old, the improvement being
especially seen in the earlier maturity and the size. Even Youatt, who
maintains that the fattening properties of the Ayrshires have been
somewhat exaggerated, admits that they will fatten kindly and
profitably, and that their meat will be good; while he also asserts that
they unite, perhaps, to a greater degree than any other breed, the
supposed incompatible qualities of yielding a great deal of milk and
beef.
In the cross with the short-horn, the form becomes ordinarily more
symmetrical, while there is, perhaps, little risk of lessening the
milking qualities of the offspring, if sufficient regard is paid to the
selection of the individual animals to breed from. It is thought by some
that in the breeding of animals it is the male which gives the external
form, or the bony and muscular system of the young, while the female
imparts the respiratory organs, the circulation of the blood, the mucous
membranes, the organs of secretion, &c.
If this principle is true, it follows that the milking qualities come
chiefly from the mother, and that the bull can not materially alter the
conditions which determine the transmission of these qualities,
especially when they are as strongly marked as they are in the Ayrshire
or the Jersey races. Others, however, maintain that it is more important
to the perfection of their dairy to make a good choice of bulls than of
heifers, because the property of giving much milk is more surely
transmitted by the male than the female. Others still maintain that both
parents are represented in the offspring, but that it is impossible to
say beforehand what parts of the derivative system are to be ascribed to
the one parent and what to the other, and that there is a blending and
interfusion of the qualities of both which prevent the body of their
progeny being mapped out into distinct regions, or divided into separate
sets of organs, of which we can say, “This is from the father, that from
the mother.”
Till this question is settled, it is safe, in breeding for the dairy, to
adhere to the rule of selecting only animals whose progenitors on both
sides have been distinguished for their milking qualities. But where the
history of either is unknown, a resort to a well-known breed, remarkable
for its dairy qualities, is of no small importance; since, though the
immediate ancestors of a male may not be known, if he belongs to a dairy
breed, it is fair to presume that his progenitors were milkers. A study
and comparison of the size and form of the milk mirror, and other
points, indicated by Guénon, on a subsequent page, are worthy of careful
consideration in selecting animals to breed from for the dairy, not only
among pure-bred animals, but especially in crossing. In the scale of
points adopted in England and this country as the standard of perfection
for an Ayrshire cow, the udder, on which Guénon placed so much reliance,
is valued at twelve times as much as that of the Devon, “because,” as
the judges affirm, “the Ayrshires have been bred almost exclusively with
reference to their milking properties.”
We must conclude, then, that “for purely dairy purposes the Ayrshire cow
deserves the first place. In consequence of her small, symmetrical, and
compact body, combined with a well-formed chest and a capacious stomach,
there is little waste, comparatively speaking, through the respiratory
system; while, at the same time, there is very complete assimilation of
the food, and thus she converts a large proportion of her food into
milk. So remarkable is this fact, that all dairy farmers who have any
experience on the point agree in stating _that an Ayrshire cow generally
gives a larger return of milk for the food consumed than a cow of any
other breed_. The absolute quantity may not be so great, but it is
obtained at a less cost; and this is the point upon which the question
of profit depends.”
I have dwelt thus at length upon this race for the reason that it is
preeminently a dairy breed, surpassing all other pure breeds in the
production of rich milk and butter on soils of medium fertility, and
admirably adapted, in my opinion, to raise the character of our stock to
a higher standard of excellence. The best milkers I have ever known, in
the course of my own observations, were grade Ayrshires, larger in size
than the pure bloods, but still sufficiently high grades to give certain
signs of their origin. I have owned several such, which were all good
cows. This grade would seem to possess the advantage of combining, to
some extent, the two qualities of milking and adaptation to beef; and
this is no small recommendation of the stock to farmers situated as
American farmers are, who wish for milk for some years and then to turn
over to the butcher.
THE JERSEY cattle have now become widely known in this country. Many of
them have been imported from an island of the same name in the British
Channel, near the coast of France, and they may now be considered, I
think, as fully acclimated. They were first introduced over thirty years
ago, from the channel islands Alderney, Guernsey, and Jersey.
[Illustration: Fig. 3. Jersey Cow.[1]]
[1] See page 30.
The opinions of practical men differ widely as to the comparative merits
of this race, and its adaptation to our climate and to the wants of our
farmers. The most common decision, prevailing among many even of the
best judges of stock, appears to be, that, however desirable the cows
may be on the lawn or in a gentleman’s park, they are wholly unsuited to
the general wants of the practical farmer. This may or may not be the
case. If the farmer keeps a dairy farm and sells only milk, the quantity
and not the quality of which is his chief care, he can satisfy himself
better with some other breed. If otherwise situated,--if he devotes his
time to the making of butter for the supply of customers who are
willing to pay for a good article,--he may very properly consider
whether a few Jerseys, or an infusion of Jersey blood, may not be
desirable. Haxton calls the Jersey cow the cheese and butter dairyman’s
friend when her milk is diluted with that of ten or a dozen ordinary
cows, and his enemy if he should attempt to make either cheese or butter
solely from her produce, as, from the excessive richness of the milk,
neither will keep long; and, finally, an ornament to the rich man’s
lawn, yet in aspect altogether devoid of those rounded outlines which
constitute the criterion of animal beauty.
The Jersey race is supposed to have been derived originally from
Normandy, in the northern part of France. The cows have been long
celebrated for the production of very rich milk and cream, but till
within a quarter of a century they were comparatively coarse, ugly, and
ill-shaped. Improvements have been very marked, but the form of the
animal is still far from satisfying the eye. The head of the pure Jersey
is fine and tapering, the cheek small, the throat clean, the muzzle fine
and encircled with a light stripe, the nostril high and open; the horns
smooth, crumpled, not very thick at the base, tapering, and tipped with
black; ears small and thin, deep orange color inside; eyes full and
placid; neck straight and fine; chest broad and deep; barrel hooped,
broad and deep, well ribbed up; back straight from the withers to the
hip, and from the top of the hip to the setting on of the tail; tail
fine, at right angles with the back, and hanging down to the hocks; skin
thin, light color and mellow, covered with fine soft hair; fore legs
short, straight and fine below the knee, arm swelling and full above;
hind quarters long and well filled; hind legs short and straight below
the hocks, with bones rather fine, squarely placed, and not too close
together; hoofs small; udder full in size, in line with the belly,
extending well up behind; teats of medium size, squarely placed and wide
apart, and milk-veins very prominent. The color is generally cream, dun,
or yellow, with more or less white, and the fine head and neck give the
cows and heifers a fawn-like appearance, and make them objects of
attraction in the park; but the hind quarters are often too narrow to
look well, particularly to those who judge animals from the amount of
fat they carry. We should bear in mind, however, that a good race of
animals is not always the most beautiful, as that term is commonly
understood. Beauty in stock has no fixed standard. In the estimation of
some, it results mainly from fine forms, small bones, and close, compact
frames; while others consider that structure the most perfect, and
therefore the most beautiful, which is best adapted to the use to which
it is destined. According to the latter, beauty is relative. It is not
the same in an animal designed for beef and in one designed fer the
dairy or for work. The beauty of a milch cow is the result of her good
qualities. Large milkers are very rarely cows that please the eye of any
but a skilful judge. They are generally poor, because their food goes
mainly to the production of milk, and because they are selected with
less regard to form than to good milking qualities. We meet with good
milkers of all forms, from the round, close-built Devon to the
coarsest-boned scrub; but, with all their varieties of form and
structure, good cows will usually possess certain points of similarity
and well-known marks by which they are known to the eyes of the judge.
It is asserted by Colonel Le Couteur, of the island of Jersey, that,
contrary to the general opinion here, the Jersey cow, when old and no
longer wanted as a milker, will, when dry and fed, fatten rapidly, and
produce a good quantity and excellent quality of butcher’s meat. An old
cow, he says, was put up to fatten in October, 1850, weighing 1125
pounds, and when killed, the 6th of January, 1851, she weighed 1330
pounds; having gained 205 pounds in ninety-eight days, on twenty pounds
of hay, a little wheat-straw, and thirty pounds of roots, consisting of
carrots, Swedes, and marigold wurzel, a day. The prevailing opinion as
to the beauty of the Jersey is based on the general appearance of the
cow in milk, no experiments in feeding exclusively for beef having been
made, to my knowledge, and no opportunity to form a correct judgment
from actual observation having been furnished; and it must be confessed
that the general appearance would amply justify the hasty conclusion.
[Illustration: Fig. 4. Jersey Bull.]
The bulls are usually very different in character and disposition from
the cows, and are much inclined to become restive and cross at the age
of two or three years, unless their treatment is uniformly gentle and
firm. The accompanying figure very accurately represents one of the best
animals of the race in the vicinity of Boston, which has been pronounced
by good judges a model of a bull for a dairy breed.
The beautiful Jersey cow “Flirt,” figured on page 26, received the first
prize at the Fair of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture in
1857, which brought together the largest and finest collection of Jersey
cattle ever made in this country. She is well-shaped, and a very
superior dairy cow. Her dam, Flora, was very remarkable for the richness
of her milk and the quantity of her butter, having made no less than
five hundred and eleven pounds in one year, without extra feeding.
From what has been said it is evident that the Jersey is to be regarded
as a dairy breed, and that almost exclusively. It is evident, too, that
it would not be sought for large dairies kept for the supply of milk to
cities; for, though the quality would gratify the customer, the quantity
would not satisfy the owner. The place of the Jersey cow is rather in
private establishments, where the supply of cream and butter is a
sufficient object, or, in limited numbers, to add richness to the milk
of large butter dairies. Even one or two good Jersey cows with a herd of
fifteen or twenty, will make a great difference in the quality of the
milk and butter of the whole establishment; and they would probably be
profitable for this, if for no other object.
* * * * *
Other breeds are somewhat noted in Great Britain for their excellent
dairy qualities, and among them might be named the Yorkshire and the
Kerry; but they have never been introduced into this country to any
extent; or, if they ever were, no traces of them as a distinct breed can
now be found here.
[Illustration: Fig. 5. Short-horn Cow]
THE SHORT-HORNS.--No breed of horned cattle has commanded more universal
admiration during the last half-century than the improved Short-horns,
whose origin can be traced back for nearly a hundred years. According to
the best authorities, the stock which formed the basis of improvement
existed equally in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Northumberland, and counties
adjoining; and the preëminence was accorded to Durham, which gave its
name to the race, from the more correct principles of breeding which
seem to have prevailed there.
There is a dispute among the most eminent breeders as to how far it owes
its origin to early importations from Holland, whence many superior
animals were brought for the purpose of improving the old long-horned
breed. A large race of cattle had existed for many years on the western
shores of the continent of Europe. At a very early date, as early as
1633, they were imported from Denmark into New England in considerable
numbers, and thus laid the foundation of a valuable stock in this
country. They extended along the coast, it is said, through Holland to
France. The dairy formed a prominent branch of farming at a very early
date in Holland, and experience led to the greatest care in the choice
and breeding of dairy stock. From these cattle many selections were made
to cross over to the counties of York and Durham. The prevailing color
of the large Dutch cattle was black and white, beautifully contrasted.
The cattle produced by these crosses a century ago were known under the
name of “Dutch.” The cows selected for crossing with the early imported
Dutch bulls were generally long-horned, large-boned, coarse animals, a
fair type of which was found in the old “Holderness” breed of
Yorkshire,--slow feeders, strong in the shoulder, defective in the fore
quarter, and not very profitable for the butcher, their meat being
“coarse to the palate and uninviting to the eye.” Their milking
qualities were good, surpassing, probably, those of the improved
short-horns. Whatever may be the truth with regard to these crosses, and
however far they proved effective in creating or laying the foundation
of the modern improved short-horns, the results of the efforts made in
Yorkshire and some of the adjoining counties were never so satisfactory
to the best judges as those of the breeders along the Tees, who selected
animals with greater reference to fineness of bone and symmetry of form,
and the animals they bred soon took the lead, and excited great
emulation in improvement.
The famous bull “Hubback,” bred by Mr. Turner, of Hurworth, and
subsequently owned by Mr. Colling, laid the foundation of the celebrity
of the short-horns, and it is the pride of short-horn breeders to trace
back to him. He was calved in 1777, and his descendants, Foljambe,
Bolingbroke, Favorite, and Comet, permanently fixed the characteristics
of the breed. Comet was so highly esteemed among breeders, that he sold
at one thousand guineas, or over five thousand dollars. Hubback is
thought by some to have been a pure short-horn, and by others a grade or
mixture.
Many breeders had labored long previous to the brothers Charles and
Robert Colling, especially on the old Teeswater short-horns; yet a large
share of the credit of improving and establishing the reputation of the
improved short-horns is generally accorded to the Collings. Certain it
is that the spirit and discrimination with which they selected and bred
soon became known, and a general interest was awakened in the breed at
the time of the sale of Charles Colling’s herd, October 11, 1810. It was
then that Mr. Bates, of Kirkleavington, purchased the celebrated heifer
Duchess I., whose family sold, in 1850, after his decease, at an average
of one hundred and sixteen pounds five shillings per head, including
young calves. Many representatives of the Duchess family, which laid the
foundation of Mr. Bates’ success as a breeder, have been brought to this
country. They may, perhaps, be regarded as an exception to the modern
improved short-horns, their milking qualities being generally very
superior.
The sale referred to, and those of R. Colling’s herd, in 1818, and that
of Lord Spencer, in 1846, as well as that of the Kirkleavington herd, in
1850, and especially that of the herd of Lord Ducie, two years later,
are marked eras in the history of improved short-horns; and through
these sales, and the universal enthusiasm awakened by them, the
short-horns have become more widely spread ever Great Britain, and more
generally fashionable, than any other breed. They have also been
largely introduced into France by the government, for the improvement
of the various French breeds by crossing, and into nearly every quarter
of the civilized world.
[Illustration: Fig. 6. Short-horn Bull “DOUBLE DUKE,” (1451¹⁄₂ Am. H.
Book,)
Owned by Harvest Club, Springfield.]
Importations have been frequent and extensive into the United States
within the last few years, and this famous breed is now pretty generally
diffused over the country.
The use of the early-imported short-horn bulls and native cows led to
the formation of many families of grades, some of them bred back to the
sire, and others crossed high up, which have attained a very
considerable local reputation in many sections. As instances of this,
may be mentioned the Creampot stock, obtained by Col. Jaques from a
short-horn bull, Cœlebs, and a superior native cow. A family of fine
milkers still exists in Massachusetts, known by the name of the “Sukey
breed,” supposed to have been derived from “Denton,” a very superior
animal imported by Mr. Williams, of Northboro’, some forty years ago.
Many of the best milkers of that section can be traced back to him. The
Patton stock, originally imported into Maryland and Virginia, in 1783,
and thence to Kentucky, may be classed in the same category. A part of
these were at first known as the “milk breed,” and others as the “beef
breed:” the first short-horns, at that time good milkers, and the latter
long-horns, of large size and coarse in the bone. In Kentucky they were
all known as the Patton stock.
The high-bred short-horn is easily prepared for a show, and, as fat will
cover faults, the temptation is often too great to be resisted; and
hence it is common to see the finest animals rendered unfit for breeding
purposes by over-feeding. The race is susceptible of breeding for the
production of milk, as several families show, and great milkers have
often been known among pure-bred animals; but it is more common to find
it bred mainly for the butcher, and kept accordingly. It is, however, a
well-known fact that the dairies of London are stocked chiefly with
short-horns and Yorkshires, or high grades between them, which, after
being milked as long as profitable, feed equal, or nearly so, to
pure-bred short-horns.
It has been said, by very high authority, that “the short-horns improve
every breed they cross with.”
The desirable characteristics of the short-horn bull may be summed up,
according to the judgment of the best breeders, as follows: He should
have a short but fine head, very broad across the eyes, tapering to the
nose, with a nostril full and prominent; the nose itself should be of a
rich flesh-color; eyes bright and mild; ears somewhat large and thin;
horns slightly curved and rather flat, well set on a long, broad,
muscular neck; chest wide, deep, and projecting; shoulders fine,
oblique, well formed into the chine; fore legs short, with upper arm
large and powerful; barrel round, deep, well ribbed home; hips wide and
level; back straight from the withers to the setting on of the tail, but
short from hip to chine; skin soft and velvety to the touch; moderately
thick hair, plentiful, soft, and mossy. The cow has the same points in
the main, but her head is finer, longer, and more tapering, neck thinner
and lighter, and shoulders more narrow across the chine.
The astonishing precocity of the short-horns, their remarkable aptitude
to fatten, the perfection of their forms, and the fineness of their bony
structure, give them an advantage over most other races when the object
of breeding is for the shambles. No animal of any other breed can so
rapidly transform the stock of any section around him as the improved
short-horn bull.
But it does not follow that the high-bred short-horns are
unexceptionable even for beef. The very exaggeration, so to speak, of
the qualities which make them so valuable for the improvement of other
and less perfect races, may become a fault when wanted for the table.
The very rapidity with which they increase in size is thought by some to
prevent their meat from ripening up sufficiently before being hurried
off to the butcher. The disproportion of the fatty to the muscular
flesh, found in this to a greater extent than in races coming slower to
maturity, makes the meat of the thorough-bred short-horn, in the
estimation of some, both less agreeable to the taste and less profitable
to the consumer, since the nitrogenous compounds, true sources of
nutriment, are found in less quantity than in the meat of animals not so
highly bred.
But the improved short-horn is justly unrivalled for symmetry of form
and beauty. I have never seen a picture or an engraving of an animal
which gave an adequate idea of the beauty of many specimens of this
race, especially of the best bred in Kentucky and Ohio, where many
excellent breeders, favored by a climate and pastures eminently adapted
to bring the short-horn to perfection, have not only imported
extensively from the best herds in England, but have themselves attained
a degree of knowledge and skill equalled only by that of the most
celebrated breeders in the native country of this improved race.
In sections where the climate is moist and the food abundant and rich,
some families of the short-horns may be valuable for the dairy; but they
are most frequently bred exclusively for beef in this country, and in
sections where they have attained the highest perfection of form and
beauty so little is thought of their milking qualities that they are
often not milked at all, the calf being allowed to run with the dam.
[Illustration: Fig. 7. Imported Dutch Cow.]
THE DUTCH is a short-horned race of cattle, which, in the opinion of
many, as I have already remarked, contributed largely, about a century
ago, to build up the Durham or Teeswater stock. It has been bred with
special reference to dairy qualities, and is eminently adapted to supply
the wants of the dairy farmer.
[Illustration: Fig. 8. Imported Dutch Bull.]
The cow, Fig. 7, was bred in North Holland, and imported by Winthrop W.
Chenery, Esq., of Watertown, in 1857. The bull, Fig. 8, was also
imported by Mr. Chenery at the same time, from near the Beemster, in the
northerly part of Purmerend. Both animals are truthfully delineated, and
give a correct idea of the points of the North Dutch cattle. For a more
detailed description of this celebrated dairy race, see pages 51 and
301.
[Illustration: Fig. 9. Hereford Cow.]
HEREFORDS.--The Hereford cattle derive their name from a county in the
western part of England. Their general characteristics are a white face,
sometimes mottled; white throat, the white generally extending back on
the neck, and sometimes, though rarely, still further along on the back.
The color of the rest of the body is red, generally dark, but sometimes
light. Eighty years ago the best Hereford cattle were mottled or roan
all over; and some of the best herds, down to a comparatively recent
period, were either all mottled, or had the mottled or speckled face.
The expression of the face is mild and lively; the forehead open, broad,
and large; the eyes bright and full of vivacity; the horns glossy,
slender, and spreading; the head small, though larger and not quite so
clean as that of the Devons; the lower jaw fine; neck long and slender;
chest deep; breast-bone large, prominent, and very muscular; the
shoulder-blade light; shoulder full and soft; brisket and loins large;
hips well developed, and on a level with the chine; hind quarters long
and well filled in; buttocks on a level with the back, neither falling
off nor raised above the hind quarters; tail slender, well set on; hair
fine and soft; body round and full; carcass deep and well formed, or
cylindrical; bone small; thigh short and well made; legs short and
straight, and slender below the knee; as handlers very excellent,
especially mellow to the touch on the back, the shoulder, and along the
sides, the skin being soft, flexible, of medium thickness, rolling on
the neck and the hips; hair bright; face almost bare, which is
characteristic of pure-bred Herefords. They belong to the middle-horned
division of the cattle of Great Britain, to which they are indigenous.
They have been improved within the last century by careful selections,
the first step to this end having been taken by Benjamin Tomkins, of
Herefordshire, who began about 1766, with two cows possessing a
remarkable tendency to take on fat. One of these was gray, and the other
dark red, with a mottled or spotted face.
Taking these as a foundation, Mr. Tomkins went on to build up a large
herd, from which he sold to other breeders, from time to time, till at
his decease, in 1819, the whole herd was disposed of at
auction--fifty-two animals, including twenty-two steers and two heifers,
varying in age from calves to two-year-olds, bringing an aggregate of
four thousand six hundred and seventy-three pounds, fourteen shillings,
or four hundred and forty-five dollars, thirty-seven and a half cents, a
head. A bull was sold to Lord Talbot for five hundred and eighty-eight
pounds, while several cows brought from a thousand to twelve hundred
dollars a head.
Hereford oxen are excellent animals, less active but stronger than the
Devons, and very free and docile. The demand for Herefords for beef
prevents their being much used for work in their native county, and the
farmers there generally use horses instead of oxen. A recent writer in
the _Farmer’s Magazine_ makes the following remarks on this head: “It is
allowed on all hands, I believe, that the properties in which Herefords
stand preëminent among the middle-sized breeds are in the production of
oxen and their superiority of flesh. On these points there is little
chance of their being excelled. It should, however, be borne in mind
that the best oxen are not produced from the largest cows; nor is a
superior quality of flesh, such as is considered very soft to the touch,
with thin skin. It is the union of these two qualities which often
characterizes the short-horns; but the Hereford breeders should endeavor
to maintain a higher standard of excellence,--that for which the best of
the breed have always been esteemed,--a moderately thick, mellow hide,
with a well-apportioned combination of softness with elasticity. A
sufficiency of hair is also desirable, and if accompanied with a
disposition to curl moderately it is more in esteem: but that which has
a harsh and wiry feel is objectionable.”
[Illustration: Fig. 10. Hereford Bull.]
In point of symmetry and beauty of form, the well-bred Herefords may be
classed with the improved short-horns, though they arrive somewhat
slower at maturity, and never attain such weight. Like the improved
short-horns, they are chiefly bred for beef, and their beef is of the
best quality in the English markets, commanding the highest price of
any, except, perhaps, the West Highlanders.
In an experiment carefully tried in 1828, for the purpose of arriving at
the comparative economy of the short-horns and Herefords, the latter
gained less by nearly one fourth than the former, which had consumed
more food. The six animals, three of each breed, were sold after being
fed, in Smithfield market, the Herefords bringing less by only about
five dollars than the short-horns, while the cost of food consumed by
the latter was greater, and the original purchase greater than that of
the former.
The short-horn produces more beef at the same age than the Hereford, but
consumes more food in proportion. “In all the fairs of England,” says
Hillyard, “except those of Herefordshire and the adjoining counties,
short-horn heifers are more sought after and sell at higher prices than
the Hereford; but it is not so with fat cattle, for, with the exception
of Lincolnshire and some of the northern counties, they much prefer the
Herefords. Then at Smithfield, where the quality of the beef passes its
final judgment, the pound of Hereford beef pays better than the pound of
short-horn beef. Short-horn beeves produce at the same age a greater
weight, it is true, but they also consume more food. I can easily
conceive why, in the magnificent pastures of Lincolnshire, and some of
the northern counties of England, they may prefer the short-horns; and
that is, that they may keep a less number on a given quantity of land,
and only the short-horn could, under these conditions, produce a greater
weight of beef per acre. It is very difficult to decide which of the two
races in England (the two best in the world) is the most profitable for
stock-raisers and for the community.” There are, even in Lincolnshire,
many good feeders who prefer the Herefords to the short-horns. One of
these, when visited the past season, had thirty head of cattle feeding
for the butcher, and only one short-horn. When asked the reason of this,
he replied, “I am a farmer myself, and have to pay high rent, and I must
feed the cattle that pay me best. Perhaps you think it would be more in
fashion to cover my fields with short-horns; but I must look to the net
profit, and I get much better with the Herefords. The short-horns are
too full of fat and make too little tallow, and they consequently sell
too low in the Smithfield market. Our Herefords are better, and they
sell better.”
The Herefords are far less generally spread over England than the
improved short-horns. They have seldom been bred for milk, as some
families of the short-horns have; and it is not very unusual to find
pure-bred cows incapable of supplying milk sufficient to nourish their
calves. This system was pursued especially by Mr. Price, a skilful
Hereford breeder, who sacrified everything to form, disregarding milking
properties, breeding often from near relations, and thus fixing the
fault incident to his system more or less permanently in the descendants
of his stock.
The Herefords have been brought to this country, to some extent, and
several fine herds exist in different sections; the earliest
importations being those of Henry Clay, of Kentucky, in 1817. The
figures of the two animals of this breed presented in this connection
represent a bull and cow bred at the State Farm, in Massachusetts, and
are good specimens of the breed.
The want of care and attention to the udder, soon after calving,
especially if the cow be on luxuriant grass, often injures her milking
properties exceedingly. The practice in the county of Hereford has
generally been to let the calves suckle from four to six months, and
bull-calves often run eight months with the cow. But their dairy
qualities are perhaps as good as those of any cattle whose fattening
properties have been so carefully developed; and, though it is probable
that they could be bred for milk by proper care and attention, yet, as
this change would be at the sacrifice of other qualities equally
valuable, it would evidently be wiser to resort to other stock for the
dairy.
[Illustration: Fig 11. Devon Cow.
Owned by William Buckminster Esq., Framingham Mass.]
THE NORTH DEVONS.--The last of the pure-bred races which it will be
necessary to describe as prominent among our American cattle is the
Devon, a middle-horned breed, now very generally distributed in some
sections of the country.
This beautiful race of cattle dates further back than any
well-established breed among us. It goes generally under the simple name
of Devon; but the cattle of the southern part of the county, from which
the race derives its name, differ somewhat from those of the northern,
having a larger and coarser frame, and far less tendency to fatten,
though their dairy qualities are superior.
The North Devons are remarkable for hardihood, symmetry, and beauty, and
are generally bred for work and for beef rather than for the dairy. The
head is fine and well set on; the horns of medium length, generally
curved; color usually bright blood-red, but sometimes inclining to
yellow; skin thin and orange-yellow; hair of medium length, soft and
silky, making the animals remarkable as handlers; muzzle of the nose
white; eyes full and mild; ears yellowish, or orange color inside, of
moderate size; neck rather long, with little dewlap; shoulders oblique;
legs small and straight, and feet in proportion; chest of good width;
ribs round and expanded; loins of first-rate quality, long, wide, and
fleshy; hips round, of medium width; rump level; tail full near the
setting on, tapering to the tip; thighs of the bull and ox muscular and
full, and high in the flank, though in the cow sometimes thought to be
too light; the size medium, generally called small. The proportion of
meat on the valuable parts is greater, and the offal less, than on most
other breeds, while it is well settled that they consume less food in
its production. The Devons are popular with the Smithfield butchers, and
their beef is well marbled or grained.
As working oxen, the Devons perhaps excel all other races in quickness,
docility, and beauty, and the ease with which they are matched. With a
reasonable load, they are said to be equal to horses as walkers on the
road, and when they are no longer wanted for work they fatten easily and
turn well.
As milkers, they do not excel, perhaps they may be said not to equal,
the other breeds, and they have a reputation of being decidedly below
the average. In their native country the general average of a dairy is
one pound of butter per day during the summer.
They are bred for beef and for work, and not for the dairy; and their
yield of milk is small, though of a rich quality. I have, however, had
occasion to examine several animals from the celebrated Patterson herd,
which would have been remarkable as milkers even among good milking
stock. They had not, to be sure, the beautiful symmetry of form and
fineness of bone which characterize most of the modern and highly
improved pure-bred North Devons, and had evidently been bred for many
years with special reference to the development of the milking
qualities, great care having been taken to use bulls and cows as
breeders from the best milking stock, rather than of the finest forms.
The use of bulls distinguished only for symmetry of form, and of a race
deficient in milk-secreting qualities, will be sure to deteriorate,
instead of improving, the stock for the dairy.
[Illustration: Fig. 12. Devon Bull.]
On the whole, whatever may be our judgment of this breed, the faults of
the North Devon cow can hardly be overlooked from our present point of
view. The rotundity of form and compactness of frame, though they
contribute to her remarkable beauty, constitute an objection to her as
a dairy cow, since it is generally thought that the peculiarity of form
which disposes an animal to take on fat is somewhat incompatible with
good milking qualities, and hence Youatt says: “For the dairy the North
Devons must be acknowledged to be inferior to several other breeds. The
milk is good, and yields more than the average proportion of cream and
butter; but it is deficient in quantity.” He also maintains that its
property as a milker could not be improved without probable or certain
detriment to its grazing qualities.
But the fairest test of its fitness for the dairy is to be found in the
estimation in which distinguished Devon breeders themselves have held it
in this respect. A scale of points of excellence in this breed was
established, some time ago, by the best judges in England; and it has
since been adopted, with but slight changes, in this country. These
judges, naturally prejudiced in favor of the breed, if prejudiced at
all, made this scale to embrace one hundred points, no animal to be
regarded as perfect unless it excelled in all of them. Each part of the
body was assigned its real value in the scale: a faultless head, for
instance, was estimated at four; a deep, round chest, at fifteen, &c. If
the animal was defective in any part, the number of points which
represented the value of that part in the scale was to be deducted pro
rata from the hundred, in determining its merits. But in this scale the
cow is so lightly esteemed for the dairy, that the udder, the size and
shape of which is of the utmost consequence in determining the capacity
of the milch cow, is set down as worth only _one point_, while, in the
same scale, the horns and ears are valued at two points each, and the
color of the nose, and the expression of the eye, are valued at four
points each. Supposing, therefore, that each of these points were
valued at one dollar, and a perfect North Devon cow was valued at one
hundred dollars; then another cow of the same blood, and equal to the
first in every respect except in her udder, which is such as to make it
certain that she can never be capable of giving milk enough to nourish
her calf, must be worth, according to the estimation of the best Devon
breeders, ninety-nine dollars! It is safe, therefore, to say that an
animal whose udder and lacteal glands are regarded, by those who best
know her capacities and her merits, as of only one quarter part as much
consequence as the color of her nose, or half as much as the shape and
size of her horns, cannot be recommended for the dairy. The improved
North Devon cow may be classed, in this respect, with the Hereford,
neither of which has well-developed milk-vessels--a point of the utmost
consequence to the practical dairyman.
* * * * *
The list of pure-bred races in America may be said to end here; for,
though other and well-established breeds, like the long-horns, the
Galloways, the Spanish, &c., have, at times, been imported, and have had
some influence on our American stock, they have not been kept distinct
to such an extent as to have become the prevailing stock of any
particular section, so far as I am aware, and hence a notice of them
properly comes in the next chapter.
CHAPTER II.
AMERICAN GRADE OF NATIVE CATTLE.--THE PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING.
We have dwelt thus far mainly upon the prominent breeds of cattle known
among us, and especially those adapted to the dairy. But a large
proportion--by far the largest proportion, indeed--cannot be included
under any of the races alluded to.
The term breed, properly understood, applies only to animals of the same
species, possessing, besides the general characteristics of that
species, other characteristics peculiar to themselves, which they owe to
the influence of soil, climate, nourishment, and habits of life to which
they are subjected, and which they transmit with certainty to their
progeny. The characteristics of certain breeds or families are so well
marked, that if an individual supposed to belong to any one of them were
to produce an offspring not possessing them, or possessing them only in
part, with others not belonging to the breed, it would be just ground
for suspecting a want of purity of blood.
If this definition of the term breed be correct, no grade animals, and
no animals not possessing fixed peculiarities or characteristics which
they share with all other animals of the class of which they are a type,
and which they are capable of transmitting with certainty to their
descendants, can be recognized by breeders as belonging to any one
distinct race, breed, or family.
The term “native,” or “scrub,” is applied to a vast majority of our
American cattle, which, though born on the soil, and thus in one sense
natives, do not constitute a breed, race, or family, as properly
understood by breeders. They do not possess characteristics peculiar to
them all, which they transmit with any certainty to their offspring,
either of form, size, color, milking or working properties. But, though
an animal may be made up of a mixture of blood almost to infinity, it
does not follow that for specific purposes, it may not, as an individual
animal, be one of the best of the species. And for particular purposes
individual animals might be selected from among those commonly called
natives in New England, and scrubs at the West and South, equal, and
perhaps superior, to any among the races produced by the most skilful
breeding. There can be no impropriety in the use of the term “native,”
therefore, when it is understood as descriptive of no known breed, but
only as applied to the common stock of the country, which does not
constitute a breed. But perhaps the whole class of animals commonly
called “natives” would be better described as grades, since they are
well known to have sprung from a great variety of cattle procured in
different places and at different times on the continent of Europe, in
England, and in the Spanish West Indies, brought together without any
regard to fixed principles of breeding, but only from individual
convenience, and by accident.
The first importations to this country were doubtless those taken to
Virginia previous to 1609, though the exact date of their arrival is not
known. Several cows were carried there from the West Indies in 1610, and
the next year no less than one hundred arrived there from abroad.
The earliest cattle imported into the Plymouth colony, and undoubtedly
the earliest introduced into New England, arrived in 1624. At the
division of cattle which took place in 1627, three years after, one or
two are distinctly described as black, or black and white, others as
brindle, showing that there was no uniformity of color. Soon after this,
a large number of cattle were brought over from England for the settlers
at Salem. These importations formed the original stock of Massachusetts.
In 1625 the first importation was made into New York from Holland, by
the Dutch West India Company, and the foundation was then laid for an
exceedingly valuable race of animals, which subsequent importations from
the same country, as well as from England, have greatly improved.
Dairy farming in some parts of Holland, it may be remarked in passing,
became a highly important branch of industry at a very early date, and a
large and valuable race of dairy cattle existed there long before the
efforts of modern breeders began in England. The attention of farmers
there is at the present time devoted especially to the dairy, and the
manufacture of butter and cheese. They support themselves, to a
considerable extent, upon this branch of farming; and hence it is held
in the highest respect, and carried to a greater degree of exactness and
perfection, perhaps, than in any other part of the world. They are
especially particular in the breeding, keeping, and care of milch cows,
as on them very much of their success depends. The principles on which
they practise, in selecting a cow to breed from, are as follows: She
should have, they say, considerable size--not less than four and a half
or five feet girth, with a length of body corresponding; legs
proportionally short; a finely-formed head, with a forehead or face
somewhat concave; clear, large, mild, and sparkling eyes, yet with no
expression of wildness; tolerably large and stout ears, standing out
from the head; fine, well-curved horns; a rather short than long, thick,
broad neck, well set against the chest and withers; the front part of
the breast and the shoulders must be broad and fleshy; the low-hanging
dewlap must be soft to the touch; the back and loins must be properly
projected, somewhat broad, the bones not too sharp, but well covered
with flesh; the animal should have long, curved ribs, which form a broad
breast-bone; the body must be round and deep, but not sunken into a
hanging belly; the rump must not be uneven, the hip-bones should not
stand out too broad and spreading, but all the parts should be level and
well filled up; a fine tail, set moderately high up and tolerably long,
but slender, with a thick, bushy tuft of hair at the end, hanging down
below the hocks; the legs must be short and low, but strong in the bony
structure; the knees broad, with flexible joints; the muscles and sinews
must be firm and sound, the hoofs broad and flat, and the position of
the legs natural, not too close and crowded; the hide, covered with fine
glossy hair, must be soft and mellow to the touch, and set loose upon
the body. A large, rather long, white and loose udder, extending well
back, with four long teats, serves also as a characteristic mark of a
good milch cow. Large and prominent milk-veins must extend from the
navel back to the udder; the belly of a good milch cow should not be too
deep and hanging. The color of the North Dutch cattle is mostly
variegated. Cows with only one color are no favorites. Red or black
variegated, gray and blue variegated, roan, spotted and white variegated
cows, are especially liked.
The annexed cut gives a correct idea of the cow most esteemed in
Holland; the type of the race so noted for the production of milk, and
of the excellent round Dutch cheeses.
[Illustration: Fig. 13. Dutch Dairy Cow.]
In 1627, cattle were brought from Sweden to the settlements on the
Delaware by the Swedish West India Company. In 1631, 1632, and 1633,
several importations were made into New Hampshire by Capt. John Mason,
who, with Gorges, procured the patent of large tracts of land in the
vicinity of Piscataqua River, and immediately formed settlements there.
The object of Mason was to carry on the manufacture of potash. For this
purpose he employed the Danes; and it was in his voyages to and from
Denmark that he procured many Danish cattle and horses, which were
subsequently diffused over that whole region, and large numbers of which
were driven to the vicinity of Boston and sold. These facts are
authenticated by original documents and depositions now on file in the
office of the Secretary of State of New Hampshire. The Danish cattle are
there described as large and coarse, of a yellow color; and it is
supposed that they were procured by Mason as being best capable of
enduring the severity of the climate and the hardships to which they
were to be subjected. However this may have been, they very soon spread
among the colonists of the Massachusetts Bay, and have undoubtedly left
their marks on the stock of New England and the Middle States, which
exist to some extent even to the present day, mixed in with an infinite
multitude of crosses with the Devons, the Dutch cattle already alluded
to, the black cattle of Spain and Wales, and the long-horn and the
short-horn, most of which crosses were accidental, or due to local
circumstances or individual convenience. Many of these cattle, the
descendants of such crosses, are of a very high order of merit, but to
what particular cross it is due it is impossible to say. They make
generally hardy, strong, and docile oxen, easily broken to the yoke and
quick to work, with a fair tendency to fatten when well fed; while the
cows, though often ill-shaped, are sometimes remarkably good milkers,
especially as regards the quantity they give.
I have very often heard the best judges of stock say that if they
desired to select a dairy of cows for milk for sale, they would go
around and select cows commonly called native, rather than resort to
pure-bred animals of any of the established breeds, and that they
believed they should find such a dairy the most profitable.
In color, the natives, made up as already indicated, are exceedingly
various. The old Denmarks, which to a considerable extent laid the
foundation of the stock of Maine and New Hampshire, were light yellow.
The Dutch of New York and the Middle States were black and white; the
Spanish and Welsh were generally black; the Devons, which are supposed
to have laid the foundation of the stock of some of the states, were
red. Crosses of the Denmark with the Spanish and Welsh naturally made a
dark brindle. Crosses of the Denmark and Devon often made a lighter or
yellowish brindle, while the more recent importations of Jerseys and
short-horns have generally produced a beautiful spotted progeny. The
deep red has long been a favorite color in New England; but the
prejudice in its favor is fast giving way to more variegated colors.
But, though we have already an exceedingly valuable foundation for
improvement, no one will pretend to deny that our cattle, as a whole,
are susceptible of it in many respects. They possess neither the size,
the symmetry, nor the early maturity, of the short-horns; they do not,
as a general thing, possess the fineness of bone, the beauty of form and
color, nor the activity, of the Devons or the Herefords; they do not
possess that uniform richness of milk, united with generous quantity, of
the Ayrshires, nor the surpassing richness of milk of the Jerseys; but,
above all, they do not possess the power of transmitting the many good
qualities which they often have to their offspring, which is a
characteristic of all well-established breeds.
Equally certain is it, in the opinion of many good judges, that the
dairy stock of New England has not been improved in its intrinsic good
qualities during the last thirty or forty years. Cows of the very
highest order as milkers were as frequently met with, they say, in 1825,
as at the present time. Any increased product of our dairies they
ascribe to improved care and feeding, rather than to improvement in the
dairy qualities of the stock.
This may not be true of some other sections of the country, where the
dairy has been a more special object of pursuit, and where the custom of
raising the best male calves of the neighborhood, or those that came
from the best dairy cows, and then of using only the best-formed bulls,
has long prevailed. In this way some progress has, doubtless, been made.
There is an old adage among the dairy farmers of Ayrshire, that “The cow
gives her milk by the mou’,” which was slightly varied from an old
German proverb, that “_The cow milks only through the throat_.” It is
fortunate, indeed, that wiser and more humane ideas prevail with regard
to the care of stock of all kinds; for it is well known that the
treatment the stock of the country received for the first two centuries
after its settlement was often barbarous and cruel in the extreme, and
that thousands perished, in the early history of the colonies, from
exposure and starvation. Even within my own distinct recollection, it
was thought, for miles around my native place, that cows and young stock
should remain out of doors exposed to the cold winter days, to
“toughen;” and that, too, by men who styled themselves “practical”
farmers.
Mr. Henry Colman truly asserted, in 1841, that the general treatment of
cows in New England would not be an inapt subject of presentment by a
grand jury. There were, at that time, it is true, many honorable
exceptions; but the assertion was strictly correct so far as it applied
to the section of which I then had a personal knowledge. Judging from
the anxiety manifested by those who enter superior milch cows for the
premiums offered by agricultural societies to show that they have had
nothing, or next to nothing, to eat, it is evident that the false ideas
with regard to the feeding and treatment of this animal have not yet
wholly disappeared. But, if little improvement has been made in our
dairy stock except that produced by more liberal feeding, it simply
shows that our efforts have not been made in the right direction.
The raising of cattle has now become a source of profit in many
sections to a greater extent, at least, than formerly, and it becomes a
matter of great practical importance to our farmers to take the proper
steps to improve them. Indeed, the questions, what is the best breed,
and what are the best crosses, and how shall I improve my stock, are now
almost daily asked; and their practical solution would add many thousand
dollars to the aggregate wealth of the farmers of the country, if they
would all study their own interests. The time is gradually passing away
when the intelligent practical farmer will be willing to put his cows to
any mere “runt” of a bull, simply because his service may be had for
twenty-five cents; for, even if the progeny is to go to the butcher, the
calf sired by a pure-bred bull, particularly of a race distinguished for
fineness of bone, symmetry of form, and early maturity, will bring a
much higher price at the same age than the calf sired by a scrub. Blood
has a money value, which will, sooner or later, be generally
appreciated. The first and most important object of the farmer is to get
the greatest money-return for his labor and his produce; and it is for
his interest to obtain an animal--a calf, for instance--that will yield
the largest profit on the outlay. If a calf, for which the original
outlay was five dollars, will bring at the same age, and on the same
keep, more real net profit than another, the original outlay for which
was but twenty-five cents, it is certainly for the farmer’s interest to
pay the larger original outlay, and have the superior animal. Setting
all fancy aside, it is merely a question of dollars and cents; but one
thing is certain, and that is, that the farmer cannot afford to keep
poor stock. It eats as much, and requires nearly the same amount of care
and attention, as stock of the best quality; while it is equally certain
that stock of ever so good a quality, whether grade, “native,” or
thorough-bred, will be sure to deteriorate and sink to the level of poor
stock, by neglect and want of proper attention.
How, then, are we to improve our stock? Not, surely, by that
indiscriminate crossing, with a total disregard to all well-established
principles, which has thus far marked our efforts generally with foreign
stock, and which is one prominent reason why so little improvement has
been made in our dairies; nor by leaving all the results to chance,
when, by a careful and judicious selection, they may be within our own
control. Two modes of improvement seem to suggest themselves to the mind
of the breeder, either of which, apparently, promises good results. The
first is, to select from among our native cattle the most perfect
animals not known or suspected to be related to any of the
well-established breeds, and to use them as breeders. This is a mode of
improvement simple enough, if adopted and carried on with animals of any
known breed; and, indeed, it is the only mode of improvement which
preserves the purity of blood; but, to do it successfully, requires
great experience, a good and sure eye for stock, a mind free from
prejudice, and indefatigable patience and perseverance. It is absolutely
necessary, also, to pay special attention to the calves thus produced;
to furnish them at all times, summer and winter, with an abundant supply
of nutritious food, and to regulate it according to their growth. Few
men are to be found willing to undertake the herculean task of building
up a new breed in this way from grade stock. An objection meets us at
the very outset, which is that it would require a long series of years
to arrive at any satisfactory results, from the fact that no two
animals, made up, as our “native” cattle are, of such a variety of
elements and crosses, could be found sufficiently alike to produce their
kind. The principle that like produces like may be perfectly true, and
in the well-known breeds it is not difficult to find two animals that
will be sure to transmit their own characteristics to their offspring;
but, with two animals which cannot be classed with any breed, the
defects of an ill-bred ancestry will be liable to appear through several
generations, and thus thwart and disappoint the expectations of the
breeder. The objection of time, and expense, and disappointment,
attending this method, should have no weight, if there were no more
speedy method of accomplishing equally desirable results.
The second mode is somewhat more feasible; and that is, to select
animals from races already improved and well-nigh perfected, to cross
with our cattle, using none but good specimens of pure-bred males, and
selecting, if our object is to improve stock for the dairy, only such as
belong to a race distinguished for dairy qualities; or, if resort is had
to other breeds less remarkable for such qualities, such only as are
descended from large and generous milkers. And here it may be remarked
that these qualities do not belong to any one breed exclusively, though,
as they depend mainly on structure and temperament, which are hereditary
to a considerable extent, they are themselves transmissible. In almost
every breed we can find individual good milkers which greatly surpass
the average of the cows of the same race or family, and from such many
suppose that good crosses may be expected. How often do we see farmers
raising the calves of their best milking-cows simply because they are
the best cows, without regard to the qualities of the bull, or to the
progenitors of either parent; and how often are they disappointed, at
the end of three or four years of labor and expense! Now, though a cow
of a bad milking family, or of a breed not at all distinguished for
dairy qualities, may turn out to be an excellent milker, and all else
that may be desirable in a cow, yet these qualities in her are
accidental. They are not supposed to be transmissible with anything like
the certainty which exists where they are the fixed and constant
characteristics of the family. She is an exception to the rule of her
race. A good calf from her, though not, of course, an impossibility,
would be very much the result of chance. The resort to any but a
distinguished breed of milkers cannot, therefore, be recommended, nor
can we expect to improve our dairies by it. A disregard of this
important matter has led to endless disappointment, and has done much to
raise up unjust prejudices against the use of all improved stock on our
native cows. As if we could expect nature to go out of her regular
course to give us a good animal, when we have violated her laws!
The offspring of these crosses will be grades; but grades are often
better for the practical purposes of the farmer than pure-bred animals.
The skill of the breeder is especially manifest in the selection of
animals to breed from, since both parents undoubtedly have a great
influence in transmitting the milking qualities of the race. But this
method of improvement requires less exact and critical knowledge than
the first, from the fact that it is easier to appreciate the good points
of an animal already perfected, or greatly improved, than to discover
them in animals which it is our desire to improve, and which are
inferior in form, possessing only the elements of a better stock. It has
also an immense advantage, since results may be far more rapidly
attained, and improvements effected which, by the first method,--that of
creating or building up a race from the so-called natives, by judicious
selections,--would be looked for in vain in the ordinary life of man.
All grades are produced by this second method; but all grades are not
equally good, nor equally well adapted to meet the farmer’s wants. It is
desirable to know, then, what, on the whole, are the best and most
profitable to the practical farmer.
We want cattle for distinct purposes, as for milk, beef, or labor. In a
large majority of cases,--especially in the dairy districts, comprising
the Middle and Eastern States, at least,--the farmer cares more for the
milking qualities of his cows, especially for the quantity they give,
than for their fitness for grazing, or aptness to fatten. These latter
points become more important in the Western and some of the Southern
States, where far greater attention is paid to breeding and to feeding,
and where comparatively little attention is given to the productions of
the dairy. A stock of cattle that might suit one farmer might be wholly
unsuited to another; and in each particular case the breeder should have
some special object in view, and select his animals with reference to
it. But there are some general principles that apply to breeding
everywhere, and which, in many cases, are not well understood.
It would not be desirable, even if it were possible, by crossing, to
breed out all the general characteristics of many of our native cattle.
They have many valuable qualities adapted to our climate and soil, and
to the geological structure of the country; and these should be
preserved, while we improve the points in which many of them are
deficient, such as a want of precocity and aptitude to fatten, where it
is an object to attain this quality, coarseness of bone, and lack of
symmetry, which is often apparent, especially when the form of the
animal does not indicate a near relation to some of the established
breeds.
It’s a well-known fact that, in crossing, the produce most frequently
takes after the male parent, especially, it is thought, in exterior
form, in its organs of locomotion, such as the bones, the muscles, &c.
Particularly is this the case when the male belongs to an old and
well-established breed, and the female belongs to no known breed, and
has no strongly-marked and fixed points. Put a Galloway bull, for
instance, to a native cow, and the calf will, as a general rule, be
hornless. Put a ram without horns to ewes with horns, and most of the
lambs will be destitute of horns; that is, they take the characteristics
of the father rather than the dam; and this rule holds good generally in
breeding, though, like all other rules, it has, of course, its
exceptions. Hence, if this position be correct, the first principle
which the good sense of the farmer would dictate would be to select a
bull from a breed most noted for the qualities he wishes to obtain in
their greatest perfection, and especially if the cow is deficient in
those qualities. A bull, for instance, of fine bone, and other good
points in perfection, will make up for the deficiency of some of these
points in the cow.
On the other hand, say the advocates of this doctrine, in the physiology
of breeding the internal structure of the offspring, the organs of
secretion, the mucous membranes, the respiratory organs, &c., are
imparted chiefly by the dam. Hence it has sometimes been found that by
taking a cow remarkable for milking properties, though deficient in many
other points, as in the coarseness of bone and in early maturity, and
putting to her a bull remarkable for symmetry of form and fineness of
bone, the offspring has been superior to the cow in beauty of form and
proportions, and has still retained the milking qualities of the dam.
This principle, as already intimated, is questioned by some, who say
that the milking qualities, as well as the external form, &c., are
transmitted through the male offspring.
Mr. James Dickson, an experienced breeder and drover, who views the
subject from his own standpoint, says: “A great part of the art of
breeding lies in the principle of _judicious crossing_; for it is only
by attending properly to this that success is to be attained, and
animals produced that shall yield the greatest amount of profit for the
food they consume. All eminent breeders know full well that ill-bred
animals are unprofitable both to the breeder and feeder. To carry out
the system of crossing judiciously, certain breeds of cattle, sheep,
pigs, &c., must be kept pure of their kind--males especially; indeed, as
a general rule, no animal possessing spurious blood, or admixture with
other breeds, should be used. The produce in almost all cases
assimilates to the male parent; and I should say that in crossing the
use of any males not pure-bred is _injudicious_, and ought to be
avoided.”
If, therefore, a cross is effected with satisfactory results, it should
be continued by resorting to pure-bred bulls, and not by the use of any
grade bulls thus obtained; for, though a grade bull may be a very fine
animal, it has been found that he does not transmit his good qualities
with anything like the certainty of a pure-bred one. The more desirable
qualities are united in the bull, the better; but the special reason for
the use of a pure-bred male in crossing is not so much that the
particular individual selected has these qualities most perfectly
developed in himself; as that they are _hereditary in the breed_ to
which he belongs. The moment the line is crossed, and the pedigree
broken, uncertainty commences. Although the form of the grade bull may,
in individual cases, be even superior to that of his pure-bred sire, yet
there is less likelihood of his transmitting the qualities for which
his breed is most noted; and when it is considered that during his life
he may scatter his progeny over a considerable section of country, and
thus affect the cattle of his whole neighborhood, attention to this
becomes a matter of no small public importance.
This principle, so far as its application to breeding for the shambles
is concerned, seems to me to be sound, and fully established by long
experience and practice. Perhaps it is equally so, also, in breeding for
the dairy. But it may be well to consider whether there are not other
rational modes of judgment in the selection of animals for breeding with
this specific object in view.
There is a difference of opinion with regard to the practical value of
the system of classification and judgment of milch cows discovered and
developed by Guénon: some being inclined to ridicule it, as absurd;
others to adopt it implicitly, and follow it out in all its details; and
others still--and among this class I generally find a very large number
of the most sensible practical judges of stock--to admit that in the
main it is correct, though they discredit the practicability of carrying
it so far, and so minutely into detail, as its author did.
It may be remarked, at the outset, that the fact that the best of the
signs of a great and good milker adopted by Guénon are generally found
united with the best forms and marks almost universally admitted and
practised upon by good judges, gives, at least, some plausibility to the
system, while the importance of it, if it be correct, is sufficient to
demand a careful examination. Every good judge of a milch cow, for
instance, wants to see in her a small, fine head, with short and
yellowish horns; a soft, delicate, and close coat of hair; a skin soft
and flexible over the rump; broad, well-spread ribs, covered with a
loose skin of medium thickness; a broad chest; a long, slender tail;
straight hind legs; a large, regularly-formed udder, covered with short,
close, silky hair; four teats of equal size and length, set wide apart;
large, projecting lacteal veins, which run along under the belly from
the udder towards the fore legs, forming a fork at the end, and finally
losing themselves in a round cavity; and when these points, or any
considerable number of them, are found united in a cow, she would be
pronounced a good milker. An animal in which these signs are found would
rarely fail of having a good “milk-mirror,” or _escutcheon_; on which
Guénon, after many years of careful observation and experiment, came to
lay particular stress; and on the basis of which he built up a system or
theory so complicated as to be of little practical value compared with
what it might have been had he seen fit to simplify it so as to bring it
within the easy comprehension of the farmer. As one means of forming a
judgment of the milking qualities, however, it must be regarded as very
important, since it is unquestionably sustained by facts in a very large
majority of cases.
The milk-mirror, or escutcheon, is formed by the hair above the udder,
extending upwards between the thighs, growing in an opposite direction
from that of other parts of the body. In well-formed mirrors, found only
in cows which have the arteries which supply the milky glands large and
fully developed, it ordinarily begins between the four teats in the
middle, and ascends to the vulva, and sometimes even higher, the hair
growing upwards. The direction of the hair is subordinate to that of the
arteries; for the relation existing between the direction of the hair
above the udder and the activity of the milky glands is apparent on a
careful examination of all the cases. When the lower part of the mirror
is large and broad, with the hair growing from below upwards, and
extending well out on the thighs, it indicates that the arteries which
supply the milky glands, and which are situated just behind it, are
large and capable of conveying much blood, and of giving great activity
to the functions of secretion.
Now, in the bull, the arteries which correspond to the mammary or
lacteal arteries of the cow are not so fully developed; and the
escutcheons are smaller, shorter, and narrower. Guénon applied the same
name, milk-mirror, to these marks in the bull; and the natural inference
was, that there should exist a correspondence or similarity in the
mirror of the bull and the cow which are coupled for the purpose of
producing an offspring fit for the dairy,--that the mirror in the bull
should be of the same class, or of a better class than that of the cow.
It is confidently asserted by the advocates of Guénon’s method, and with
much show of reason, that the very large proportion of cows of bad or
indifferent milking qualities, compared with the good, is owing to the
mistakes in selecting bulls without reference to the proper marks or
points. As to the transmission of the milk-mirror, it has been found in
many cases that bulls sprung from cows with good mirrors had smaller and
more heart-shaped mirrors, spreading out pretty broad upon the thighs.
Pabst, a successful German breeder, says that he has used such bulls for
three years, and that the milk-mirrors were transmitted in the majority
of the male progeny, and in nearly every case very large and beautiful
mirrors were given to the heifer-calves. A son of the bull with which he
began was serving at the time of which he speaks, having a mirror more
highly developed than his sire, and the first calves of his get had
also very large milk-mirrors. The female offspring of the first bull of
good milk-mirror promised first rate, though they had not then come in.
His inference is, that in breeding from cows noted as milkers regard
should be had to the form of the mirror on the bull, and the chance of
his transmitting it. If any credit is due to this ingenious method, it
may be laid down, as a principle in the selection of a bull to get dairy
stock, that the one possessing the largest and best-developed
milk-mirror is the best for the purpose, and will be most likely to get
milkers of large quantity and continued flow. This method will be more
fully developed in the chapter on the Selection of Milch Cows.
But, however careful we may be to select good milkers, and to breed from
them with the hope of improvement, it is by no means easy to select such
as are capable of transmitting their qualities to their offspring. This
is rendered still more difficult by the fact that there is no known mark
to indicate it, and we are left to use our own judgment; for, in the
case of bulls, we are often obliged to give them up before their progeny
have arrived at an age to show their qualities by actual trial. We are
thrown back, therefore, upon their external marks. But, as M. Magne, a
very sensible French writer, justly observes in his admirable little
work (_Choix des Vaches Latières_, p. 86, Paris, 1857), the fixed
characteristics which have existed in races for several generations will
be transmitted with most certainty. Hence the importance, he says, of
selecting milch cows from good breeds and good families, and especially,
in breeding stock, of selecting carefully both male and female. The male
designed to get dairy stock ought to possess the structure which, in the
cow, indicates the greatest activity of the mammary glands, as fineness
of form, mellowness of skin, large hind quarters, large and
well-developed veins and escutcheon.
A cow of a race or family not noted as milkers may chance to be an
excellent milker, and this is enough, if we do not desire to breed from
her; but she would not transmit her exceptional qualities like a cow of
which these qualities were the fixed characteristics, constant and
transmissible in the breed. These considerations apply also, as already
said, in the choice of a bull. The attention of practical men has been
so much directed to the best points of good cows, of late years, that it
becomes necessary to study to propagate these, if the breeder desires to
find buyers for his stock. The buyer judges more from external signs
than from the intrinsic qualities of the cow, with which he may not be
acquainted.
To explain the variations in the transmission of milking qualities, we
should bear in mind that these qualities are not found in wild cows, and
that they are developed only when man can, by a particular course of
treatment, as by the act of milking, the separation of the sexes, etc.,
cause certain natural powers to act with greater strength than others;
that they incline to disappear as soon as these powers, the nature of
the soil, the peculiarities of climate, the properties of plants, and
the temperament of the cows, are permitted to act according to the
original plan of creation; so that the variations which we consider as
sports of nature are incontestible proofs of the uniformity of her
works.
It is only by observing animals carefully, by noting accurately their
good qualities and their faults, by watching the circumstances in which
individuals are produced, raised, and kept, that we can account for what
seems to us a sport or caprice of nature. We can then tell, first, how
the same bull and cow have produced three calves with different
properties; and, secondly, trace out the rules which we are to follow,
to be almost uniformly successful in obtaining stock of the best
quality.
Experience shows that the qualities which are transmitted with most
certainty depend on the most important organs of life; and so, in the
forms of the viscera and the skeleton, variations are rare, not only in
breeds of the same species, but in different species of the same genera.
Moreover, in cases where the transmission of properties is so uncertain
as to seem the result of caprice in nature, these properties are formed
by superficial organs,--by the skin, the horns, the state of the hair,
etc.
But it is in qualities which are, in a measure, artificial, qualities
produced by domestication, and often more injurious than useful to the
health of animals, that variations most commonly occur. These change not
only with the breed of one species, but with the different individuals
of the same breed, of the same half-breed, and often of the same family.
Bearing these elementary principles of natural history and physiology in
mind, we shall comprehend how cows and bulls well marked in regard to
escutcheons have produced stock which did not resemble them. M. Lefebvre
Sainte Marie asserts that the influence of the escutcheons is very
feeble in the act of reproduction.
In this view, the escutcheon is almost nothing in itself. It depends on
the state of the hair, on one of the most fleeting of peculiarities, on
that which is least hereditary in animals. It has no value as a mark of
good getters of stock, unless it is supported by marks superior to it
from their stability,--a larger skeleton, double loins, a wide rump,
highly-developed blood-vessels,--unless it is united with a spacious
chest, round ribs, large lungs, and a strong constitution.
The more complete the correspondence between these marks, the more the
milking quality is connected with the general condition of the animal,
the greater the chances of transmission; and when, with a view to
breeding, we shall choose only animals having the two-fold character of
general vigor of constitution and activity of the mammary system, and
place the progeny under favorable circumstances, the qualities will
rarely prove defective. Thus far the conclusions of Magne.
Another well-known fact in natural history is, that the size of animals
depends very much upon the fertility of the region they inhabit. Where
food is abundant and nutritious, they increase in size in proportion to
the quantity and quality; and this size, under the same circumstances,
will run through generations, unless interrupted by artificial means.
So, if the food is more difficult to obtain, and the pastures are short,
the pliancy of the animal organization is such that it naturally becomes
adapted to it, and the animal is of smaller size; and hence Mr. Cline
observes that “the general mistake in crossing has arisen from an
attempt to increase the size of a native race of animals, being a
fruitless effort to counteract the laws of nature.” Mr. Cline also says,
in his treatise “On the Form of Animals:” “Experience has proved that
crossing has only succeeded in an eminent degree in those instances in
which the females were larger than the usual proportion of females to
males; and that it has generally failed when the males were
disproportionally large. When the male is much larger than the female,
the offspring is generally of an imperfect form; if the female be
proportionally larger than the male, the offspring is generally of an
improved form. For instance, if a well-formed large ram be put to ewes
proportionally smaller, the lambs will not be so well shaped as their
parents; but, if a small ram be put to larger ewes, the lambs will be of
an improved form.” “The improvement depends on the principle that the
power of the female to supply her offspring with nourishment is in
proportion to her size, and to the power of nourishing herself from the
excellence of her constitution; as larger animals eat more, the larger
female may afford most nourishment to her young.”
This should, I am inclined to think, be regarded as another principle of
breeding,--that, when improvement in form is desired, the size of the
female selected should be proportionally larger than the male; though
Lord Spencer, a successful breeder, strongly contested it, and Mr.
Dickson, an excellent judge of stock, advised the attempt to build up a
new breed by selecting some Zetland cows, a very diminutive breed of
Scotch cattle, of good symmetry, points, and handling, and a high-bred
West Highland bull to put to them. “The produce would probably be,” says
he, “a neat, handsome little animal, of a medium size, between the two
breeds. The shaggy hide, long horns, symmetry, and fine points, of the
West Highlanders, would be imparted to this cross, which would not only
be a good feeder and very hardy, but the beef of superior quality. The
great point would, of course, be the proper selection of breeding
animals. The next step towards improving this would be the crossing of
these crosses with a pure Hereford bull, which would improve the size,
and impart still finer points, more substance, with greater aptitude to
fatten. By combining those favorite breeds, the produce would, in all
probability, be very superior, not only attaining to good weights, but
feeding well, and arriving at maturity at an early age. The breeder must
not be satisfied and rest here, but go a point further, and cross the
heifers of the third cross with a short-horn bull.” These successive
steps imply the use of a bull of larger breed, though not necessarily,
perhaps, proportionally larger than the cow, in any individual case.
This, it will be perceived, is a case of breeding with less reference to
the milking or dairy qualities than the grazing. Great milkers are found
of all shapes, and the chief object of improving their form is to
improve their feeding qualities, or, in other words, to unite, as far as
possible, the somewhat incompatible properties of grazing and milking.
Graceful, well-rounded, and compact forms, which constitute beauty in
the eyes of the grazier, as well as in the estimation of those not
accustomed to consider the intrinsic qualities of an animal, or not
capable of appreciating them in a milch cow, will very rarely be found
united, to any considerable extent, with active mammary glands or milk
vessels. The best milkers often look coarse and flabby; for, even if
their bony structure is good and symmetrical, they will appear,
especially when in milk, to have large, raw bones and sharp points,
particularly if they are largely developed in the hind quarters, which
is most frequently the case, as is strikingly seen in the form of the
Oakes cow, a native animal, the most celebrated of her time, in
Massachusetts, and winner of the first premium at the State Fair of
1816.
She yielded in that year no less than four hundred and sixty-seven and a
quarter pounds of butter from May 15th to December 20th, at which time
she was giving over eight quarts of milk, beer measure, a day. The
weight of her milk in the height of the season, in June, was but
forty-four and a half pounds; not so great as that of some cows of the
present day, on far less feed in proportion to their size. Many cows
can be named in New England, at the present time, whose yield, under
the most favorable circumstances, exceeds fifty pounds a day, and some,
whose yield will be fifty-five pounds, on less feed than the Oakes cow
had.
[Illustration: Fig. 14. Oakes Cow.]
The flesh on the hindquarters of most large milkers bears little
proportion to the bone; the hips protrude, the pelvis is broad, the legs
far apart, giving great space for the receptacle of large milk-vessels;
whilst great flow of blood to the milky glands, incident to this
peculiar structure, keeps them in more constant and greater activity
than any other organs, so that the muscles develop less than they
otherwise would, remain slender, and leave the buttocks and thighs small
and narrow. Such animals will seldom acquire the reputation of being
beautiful in form, and if they are not decidedly ugly, the owner may
console himself with the adage that “handsome is that handsome does.”
But, though it is to the influence of the male that we are chiefly to
look for improvements in the form, size, muscular development, and
general appearance, of our stock, and for transmitting their milking
qualities, to a considerable extent, the influence of the female is no
less important; and undoubtedly the safest course to pursue, to obtain
improved animals, is to select the best-formed animals, on both sides,
from the greatest milking families.
With regard to the particular breeds to select for crossing with our
natives, opinions will naturally differ widely. Those who are favored
with luxuriant pastures and abundance of winter feed will have no
objection to large-sized animals, and will naturally wish to obtain or
possess grade short-horns. There is no breed in the world to which it is
more desirable to resort, under such circumstances, particularly where
improvement in form, early maturity, and general symmetry, are sought,
in union with other qualities. It is well known that some families of
short-horns have been bred for the pail, while most others have been
bred chiefly for beef. If resort is had to this breed, therefore, great
care and caution should be observed to select bulls from the milking
families only; and, unless this is done we shall run the risk of losing
the milking qualities of our stock, for which the improvement in form
and early maturity can be little compensation, when breeding for the
dairy.
It is a remarkable and significant fact that the large dairies of London
are nearly filled with the short-horns, or short-horn and Yorkshire
grades; and the fact that this breed is selected in such circumstances
for the production of milk to supply the milk-market speaks volumes in
favor of this cross. It is found that grade short-horns, after yielding
extraordinary quantities of milk, during which they very naturally
present the most ungainly appearance, will, when dried off and fed,
take on flesh very rapidly, and yield large weights of beef. This is one
prominent reason for keeping them; and another is, that they occupy less
space than would be required to produce the same quantity of milk from
smaller animals, which might give even more milk per cow in proportion
to size and food consumed.
The cross of the well-bred short-horn and the native or Dutch cows of
the dairy districts of New York is very highly esteemed; and six hundred
pounds of cheese a year is no uncommon yield for such grades in Herkimer
and adjacent counties.
The Ayrshires have been tried in the London dairies, but it was found
that they were too difficult to obtain in sufficient numbers, and at
sufficiently low prices; and that where quantity was the chief object,
as in a milk-dairy, and space a matter of great importance, they could
not compete with the short-horn and the Yorkshire cows, and crosses
between these races.
It often happens, particularly in milk-dairies, that the farmer is so
situated as not to desire to raise his calves, but disposes of them at
the highest price to the butcher. He will obtain the greatest weight and
the highest quality of veal from the use of a pure-bred short-horn or
Hereford bull. But, on poorer pastures, where there is too little feed
to bring young stock to their most perfect development, the pure-bred
short-horns and high grades of the short-horn are thought, by some, to
be too large, and consequently unprofitable. How far this objection to
them might be obviated by stall feeding or soiling, and the use of
roots, is for each one to consider who has these facilities at command.
For most parts of New England they are unquestionably too large to be
well maintained.
As to the Herefords, they cannot be recommended for the dairy, either as
pure bloods or grades; but in grazing districts, devoted to raising
beef or working cattle, they are highly and justly prized.
The same may be said of the North Devons. The pure-bred Devon bull, put
to a good, young native cow, produces a beautiful and valuable cross,
either for the yoke or the shambles; and if the cow is a remarkably good
milker to begin with, and the bull from a milking family, there would be
no fear of materially lessening the quantity in the offspring, while its
form, and other qualities, would probably be greatly improved.
Grade Devons are very much sought for working oxen, and high prices are
readily obtained for them, while as beef cattle they are by some highly
esteemed. But, unfortunately, very few herds are to be found where
attention has been paid to breeding for milk; and great milkers are the
exception, and very rarely met with among the pure breeds. In their
native country they are bred almost exclusively for beef. The estimation
in which they are held as dairy stock, even by Devon breeders
themselves, both in England and in this country, has been shown in the
low value placed upon the development of the udder in the establishment
of the scale of points spoken of on a preceding page; from which it is
evident that, in judging of them, it was not contemplated that their
milking qualities should be taken into consideration. As cows for the
dairy, therefore, they possess no advantages over our common stock, and
we should hardly look for improvement from them in this respect.
The Jerseys, as already seen, are justly celebrated for the richness of
their milk and the butter made from it. In this respect no pure breed
can excel them. They are, therefore, as a dairy breed, worthy of
attention. On farms where the making of butter is an object of pursuit
and profit, an infusion of Jersey blood will be likely to secure
richness of milk, and high-flavored, delicious butter. Many good judges
of stock recommend this cross for dairy purposes; and the chief
objection that can be urged against them is that they are, as a breed,
very deficient in quantity, which in a milk-dairy would be fatal to
them, while, at the same time, they have little to recommend them, as
the Devons have, on the score of beautiful forms and symmetrical
proportions. Put upon a large and roomy native cow, remarkable as a
milker, the produce would be likely to be a very superior animal.
The Ayrshires, as already seen, have been bred with reference both to
quality and quantity of milk, and the grades are usually of a very high
order. The best milkers I have ever known, in proportion to their size
and food, have been grade Ayrshires; and this is also the experience of
many who keep dairies for the manufacture of butter and cheese, as well
as for the sale of milk. A cross obtained from an Ayrshire bull of good
size and a pure-bred short-horn cow will produce a stock which it will
be hard to beat at the pail, especially if the cow belong to any of the
families of short-horns which have been bred with reference to their
milking qualities, as some of them have. I have taken great pains to
inquire of dairymen as to the breed or grade of their best cows, and
what they consider the best cows for milk for their purposes; and the
answer has almost invariably been the Ayrshire and the native. The
Ayrshires have by no means been a failure in this country, although I do
not think that, as a general thing, we have been so fortunate hitherto
as to import the best specimens of them. If any improvement has been
made in our dairy stock apart from that effected by a higher and more
liberal course of feeding, it has come, in a great measure, from the
Ayrshires; and, had the facilities been offered to cross our common
stock with them to greater extent, there can be little doubt that the
improvement would have been greater and more perceptible.
It should, however, be said, that in sections where the feed is
naturally luxuriant, and adapted to grazing large animals, some families
of the short-horns crossed with our natives have produced an equally
good stock for cheese and milk dairies.
Before closing this part of the subject, it is proper to observe that
among the earlier importations were several varieties of hornless
cattle, and that they have been kept distinct in some sections, or where
they have been crossed with the common stock there has been a tendency
to produce hornless grades. These are not unfrequently known under the
name of buffalo cattle. They were, in many cases, supposed to have
belonged to the Galloway breed; or, which is more likely, to the Suffolk
dun, a variety of the Galloway, and a far better milking-stock than the
Galloways, from which it sprung. The polled, or hornless cattle, vary in
color and qualities, but they are usually very good milkers when well
kept, and many of them fatten well, and attain good weights.
The Hungarian cattle have also been imported, to some extent, into
different parts of the country, and have been crossed upon the natives
with some success. Many other strains of blood from different breeds
have contributed to build up the common stock of the country of the
present day; and there can be no question that its appearance and value
have been largely improved during the last quarter of a century, nor
that improvements are still in progress which will lead to satisfactory
results in future.
CHAPTER III.
THE SELECTION OF MILCH COWS.
We have now reviewed the prominent races of cattle found in American
dairy herds, and devoted some space to an examination of the principles
to be followed in the breeding of dairy stock; and this has involved, to
some extent, the choice of breeds, and the selection of individual
animals, with special reference, however, to transmitting and improving
their milking properties. But the selection of cows for the dairy is of
such importance as to demand the most careful consideration.
The objects of a dairy are three-fold: the production of milk for sale,
mainly confined to milk-dairies, and to smaller farms in the vicinity of
large towns, where a mixed husbandry is followed; the production of
butter, chiefly confined to farms at a distance from cities and large
towns, which furnish a ready market for milk; and the fabrication of
cheese, carried on under circumstances somewhat, similar to the
manufacture of butter, and sometimes united with it as an object of
pursuit, on the farm.
These different objects should, therefore, be kept in view, in the
selection of cows; for animals which would be most profitable for the
milk-dairy might be very unprofitable in the butter-dairy--a fact of
almost daily experience. The productiveness of the cow does not depend
on her breed so much as upon her food and management, her temperament
and health, and the activity and energy of the organs of digestion and
secretion. These latter, it is true, depending upon the structure of
the chest and other parts, are far better developed, and more
permanently fixed, in some races than in others, and are derived more or
less by descent, and capable of being transmitted. The breed, therefore,
cannot be wholly disregarded, inasmuch as it is an element in forming a
judgment of the merits of a milch cow.
Cows, of whatever breed, having the best developed external marks of
good milkers, will very rarely disappoint the practised eye or the
skilful hand; while cows of breeds in highest repute for the dairy, and
which do not show these marks, will as certainly fail to answer the
expectations of those who select them simply for the breed. Those who
would obtain skill in judging of these marks, and by means of them be
able to estimate the value of a cow, need not expect to attain this end
without long study and practical observation, for which some men have
far greater talent than others; being able, while examining a particular
mark or favorite characteristic of a milker, to take in all others at a
glance, and so, while appearing to form their opinion from one or two
important points, actually to estimate the whole development of the
animal, while others must examine in detail each point by itself. Long
practice is required, therefore, to become an adept in the judgment and
selection of milch cows; but still much assistance may, unquestionably,
be derived by careful attention to the external signs which have been
long observed to indicate the milking qualities.
It is important, in the first place, to be able to judge of the age of
the cow. Few farmers wish to purchase a cow for the dairy after she has
passed her prime, which will ordinarily be at the age of nine or ten
years, varying, of course, according to care, feeding, &c., in the
earlier part of her life.
The most usual mode of forming an estimate of the age of cattle is by an
examination of the horn. At three years old, as a general rule, the
horns are perfectly smooth; after this, a ring appears near the root,
and annually afterward a new one is formed; so that, by adding two years
to the first ring, the age is calculated. This is a very uncertain mode
of judging. The rings are distinct only in the cow; and it is well known
that, if a heifer goes to bull when she is two years old, or a little
before or after that time, a change takes place in the horn, and the
first ring appears; so that a real three-year-old would carry the mark
of a four-year-old.
The rings on the horns of a bull are either not seen until five, or they
cannot be traced at all; while in the ox they do not appear till he is
five years old, and then are often very indistinct. In addition to this,
it is by no means an uncommon practice to file the horns, so as to make
them smooth, and to give the animal the appearance of being much younger
than it really is. This is, therefore, an exceedingly fallacious guide,
and we cannot rely on it without being subject to imposition.
[Illustration: Fig. 15. Teeth at birth.]
[Illustration: Fig. 16. Second week.]
The surest indication of the age is given by the teeth. The calf, at
birth, will usually have two incisor or front teeth; in some cases just
appearing through the gums; in others, fully set, varying as the cow
falls short or exceeds her regular time of calving. If she overruns
several days, the teeth will have set and attained considerable size, as
appears in Fig. 15. During the second week, a tooth will usually be
added on each side, and the mouth will generally appear as in Fig. 16;
and, before the end of the third week, the animal will generally have
six incisor teeth, as shown in Fig. 17; and in a week from that time the
full number of incisors will have appeared, as seen in Fig. 18.
[Illustration: Fig. 17. Third week.]
[Illustration: Fig. 18. Month.]
These teeth are temporary, and are often called milk-teeth. Their edge
is very sharp; and, as the animal begins to live upon more solid food,
this edge becomes worn, showing the bony part of the tooth beneath, and
indicates, with considerable precision, the length of time they have
been used. The centre or oldest teeth show the marks of age first, and
often become somewhat worn before the corner teeth appear. At eight
weeks, the four inner teeth are nearly as sharp as before. They appear
worn not so much on the outer edge or line of the tooth, as inside this
line; but, after this, the edge begins gradually to lose its sharpness,
and to present a more flattened surface; while the next outer teeth wear
down like the four central ones; and at three months this wearing off is
very apparent, till at four months all the incisor teeth appear worn,
but the inner ones the most. Now the teeth begin slowly to diminish in
size by a kind of contraction, as well as wearing down, and the
distance apart becomes more and more apparent.
[Illustration: Fig. 19. Five to eight months.]
[Illustration: Fig. 20. Ten months.]
[Illustration: Fig. 21. Twelve months.]
[Illustration: Fig. 22. Fifteen months.]
From the fifth to the eighth month the inner teeth will usually appear
as in Fig. 19; and at ten months this change shows more clearly, as in
Fig. 20, and the spaces between them begin to show very plainly, till at
a year old they ordinarily present the appearance of Fig. 21; and at the
age of fifteen months that shown in Fig. 22, where the corner teeth are
not more than half the original size, and the centre ones still smaller.
[Illustration: Fig. 23. Eighteen months.]
[Illustration: Fig. 24. Two years past.]
The permanent teeth are now rapidly growing, and preparing to take the
place of the milk-teeth, which are gradually absorbed till they
disappear, or are pushed out to give place to the two permanent central
incisors, which, at a year and a half, will generally present the
appearance indicated in Fig. 23, which shows the internal structure of
the lower jaw at this time, with the cells of the teeth, the two central
ones protruding into the mouth, the two next pushing up, but not quite
grown to the surface, with the third pair just perceptible. These
changes require time; and at two years past the jaw will usually appear
as in Fig. 24, where four of the permanent central incisors are seen.
After this the other milk-teeth decrease rapidly, but are slow to
disappear; and at three years old the third pair of permanent teeth are
but formed, as in Fig. 25; and at four years the last pair of incisors
will be up, as in Fig. 26; but the outside ones are not yet fully grown,
and the beast can hardly be said to be full-mouthed till the age of five
years. But before this age, or at the age of four years, the two inner
pairs of permanent teeth are beginning to wear at the edges, as shown in
Fig. 26, while at five years old the whole set becomes somewhat worn
down at the top, and on the two centre ones a darker line appears in the
middle, along a line of harder bone, as appears in Fig. 27.
[Illustration: Fig. 25. Three years past.]
[Illustration: Fig. 26. Four years past.]
Now will come a year or two, and sometimes three, when the teeth do not
so clearly indicate the exact age, and the judgment must be guided by
the extent to which the dark middle lines are worn. This will depend
somewhat upon the exposure and feeding of the animal; but at seven years
these lines extend over all the teeth. At eight years another change
begins, which cannot be mistaken. A kind of absorption begins with the
two central incisors, slow, at first, but perceptible, and these two
teeth become smaller than the rest, while the dark lines are worn into
one in all but the corner teeth, till at ten years four of the central
incisors have become smaller in size, with a smaller and fainter mark,
as seen in Fig. 28. At eleven the six inner teeth are smaller than the
corner ones; and at twelve all become smaller than they were, while the
dark lines are nearly gone, except in the corner teeth, and the inner
edge is worn to the gum.
[Illustration: Fig. 27. Five years past.]
[Illustration: Fig. 28. Ten years past.]
After being satisfied with regard to the age of a cow, we should examine
her with reference to her soundness of constitution. A good constitution
is indicated by large lungs, which are found in a deep, broad, and
prominent chest, broad and well-spread ribs, a respiration somewhat slow
and regular, a good appetite, and if in milk a strong inclination to
drink, which a large secretion of milk almost invariably stimulates. In
such cows the digestive organs are active and energetic, and they make
an abundance of good blood, which in turn stimulates the activity of
the nervous system, and furnishes the milky glands with the means of
abundant secretion. Such cows, when dry, readily take on fat. When
activity of the milk-glands is found united with close ribs, small and
feeble lungs, and a slow appetite, often attended by great thirst, the
cow will generally possess only a weak and feeble constitution; and if
the milk is plentiful, it will generally be of bad quality, while the
animal, if she does not die of diseased lungs, will not take on fat
readily when dry and fed.
Other external marks of great milkers have already been given in part.
They should be found united, as far as possible; for, though no one of
them, however well developed, can be taken as a sure indication of
extraordinary milking powers, several of them united may, as a general
rule, be implicitly relied on.
In order to have no superfluous flesh, the cow should have a small,
clean, and rather long head, tapering towards the muzzle. A cow with a
large, coarse head will seldom fatten readily, or give a large quantity
of milk. A coarse head increases the proportion of weight of the least
valuable parts, while it is a sure indication that the whole bony
structure is too heavy. The mouth should be large and broad; the eye
bright and sparkling, but of a peculiar placidness of expression, with
no indication of wildness, but rather a mild and feminine look. These
points will indicate gentleness of disposition. Such cows seem to like
to be milked, are fond of being caressed, and often return caresses. The
horns should be small, short, tapering, yellowish, and glistening. The
neck should be small, thin, and tapering towards the head, but
thickening when it approaches the shoulder; the dewlaps small. The fore
quarters should be rather small when compared with the hind quarters.
The form of the barrel will be large, and each rib should project
further than the preceding one, up to the loins. She should be well
formed across the hips and in the rump.
The spine or back-bone should be straight and long, rather loosely hung,
or open along the middle part, the result of the distance between the
dorsal vertebræ, which sometimes causes a slight depression, or sway
back. By some good judges this mark is regarded as of great importance,
especially when the bones of the hind quarters are also rather loosely
put together, leaving the rump of great width, and the pelvis large, and
the organs and milk-vessels lodged in the cavities largely developed.
The skin over the rump should be loose and flexible. This point is of
great importance; and as, when the cow is in low condition, or very
poor, it will appear somewhat harder and closer than it otherwise would,
some practice and close observation are required to judge well of this
mark. The skin, indeed, all over the body, should be soft and mellow to
the touch, with soft and glossy hair. The tail, if thick at the setting
on, should taper and be fine below.
But the udder is of special importance. It should be large in proportion
to the size of the animal, and the skin thin, with soft, loose folds
extending well back, capable of great distension when filled, but
shrinking to a small compass when entirely empty. It must be free from
lumps in every part, and provided with four teats set well apart, and of
medium size. Nor are the milk-veins less important to be carefully
observed. The principal ones under the belly should be large and
prominent, and extend forward to the navel, losing themselves,
apparently, in the very best milkers, in a large cavity in the flesh,
into which the end of the finger can be inserted; but, when the cow is
not in full milk, the milk-vein, at other times very prominent, is not
so distinctly traced; and hence, to judge of its size when the cow is
dry, or nearly so, this vein may be pressed near its end, or at its
entrance into the body, when it will immediately fill up to its full
size. This vein does not carry the milk to the udder, as some suppose,
but is the channel by which the blood returns; and its contents consist
of the refuse of the secretion, or what has not been taken up in forming
milk. There are, also, veins in the udder, and the perineum, or the
space above the udder, and between that and the buttocks, which it is of
special importance to observe. These veins should be largely developed,
and irregular or knotted, especially those of the udder. They may be
seen in Figs. 29, 30, 31, &c. They are largest in great milkers.
The knotted veins of the perineum, extending from above downwards in a
winding line, are not readily seen in young heifers, and are very
difficult to find in poor cows, or cows of only a medium quality. They
are easily found in very good milkers, and, if not at first apparent,
they are made so by pressing upon them at the base of the perineum, when
they swell up, and send the blood back towards the vulva. They form a
kind of thick network under the skin of the perineum, raising it up
somewhat, in some cases near the vulva, in others lower down and nearer
to the udder. It is important to look for these veins, as they often
form a very important guide, and by some they would be considered as
furnishing the surest indications of the milking qualities of the cow.
Their full development almost always indicates an abundant secretion of
milk; but they are far better developed after the cow has had two or
three calves, when two or three years’ milking has given full activity
to the milky glands, and attracted a large flow of blood. The larger and
more prominent these veins, the better. It is needless to say that in
observing them some regard should be had to the condition of the cow,
the thickness of skin and fat by which they may be surrounded, and the
general activity and food of the animal. Food calculated to stimulate
the greatest flow of milk will naturally increase these veins, and give
them more than usual prominence.
We come now to an examination of the system of Guénon, whose discovery,
whatever may be said of it, has proved of immense importance to
agriculture. Guénon was a man of remarkable practical sagacity, a close
observer of stock, and an excellent judge. This gave him a great
advantage in securing the respect of those with whom he came in contact,
and assisted him vastly in introducing his ideas to the knowledge of
intelligent men. Born in France, in the vicinity of Bordeaux, in humble
circumstances, he early had the care of cows, and spent his whole life
with them. His discovery, for which a gold medal was awarded by the
agricultural society of Bordeaux, on the 4th of July, 1837, consisted in
the connection between the milking qualities of the cow and certain
external marks on the udder, and on the space above it, called the
perineum, extending to the buttocks. To these marks he gave the name of
milk-mirror, or escutcheon, which consists in certain perceptible spots
rising up from the udder in different directions, forms, and sizes, on
which the hair grows upwards, whilst the hair on other parts of the body
grows downwards. To these spots various names have been given, according
to their size and position, as tufts, fringes, figures or escutcheons,
which last, is the most common term used. The reduction of these marks
into a system, explaining the value of particular forms and sizes of the
milk-mirror, belongs, so far as I know, exclusively to Guénon, though
the connection of the milking qualities of the cow and the size of the
ovals with downward-growing hair on the back part of the udder above
the teats was observed and known in Massachusetts more than forty years
age, and some of the old farmers of that day were accustomed to say that
when these spots were large and well developed the cow would be a good
milker.
Guénon divided the milk-mirror into eight classes, and each class into
eight orders, making in all no less than sixty-four divisions, which he
afterwards increased by sub-divisions, making the whole system
complicated in the extreme, especially as he professed to be able to
judge with accuracy, by means of the milk-mirror, not only of the exact
quantity a cow would give, but also the quality of the milk and the
length of time it would continue. He tried to prove too much, and the
consequence was that he was himself frequently at fault, notwithstanding
his excellent knowledge of other general characteristics of milch cows,
while others, of less knowledge, and far more liable to err in judgment,
were inclined to view the whole system with distrust.
My own attention was called to Guénon’s method of judging of cows some
eight or ten years ago, and since that time I have examined many
hundreds, with a view to ascertain the correctness of its main features,
inquiring, at the same time, after the views and opinions of the best
breeders and judges of stock, with regard to their experience and
judgment of it merits; and the result of my observation has been, that
cows with the most perfectly-developed milk-mirrors, or escutcheons,
are, with rare exceptions, the best milkers of their breed, and that
cows with small and slightly-developed mirrors are, in the majority of
cases, bad milkers.
I say the best milkers _of their breed_; for I do not believe that
precisely the same sized and formed milk-mirrors on a Hereford or a
Devon, and an Ayrshire or a native, will indicate anything like the
same or equal milking properties. It will not do, in my opinion, to
disregard the general and well-known characteristics of the breed, and
rely wholly on the milk-mirror. But I think it may be safely said that,
as a general rule the best-marked Hereford will turn out to be the best
milker among the Herefords, all of which are poor milkers; the
best-marked Devon the best among the Devons, and the best-marked
Ayrshire the best among the Ayrshires; that is, it will not do to
compare two animals of entirely distinct breeds, by the milk-mirrors
alone, without regard to the fixed habits and education, so to speak, of
the breed or family to which they belong.
There are cows with very small mirrors, which are, nevertheless, very
fair in the yield of milk; and among these with middling quality of
mirrors instances of rather more than ordinary milkers often occur,
while at the same time it is true that now and then cases occur where
the very best marked and developed mirrors are found on very poor
milkers. I once owned a cow of most extraordinary marks, the milk-mirror
extending out broadly upon the thighs, and rising broad and very
distinctly marked to the buttocks, giving every indication, to good
judges, of being as great a milker as ever stood over a pail; and yet,
when she calved, the calf was feeble and half nourished, and she
actually gave too little to feed it. But I believe that this exception,
and most others which appear to be direct contradictions, could be
clearly explained by the fact, of which I was not aware at the time,
that she had been largely over-fed before she came into my possession. I
mention this case simply to show how impossible it is to estimate with
mathematical accuracy either the quantity, the quality, or the duration
of the milk, since it is affected by so many chance circumstances,
which cannot always be known or estimated by even the most skilful
judge; as the food, the treatment, the temperament, accidental diseases,
inflammation of the udder, premature calving, the climate and season,
the manner in which she has been milked, and a thousand other things
which interrupt or influence the flow of milk, without, materially
changing the size or the shape of the milk-mirror. M. Magne, who appears
to me to have simplified and explained the system of Guénon, and to have
freed it from many of the useless details with which it is encumbered in
the original work, while he has preserved all that is of practical
value, very justly observes that we often see cows, equally well formed,
with precisely the same milk-mirror, and kept in the same circumstances,
yet giving neither equal quantities nor similar qualities of milk. Nor
could it be otherwise; for, assuming a particular tuft on two cows to be
of equal value at birth, it could not be the same in the course of
years, since innumerable circumstances occur to change the activity of
the milky glands without changing the form or size of the tuft; or, in
other words, the action of the organs depends not merely on their size
and form, but, to a great extent, on the general condition of each
individual.
Te give a more distinct idea of the milk-mirror, it will be necessary to
refer to the figures, and the explanations of these I translate
literally from the little work already referred to, the _Choix des
Vaches Latières_, or, the Choice of Milch Cows.
The different forms of milk-mirrors are represented by the shaded part
of figures 29, 30, 31, etc.; but it is necessary to premise that upon
the cows themselves they are always partly concealed by the thighs, the
udder, and the folds of the skin, which are not shown, and so they are
not always so uniform in nature as they appear in the cuts.
Their size varies as the skin is more or less folded or stretched, while
we have supposed in the figures that the skin is uniform or free from
folds, but not stretched out. In order to understand the differences
which the milk-mirrors present in respect to size, according to the
state of the skin, the milk-mirror is shown in two ways in Figs. 52 and
53. In Fig. 53 the proportions are preserved the same as in the other
mirrors represented, but an effort is made to represent the folds of the
skin; while in Fig. 52 the mirror is just as it would have been had the
folds of the udder been smoothed out, and the skin between the udder and
the thighs stretched out; or, in other words, as if the skin, covered
with up-growing hair, had been fully extended.
This mirror, but little developed, just as shown in Fig. 53, was
observed on a very large Norman cow.
It is usually very easy to distinguish the milk-mirrors by the upward
direction of the hair which forms them. They are sometimes marked by a
line of bristly hair growing in the opposite direction, which surrounds
them, forming a sort of outline by the upward and downward growing hair.
Yet, when the hair is very fine and short, mixed with longer hairs, and
the skin much folded, and the udder voluminous and pressed by the
thighs, it is necessary, in order to distinguish the part enclosed
between the udder and the legs, and examine the full size of the
mirrors, to observe them attentively, and to place the legs wide apart,
and to smooth out the skin, in order to avoid the folds.
The mirrors may also be observed by holding the back of the hand against
the perineum, and drawing it from above downwards, when the nails
rubbing against the up-growing hair, make the parts covered by it very
perceptible.
As the hair of the milk-mirror has not the same direction as the hair
which surrounds it, it may often be distinguished by a difference in the
shade reflected by it. It is then sufficient to place it properly to the
light to see the difference in shade, and to make out the part covered
by the upward-growing hair. Most frequently, however, the hair of the
milk-mirror is thin and fine, and the color of the skin can easily be
seen. If we trust alone to the eye, we shall often be deceived. Thus, in
Figs. 52 and 53, the shaded part, which extends from the vulva to the
mirror E, represents a strip of hair of a brownish tint, which covered
the perineum, and which might easily have been taken for a part of the
milk-mirror.
In some countries cattle-dealers shave the back part of the cows. Just
after this operation the mirrors can neither be seen nor felt; but this
inconvenience ceases in a few days. It may be added that the shaving,
designed, as the dealers say, to beautify the cow, is generally intended
simply to destroy the milk-mirror, and to deprive buyers of one means of
judging of the milking qualities of the cows.
It is not necessary to add that the cows most carefully shaven are those
which are badly marked, and that it is prudent to take it for granted
that cows so shorn are bad milkers.
Milk-mirrors vary in position, extent, and the figure they represent.
They may be divided, according to their position, into mirrors or
escutcheons, properly so called, or into lower and upper tufts, or
escutcheons. The latter are very small in comparison with the former,
and are situated in close proximity to the vulva, as seen at S in Figs.
38, 39, 40, etc. They are very common on cows of bad milking races, but
are very rarely seen on the best milch cows. They consist of one or two
ovals, or small bands of up-growing hair, and serve to indicate the
continuance of the flow of milk. The period is short in proportion as
the tufts are large. They must not be confounded with the escutcheon
proper, which is often extended up to the vulva. They are separated from
it by bands of hair, more or less large, as in Figs. 40, 42, &c.
The mirrors shown in Figs. 38 to 42, and 29 to 35, &c., exist, more or
less developed, on nearly all cows, and indicate the quantity of milk,
which will be in proportion to their size. Sometimes they form only a
small plate on the posterior surface of the udder, as in Fig. 49. In
other cases they cover the udder, the inner surface of the legs and the
thighs, the perineum, and a part of the buttocks, as in Figs. 29, 30,
31, &c.
Two parts may be distinguished in the lower tufts: one situated on the
udder, the legs, and the thighs, as at M M, Fig. 30; and the other on
the perineum, extending sometimes more or less out upon the thighs, as
at P P, in the same figure.
The first part is represented by itself, in Figs. 37 and 49. We shall
call the former _mammary_, and the latter _perinean_. The former is
sometimes large, extending over the milky glands, the thighs, and the
legs, as shown in Figs. 29 to 37; and sometimes circumscribed, or more
or less checked over with tufts of downward-growing hair, as in Figs. 43
to 52. It is sometimes terminated towards the upper part of the udder by
a horizontal line, straight, as in Fig. 37, or angular, as in Fig. 49;
but more frequently it continues without interruption over the perineum,
and constitutes the _perinean_ part.
[Illustration: Fig. 29.]
[Illustration: Fig. 30.]
[Illustration: Fig. 31.]
[Illustration: Fig. 32.]
This presents a large band, Fig. 30, straight, as in Fig. 43, and
bounded on the sides by two parallel lines, as seen in the same
figures, or by curved lines, as in Fig. 34. It sometimes rises scarcely
a fourth part up the perineum, as in Fig. 38; at others, it reaches or
passes beyond that part, forming a straight band, as in Figs. 35 and 43,
or is folded into squares, as in Figs. 31 and 36, or truncated, Fig. 38,
or terminated by one or several points, Figs. 32, 33, 41, 50. In some
cows this band extends as far as the base of the vulva, Figs. 40 and 48;
in others, it embraces more or less of the lower part of the vulva,
Figs. 29, 30, 39, and 47.
Milk-mirrors are sometimes symmetrical, as in Figs. 29, 30, 34, 35, 37,
and 38; sometimes without symmetry, as in Figs. 42, 45, and 50. When
there is a great difference in the extent of the two halves, it almost
always happens that the teats on the side where the mirror is best
developed give, as we shall see, more milk than those of the opposite
side. We will remark here that the left half of the mirror is almost
always the largest; and so, when the perinean part is folded into a
square, it is on this side of the body that it unfolds, as in Figs. 31,
36, and 42. Of three thousand cows in Denmark, M. Andersen found only a
single one whose escutcheon varied even a little from this rule. We have
observed the contrary only in a single case, and that was on a bull. The
perinean part of the mirror formed a band of an inch to an inch and a
half in breadth, irregular, but situated, in great measure, on the right
side of the body. Stretching towards the upper part of the perineum, it
formed a kind of square, with a small projecting point on the right,
Fig. 51.
[Illustration: Fig. 33.]
[Illustration: Fig. 34.]
[Illustration: Fig. 35.]
[Illustration: Fig. 36.]
[Illustration: Fig. 37.]
The mirrors having a value in proportion to the space they occupy, it is
of great importance to attend to all the rows of down-growing hairs,
which diminish its extent of surface, whether these tufts are in the
midst of the mirror, Figs. 45, 46, and 47, or form indentations on its
edges, as in Figs. 42, 44, 45, 46, and 48.
These indentations, concealed in part by the folds of the skin, are
sometimes seen with difficulty; but it is important to take them into
account, since in a great many cows they materially lessen the size of
the mirror. We often find cows whose milk-mirror at first sight appears
very large, but which are only medium milkers; and it will usually be
found that lateral indentations greatly diminish the surface of
up-growing hair. Many errors are committed in estimating the value of
such cows, from a want of attention to the real extent of the
milk-mirror.
All the interruptions in the surface of the mirror indicate a diminution
of the quantity of milk, with the exception, however, of small oval or
elliptical plates which are found in the mirror, on the back part of the
udders of the best cows, as in Figs. 29, 30, 32, 34, 35, 36, and 40.
These ovals have a peculiar tint, which is occasioned by the downward
direction of the hair which forms them. In the best cows these ovals
exist with the lower mirrors very well developed, as in Figs. 29, 30,
and 32.
In fine, we should state that in order to determine the extent and
significance of a mirror it is necessary to consider the state of the
perineum as to fat, and of the fulness of the udder. In a fat cow, with
an inflated udder, the mirror would appear larger than it really is;
whilst in a lean cow, with a loose and wrinkled udder, it appears
smaller. Fat will cover faults, a fact to be kept in mind in selecting a
cow.
In bulls, Fig. 51, the mirrors present the same peculiarities as in
cows; but they are less varied in their form, and especially much less
in size. This will easily be understood from the explanation of
mirrors given on a preceding page.
[Illustration: Fig. 38.]
[Illustration: Fig. 39.]
[Illustration: Fig. 40.]
[Illustration: Fig. 41.]
[Illustration: Fig. 42.]
In calves the mirrors show the shapes they are afterwards to have, only
they are more contracted, because the parts which they cover are but
slightly developed. They are easily seen after birth; but the hair which
then covers them is long, coarse, and stiff; and when this hair falls
off, the calf’s mirror will resemble that of the cow, but be of less
size.
With calves, however, it should be stated, in addition to what has
already been said, that the milk-mirrors are more distinctly recognized
on those from cows that are well kept, and that they will generally be
fully developed at two years old. Some changes take place in the course
of years, but the outlines of the mirror appear prominent at the time of
advanced pregnancy, or, in the case of cows giving milk, at the times
when the udder is more distended with milk than at others.
The classification adopted by Magne appears still further to simplify
the whole method, and to bring it within the easy reach and
comprehension of every one who will examine the figures and the
explanations connected with them. He divides cows, according to the
quantity they give, into four classes: First, the very good; second, the
good; third, the medium; and fourth, the bad.
In the first class he places cows both parts of whose milk-mirror, the
mammary and the perinean, are large, continuous, uniform, covering at
least a great part of the perineum, the udder, the inner surface of the
thighs, and extending more or less out upon the legs, as in Figs. 29 to
33, with no interruptions, or, if any, small ones, oval in form, and
situated on the posterior face of the udder, Figs. 29, 30, and 32.
[Illustration: Fig. 43.]
[Illustration: Fig. 44.]
[Illustration: Fig. 45.]
[Illustration: Fig. 46.]
[Illustration: Fig. 47.]
Such mirrors are found on most very good cows, but may also be found
on cows which can scarcely be called good, and which should be ranked in
the next class. But cows, whether having very well-developed mirrors or
not, may be reckoned as very good, and as giving as much milk as is to
be expected from their size, feed, and the hygienic circumstances in
which they are kept, if they present the following characteristics:
Veins of the perineum large, as if swollen, and visible on the exterior,
as in Figs. 29-32, or which can be easily made to appear by pressing
upon the base of the perineum; veins of the udder large and knotted,
milk-veins large, often double, equal on both sides, and forming
zig-zags under the belly.
To the signs furnished by the veins and by the mirror may be added also
the following marks: A uniform, very large and yielding udder, shrinking
much in milking, and covered with soft skin and fine hair; good
constitution, full chest, regular appetite, and great propensity to
drink. Cows rather inclining to be poor than fat. Soft, yielding skin,
short, fine hair, small head, fine horns, bright, sparkling eye, mild
expression, feminine look, with a fine neck.
Cows of this first class are very rare. They give, even when small in
size, from ten to fourteen quarts of milk a day, and the largest sized
from eighteen to twenty-six quarts a day, and even more. Just after
calving, if arrived at maturity and fed with good, wholesome, moist food
in sufficient quantity and quality, adapted to promote the secretion of
milk, they can give about a pint of milk for every ten ounces of hay, or
its equivalent, which they eat.
They continue in milk for a long period. The best never go dry, and may
be milked even up to the time of calving, giving from eight to twelve
quarts of milk a day. The Dutch cow, Fig. 54, was giving daily
twenty-two quarts of milk, a year after calving. But even the best cows
often fall short of the quantity of milk they are able to give, from
being fed on food that is too dry, or not sufficiently varied, or not
rich enough in nutritive qualities, or deficient in quantity.
[Illustration: Fig. 48.]
[Illustration: Fig. 49.]
[Illustration: Fig. 50.]
[Illustration: Fig. 51.]
[Illustration: Fig. 52.]
[Illustration: Fig. 53.]
The second class is that of _good cows_; and to this belong the best
commonly found in the market and among the cow-feeders of cities.
They have the mammary part of the milk-mirror well developed, but the
perinean part contracted or wholly wanting, as in Figs. 34 and 37; or
both parts of the mirror are moderately developed, or slightly indented,
as Figs. 35 and 36. Figs. 38, 39, 40, and 41, belong also to this class,
in the lower part; but they denote cows which, as the upper mirrors, S S
S, indicate, dry up sooner when again in calf.
These marks, though often seen on many good cows, should be considered
as certain only when the veins of the perineum form, under the skin, a
kind of network, which, without being very apparent, may be felt by a
pressure on them; when the milk-veins on the belly are well developed,
though less knotted and less prominent than in cows of the first class;
in fine, when the udder is well developed, and presents veins which are
sufficiently numerous, though not very large.
It is necessary, then, as in the preceding class, to have a mistrust of
cows in which the mirror is not accompanied by large veins. This remark
applies especially to cows which have had several calves, and are in
full milk. They are medium or bad, let the milk-mirror be what it may,
if the veins of the belly are not large, and those of the udder
apparent.
The general characteristics which depend on form and constitution
combine less than in cows of the preceding class the marks of good
health and excellent constitution with those of a gentle and feminine
look.
[Illustration: Fig. 54. A Good Milch Cow.]
Small cows of this class give from seven to ten or eleven quarts of milk
a day, and the largest from thirteen to seventeen quarts. They can be
made to give three fourths of a pint of milk, just after calving, for
every ten ounces of hay consumed, if well cared for, and fed in a manner
favorable to the secretion of milk.
They hold out long in milk when they have no upper mirrors or tufts. At
seven or eight months in calf, they may give from five to eight quarts a
day.
The third class consists of _middling cows_. When the milk-mirror really
presents only the lower or mammary part slightly developed or indented,
and the perinean part contracted, narrow, and irregular, as in Figs. 42
to 47, the cows are middling. The udder is slightly developed or hard,
and shrinks very little after milking. The veins of the perineum are not
apparent, and those which run along the lower sides of the abdomen are
small, straight, and sometimes unequal. In this case the mirror is not
symmetrical, and the cow gives more milk on the side where the vein is
largest.
These cows often have large heads, and a thick and hard skin. Being
ordinarily in good condition, and even fat, they are beautiful to look
at, and seem to be well formed. Many of them are nervous and restive,
and not easily approached.
Cows of this class give, according to size, from three or four to ten
quarts of milk. They very rarely give, even in the most favorable
circumstances, half a pint for every ten ounces of hay which they
consume.
The milk diminishes rapidly, and dries up wholly the fourth or fifth
month in calf.
The fourth class is composed of _bad cows_. As they are ordinarily in
good condition, these cows are often the most beautiful of the herd and
in the markets. They have fleshy thighs, thick and hard skin, a large
and coarse neck and head, and horns large at the base.
The udder is hard, small, and fleshy, with a skin covered with long,
rough hair. No veins are to be seen either on the perineum or the udder,
while those of the belly are very slightly developed, and the mirrors
are ordinarily small, as in Figs. 48, 49, and 50.
With these characteristics, cows give only a few quarts of milk a day,
and dry up a short time after calving. Some such can scarcely nourish
their calves, even when they are well cared for and well fed.
Sickly habits, chronic affections of the digestive organs, the chest,
the womb, and the lacteal system, sometimes greatly affect the milk
secretions, and cause cows troubled with them to fall from the first or
second to the third, and sometimes to the fourth class.
The above classification is very similar to that of Pabst, a German
farmer of large experience and observation of stock, who, with a view to
simplify the method of Guénon, and render it of greater practical value
to the farmer, made five divisions or classes, consisting of, 1st, _Very
good_ or _extraordinary_; 2d, _Good_ or _good middling_; 3d, _Middling_
and _little below middling_; 4th, _Small_; and, 5th, _Very bad milkers_.
These classifications, adopted by Magne, Pabst, and other good breeders
and judges of cows, appear to me to be far more simple and satisfactory
than the more extended and complicated classification of Guénon himself.
Without pretending to be able to judge with any accuracy of the
quantity, the quality, or the duration, which any particular size or
form of the mirror will indicate, they give to Guénon the full credit of
his important discovery of the escutcheon, or milk-mirror, as a new and
very valuable element in forming our judgment of the milking qualities
of a cow; and simply assert, with respect to the duration or continuance
of the flow of milk, that the mirror that indicates the greatest
quantity will also indicate the longest duration. The mirror forms, in
other words, an important additional mark or point for distinguishing
good milkers; and it is safe to lay it down as a rule that, in the
selection of milch cows, as well as in the choice of young animals as
breeders, we should, by all means, examine and consider the milk-mirror,
but not limit or confine ourselves exclusively to it, and that other and
long-known marks should be equally regarded.
But there are cases where a knowledge and careful examination of the
form and size of the mirror becomes of the greatest importance. It is
well known that certain signs or marks of great milkers are developed
only as the capacities of the animal herself are fully and completely
developed by age. The milk-veins, for instance, are never so large and
prominent in heifers and young cows as in old ones, and the same may be
said of the udder, and the veins of the udder and perineum; all of which
it is of great importance to observe in the selection of milch cows.
Those signs, then, which in cows arrived at maturity are almost
sufficient in themselves to warrant a conclusion as to their merits as
milkers, are, to a great extent, wanting in younger animals, and
altogether in calves, of which there is often doubt whether they shall
be raised; and here a knowledge of the form of the mirror is of immense
advantage, since it gives, at the outset, and before any expense is
incurred, a somewhat reliable means of judging of the future milking
capacities of the animal or, if a male, of the probability of his
transmitting milking qualities to his offspring.
It will be seen, from an examination of the points of a good milch cow,
that, though the same marks which indicate the greatest milking
qualities may not indicate any great aptitude to fatten, yet that the
signs which indicate good fattening qualities are included among the
signs favorable to the production of milk, such as soundness of
constitution, indicated by good organs of digestion and respiration,
fineness and mellowness of the skin and hair, quietness of disposition,
which inclines the animal to rest and lie down in chewing the cud, and
other marks which are relied on by graziers in selecting animals to
fatten.
In buying dairy stock the farmer generally finds it for his interest to
select young heifers. They give the promise of longer usefulness. But it
is often the case that older cows are selected with the design of using
them for the dairy for a limited period, and then feeding them for the
butcher. In either case, it is advisable, as a rule, to choose animals
in low or medium condition. The farmer cannot ordinarily afford to buy
fat; it is more properly his business to make it, and to have it to
sell. Good and well-marked cows in poor condition will rapidly gain in
flesh and products when removed to better pastures and higher keeping,
and they cost less in the original purchase.
It is unnecessary to say that regard should be had to the quality of the
pasturage and keeping which a cow has previously had, as compared with
that to which she is to be subjected. The size of the animal should also
be considered with reference to the fertility of the pastures into which
she is to be put. Small or medium-sized animals accommodate themselves
to ordinary pastures far better than large ones. Where a very large cow
will do well, two small ones will usually do better, while the large
animal might fail entirely where two small ones would do well. It is
better to have the whole herd, so far as may be, uniform in size; for,
if they vary greatly, some may get more than they need, and others will
not have enough. This however, cannot always be brought about.
[Illustration: Fig. 55. A Good Dairy Cow.]
CHAPTER IV.
FEEDING AND MANAGEMENT OF DAIRY COWS.
No branch of dairy farming can compare in importance with the management
of cows. The highest success will depend very much upon it, whatever
breed be selected, and whatever amount of care and attention be given to
the points of the animals; for experience will show that very little
milk comes out of the bag that is not first put into the throat. It is
poor economy, therefore, to attempt to keep too many cows for the amount
of feed we have; for it will generally be found that one good cow well
bred and well fed will yield as much as two ordinary cows kept in the
ordinary way, while a saving is effected both in labor and room
required, and in the risks on the capital invested. If the larger number
on poorer feed is urged for the sake of the manure, which is the only
ground on which it can be put, it is sufficient to remark that it is a
very expensive way of making manure. It is not too much to say that a
proper regard to profit and economy would require many an American
farmer to sell off nearly half his cows, and to feed the whole of his
hay and roots hitherto used into the remainder.
A certain German farmer was visited, one day, by some Swiss from over
the border, who desired to buy of him all the milk of his cows for the
purpose of making cheese. Not being able to agree upon the terms, he
finally proposed to let them take the entire charge of his cows, and
agreed to furnish food amply sufficient, the Swiss assuming the whole
care of feeding it out, and paying a fixed price by measure for all the
milk. “I found myself, at once,” says he, “under the necessity of
selling almost half my cows, because the Swiss required nearly double
the quantity of fodder which the cows had previously had, and I was well
satisfied that all the produce I could raise on my farm would be far
from sufficient to feed in that way the number of cows I had kept. I was
in despair at finding them using such a quantity of the best quality of
feed, though it was according to the strict letter of the contract,
especially as I knew that I had given my cows rather more than the
quantity of food recommended by men in whom I had perfect confidence.
Thus, while Thaër names twenty-three pounds of hay, or its equivalent,
as food sufficient for a good-sized cow, I gave mine full twenty-seven
pounds. But, if the change effected in the management of my cows was
great, the result was still more striking. The quantity of milk kept
increasing, and it reached the highest point when the cows attained the
condition of the fat kine of Pharaoh’s dream. The quantity of milk
became double, triple, and even quadruple, what it had been before; so
that, if I should compare the product with that previously obtained, a
hundred pounds of hay produced three times more milk than it had
produced with my old mode of feeding. Such results, of course, attracted
my attention to this branch of my farming. It became a matter of
pleasure; and my observations were followed up with great care, and
during several years I devoted a large part of my time to it. I even
went so far as to procure scales for weighing the food and the animals,
in order to establish exact data on the most positive basis.”
The conclusions to which he arrived were, that an animal, to be fully
fed and satisfied, requires a quantity of food in proportion to its live
weight; that no feed could be complete that did not contain a sufficient
amount of nutritive elements; hay, for example, being more nutritive
than straw, and grains than roots. He found, too, that the food must
possess a bulk sufficient to fill up to a certain degree the organs of
digestion or the stomach; and that, to receive the full benefit of its
food, the animal must be wholly satisfied, as, if the stomach is not
sufficiently distended, the food cannot be properly digested, and of
course many of the nutritive principles it contains would not be
perfectly assimilated. An animal regularly fed eats till it is
satisfied, and no more than is requisite. A part of the nutritive
elements in hay and other forage plants is needed to keep an animal on
its feet,--that is, to keep up its condition,--and if the nutrition of
its food is not sufficient for this the weight decreases, and if it is
more than sufficient the weight increases, or else this excess is
consumed in the production of milk or in labor. About one sixtieth of
their live weight in hay, or its equivalent, will keep horned cattle on
their feet; but, in order to be completely nourished, they require about
one thirtieth in dry substances, and four thirtieths in water, or other
liquid contained in their food. The excess of nutritive food over and
above what is required to sustain life will go in milch cows generally
to the production of milk, or to the growth of the fœtus, but not in all
cows to an equal extent; the tendency to the secretion of milk being far
more developed in some than in others.
With regard to the consumption of food in proportion to the live weight
of the animal, however far it may apply as a general principle, it
should, I think, be taken with some qualifications. The proportion is
probably not uniform as applied to all breeds indiscriminately, though
it may be more so as applied to animals of the same breed. Bakewell’s
idea was that the quantity of food required depended much on the shape
of the barrel; and it is well known that an animal of a close, compact,
well-rounded barrel will consume less than one of an opposite make.
The variations in the yield of milch cows are caused more by the
variations in the nutritive elements of their food than by a change of
the form in which it is given. “A cow, kept through the winter on mere
straw,” says a practical writer on this subject, “will cease to give
milk; and, when fed in spring on green forage, will give a fair quantity
of milk. But she owes the cessation and restoration of the secretion to
respectively the diminution and the increase of her nourishment, and not
at all to the change of form, or of outward substance, in which the
nourishment is administered. Let cows receive through winter nearly as
large a proportion of nutritive matter as is contained in the clover,
lucerne, and fresh grasses, which they eat in summer, and, no matter in
what precise substance or mixture that matter may be contained, they
will yield a winter’s produce of milk quite as rich in caseine and
butyraceous ingredients as the summer’s produce, and far more ample in
quantity than almost any dairyman with old-fashioned notions would
imagine to be possible. The great practical error on this subject
consists not in giving wrong kinds of food, but in not so proportioning
and preparing it as to render an average ration of it equally rich in
the elements of nutrition, and especially in nitrogenous elements, as an
average ration of the green and succulent food of summer.”
We keep too much stock for the quantity of good and nutritious food
which we have for it; and the consequence is cows are, in nine cases out
of ten, poorly wintered, and come out in the spring weakened, if not,
indeed, positively diseased, and a long time is required to bring them
into a condition to yield a generous quantity of milk.
It is a hard struggle for a cow reduced in flesh and in blood to fill up
the wasted system with the food which would otherwise have gone to the
secretion of milk; but, if she is well fed, well housed, well littered,
and well supplied with pure, fresh water, and with roots, or other
_moist_ food, and properly treated to the luxury of a frequent carding,
and constant kindness, she comes out ready to commence the manufacture
of milk under favorable circumstances.
_Keep the cows constantly in good condition_, ought, therefore, to be
the motto of every dairy farmer, posted up over the barn-door, and over
the stalls, and over the milk-room, and repeated to the boys whenever
there is danger of forgetting it. It is the great secret of success, and
the difference between success and failure turns upon it. Cows in milk
require more food in proportion to their size and weight than either
oxen or young cattle.
In order to keep cows in milk well and economically, regularity is next
in importance to a full supply of wholesome and nutritious food. The
healthy animal stomach is a very nice chronometer, and it is of the
utmost importance to observe regular hours in feeding, cleaning, and
milking. This is a point, also, in which very many farmers are at
fault--feeding whenever it happens to be convenient. The cattle are thus
kept in a restless condition, constantly expecting food when the keeper
enters the barn, while, if regular hours are strictly adhered to, they
know exactly when they are to be fed, and they rest quietly till the
time arrives. Go into a well-regulated dairy establishment an hour
before the time of feeding, and scarcely an animal will rise to its
feet; while, if it happens to be the hour of feeding, the whole herd
will be likely to rise and seize their food with an avidity and relish
not to be mistaken.
With respect to the exact routine to be pursued, no rule could be
prescribed which would apply to all cases; and each individual must be
governed much by circumstances, both in respect to the particular kinds
of feed at different seasons of the year, and the system of feeding. I
have found in my own practice, and in the practice of the most
successful dairymen, that, in order to encourage the largest secretion
of milk in stalled cows, one of the best courses is, to feed in the
morning, either at the time of milking--which I prefer--or immediately
after, with cut feed, consisting of hay, oats, millet, or corn-stalks,
mixed with shorts, and Indian, linseed, or cotton-seed meal, thoroughly
moistened with water. If in winter, hot or warm water is far better than
cold. If given at milking-time, the cows will generally give down the
milk more readily. The stalls and mangers ought always to be well
cleaned out first.
Roots and long hay may be given during the day; and at the evening
milking, or directly after, another generous meal of cut feed, well
moistened and mixed, as in the morning. No very concentrated food, like
grains alone or oil-cakes, should, it seems to me, be fed early in the
morning on an empty stomach, though it is sanctioned by the practice in
the London milk-dairies. The processes of digestion go on best when the
stomach is sufficiently distended; and for this purpose the bulk of food
is almost as important as the nutritive qualities. The flavor of some
roots, as cabbages and turnips, is more apt to be imparted to the flesh
and milk when fed on an empty stomach than otherwise. After the cows
have been milked, and have finished their cut feed, they are carded and
curried down, in well-managed dairies, and then either watered in the
stall, which in very cold or stormy weather is far preferable, or turned
out to water in the yard. When they are out, if they are let out at all,
the stables are put in order; and, after tying them up, they are fed
with long hay, and left to themselves till the time of next feeding.
This may consist of roots, such as cabbages, beets, carrots, or turnips,
sliced, or of potatoes, a peck, or, if the cows are very large, a
half-bushel each, and cut feed again at the evening milking, as in the
morning, after which water in the stall, if possible.
The less cows are exposed to the cold of winter, the better. They eat
less, thrive better, and give more milk, when kept housed all the time,
than when exposed to the cold. Caird mentions a case where a herd of
cows, which had been usually supplied from troughs and pipes in the
stalls, were, on account of an obstruction in the pipes, obliged to be
turned out twice a day to be watered in the yard. The quantity of milk
instantly decreased, and in three days the falling off became very
considerable. After the pipes were mended, and the cows again watered as
before, in their stalls, the flow of milk returned. This, however, will
be governed much by the weather; for in very mild, warm days it may be
judicious not only to let them out, but to allow them to remain out for
a short time, to exercise.
Any one can arrange the hour for the several processes named above, to
suit himself; but, when once fixed, let it be rigidly and regularly
followed. If the regular and full feeding be neglected for even a day,
the yield of milk will immediately decline, and it will be very
difficult to restore it. It may safely be asserted, as the result of
many trials and long practice, that a larger flow of milk follows a
complete system of regularity in this respect than from a higher feeding
where this system is not adhered to.
One prime object which the dairyman should keep constantly in view is,
to maintain the animal in a sound and healthy condition. Without this,
no profit can be expected from a milch cow for any considerable length
of time; and, with a view to this, there should be an occasional change
of food. But, in making changes, great care is required to supply an
equal amount of nourishment, or the cow falls off in flesh, and
eventually in milk. We should therefore bear in mind that the food
consumed goes not alone to the secretion of milk, but also to the growth
and maintenance of the bony structure, the flesh, the blood, the fat,
the skin, and the hair, and in exhalations from the body. These parts of
the body consist of different organic constituents. Some are rich in
nitrogen, as the fibrin of the blood, albumen, &c.; others destitute of
it, as fat; some abound in inorganic salts, phosphate of lime, salts of
potash, &c. To explain how the constant waste of these substances may be
supplied, Dr. Voelcker observes that the albumen, gluten, caseine, and
other nitrogenized principles of food, supply the animal with materials
required for the formation of muscle and cartilage; they are, therefore,
called flesh-forming principles.
“Fats, or oily matters of the food,” says he, “are used to lay on fat,
or for the purpose of sustaining respiration.
“Starch, sugar, gum, and a few other non-nitrogenized substances,
consisting of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, supply the carbon given off
in respiration, or they are used for the production of fat.
“Phosphates of lime and magnesia in food principally furnish the animal
with the materials of which the bony skeleton of its body consists.
“Saline substances--chlorides of sodium and potassium, sulphate and
phosphate of potash and soda, and some other mineral matters occurring
in food--supply the blood, juice of flesh, and various animal juices,
with the necessary mineral constituents.
“The healthy state of an animal can thus only be preserved by a mixed
food; that is, food which contains all the proximate principles just
noticed. Starch or sugar alone cannot sustain the animal body, because
neither of them furnishes the materials to build up the fleshy parts of
the animal. When fed on substances in which an insufficient quantity of
phosphates occurs, the animal will become weak, because it does not find
any bone-producing principles in its food. Due attention, therefore,
ought to be paid by the feeder to the selection of food which contains
all the kinds of matter required, nitrogenized as well as
non-nitrogenized, and mineral substances; and these should be mixed
together in the proportion which experience points out as best for the
different kinds of animals, or the particular purpose for which they are
kept.”
“On the nutrition of cows for dairy purposes,” Dr. Voelcker still
further observes that “milk may be regarded as a material for the
manufacture of butter or of cheese; and, according to the purpose for
which the milk is intended to be employed, whether for the manufacture
of butter or the production of cheese, the cow should be differently
fed.
“Butter contains carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and no nitrogen. Cheese,
on the contrary, is rich in nitrogen. Food which contains much fatty
matter, or substances which in the animal system are readily converted
into fat, will tend to increase the proportion of cream in milk. On the
other hand, the proportion of caseine or cheesy matter in milk is
increased by the use of highly nitrogenized food. Those, therefore, who
desire much cream, or who produce milk for the manufacture of butter,
select food likely to increase the proportion of butter in the milk. On
the contrary, where the principal object is the production of milk rich
in curd,--that is, where cheese is the object of the farmer,--clover,
peas, and bean-meal, and other plants which abound in legumine,--a
nitrogenized organic compound, almost identical in properties and
composition with caseine, or the substance which forms the curd of
milk,--will be selected.” And so the quality, as well as the quantity,
of butter in the milk, depends on the kind of food consumed, and on the
general health of the animal. Cows fed on turnips in the stall always
produce butter inferior to that of cows living upon the fresh and
aromatic grasses of the pastures.
Succulent food in which water abounds--the green grass of irrigated
meadows, green clover, brewers’ refuse, distillers’ refuse,
etc.--increases the quantity, rather than the quality, of the milk; and
by feeding these substances the milk-dairyman studies his own interest,
and makes thin milk, without diluting it with water, though, in the
opinion of some, this may be no more legitimate than watering the milk.
But, though the yield of milk may be increased by succulent or watery
food, it should be given so as not to interfere with the health of the
cow.
Food rich in starch, gum, or sugar, which are the respiratory elements,
an excess of which goes to the production of fatty matters, increases
the butter in milk. Quietness promotes the secretion of fat in animals
and increases the butter. Cheese will be increased by food rich in
albumen, such as the leguminous plants.
The most natural, and of course the healthiest food for milch cows in
summer, is the green grass of the pastures; and when those fail from
drought, or over-stocking, the complement of nourishment may be made up
with green clover, green oats, barley, millet, or corn-fodder, and
cabbage-leaves, or other succulent vegetables; and if these are wanting,
their place may be partly supplied with shorts, Indian-meal, linseed or
cotton-seed meal. Green grass is more nutritious than hay, which always
loses more or less of its nutritive qualities in curing; the amount of
the loss depending chiefly on the mode of curing, and the length of
exposure to sun and rain. But, apart from this, grass is more easily and
completely digested than hay, though the digestion of hay may be greatly
aided by cutting and moistening, or steaming; and by this means it is
rendered more readily available, and hence far better adapted to promote
a large secretion of milk--a fact too often overlooked by many even
intelligent farmers.
That green grass is better adapted than most other kinds of food to
promote a large flow of milk, may be seen from the following table, from
which it will appear that greater attention should be given to the
proper constituents of food for milch cows. Two cows were taken in the
experiment.
+-----------------------------+--------+---------+-----------+
| |Milk in | Butter |Nitrogen in|
| | five | in five | food in |
| Food of two cows. | days. | days. | five days.|
+-----------------------------+--------+---------+-----------+
|1. Grass, |114 lbs.|3.50 lbs.| 2.32 lbs. |
|2. Barley and hay, |107 |3.43 | 3.89 |
|3. Malt and hay, |102 |3.20 | 3.34 |
|4. Barley, molasses, and hay,|106 |3.44 | 3.82 |
|5. Barley, linseed, and hay, |108 |3.48 | 4.14 |
|6. Beans and hay, |108 |3.72 | 5.27 |
+-----------------------------+--------+---------+-----------+
Here grass produced the largest flow of milk, but of a quality less rich
than bean-meal and hay, which produced the richest quality; one hundred
and eight pounds making more butter than one hundred and fourteen pounds
of grass-made milk.
In autumn, the best feed will be the grasses of the pastures, so far as
they are available, green-corn fodder, cabbage, carrot and turnip
leaves, and an addition of meal or shorts. Towards the middle of autumn,
the cows fed in the pastures will require to be housed regularly nights,
especially in the more northern latitudes, and put, in part at least,
upon hay. But every farmer knows that it is not judicious to feed out
the best part of his hay when his cattle are first put into the barn,
and that he should not feed so well in the early part of winter that he
cannot feed better as it advances.
At the same time, it should always be borne in mind that the change from
grass to a poor quality of hay or straw, for cows in milk, should not be
too sudden. A poor quality of dry hay is far less palatable in the early
part of winter, after the cows are taken from grass, than at a later
period; and, if it is resorted to with milch cows, will inevitably lead
to a falling off in the milk, which no good feed can afterwards wholly
restore.
It is desirable, therefore, to know what can be used instead of his best
English or upland meadow hay, and yet not suffer any greater loss in the
flow of milk, or condition, than is absolutely necessary. In some
sections of New England, the best quality of swale hay will be used; and
the composition of that is as variable as possible, depending on the
varieties of grasses of which it was made, and the manner of curing.
But, in other sections, many will find it necessary to use straw, and
other substitutes; and it may be desirable to know how much is required
to form an equivalent in nutrition to good meadow or English hay. The
following brief table of nutritive equivalents will be convenient for
reference:
------------------+-----------+-----------------
| | Percentage
| | of Nitrogen.
| Nutritive +--------+--------
|equivalent.| Dried. |Undried.
+-----------+--------+--------
1. Meadow hay, | 100 | 1.34 | 1.15
2. Red Clover-hay,| 75 | 1.70 | 1.54
3. Rye-straw, | 479 | 0.30 | 0.24
4. Oat-straw, | 383 | 0.36 | 0.30
5. Wheat-straw, | 426 | 0.36 | 0.27
6. Barley-straw, | 460 | 0.30 | 0.25
7. Pea-straw, | 64 | 1.45 | 1.79
------------------+-----------+--------+--------
The following is the composition of these several substances, in which
their relative value will more distinctly appear:
--------+------+-------+--------+-------+-------
| |Starch,|Gluten, | |
| Woody| Gum, |Albumen,| Fatty | Saline
Water. |fibre.| Sugar.| etc. |matter.|matter.
--------+------+-------+--------+-------+-------
14 | 30 | 40 | 7.1 | 2 to 5|5 to 10
14 | 25 | 40 | 9.3 | 3 to 5| 9
12 to 15| 45 | 38 | 1.3 | | 4
12 | 45 | 35 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 6
12 to 15| 50 | 30 | 1.3 | 2 to 3| 5
12 to 15| 50 | 30 | 1.3 | | 5
10 to 15| 25 | 45 | 12.3 | 1.5 |4 to 6
--------+------+-------+--------+-------+-------
From these tables it will be seen that, taking good English or meadow
hay as the standard of comparison, and calling that one, 4.79 times the
weight of rye-straw, or 3.83 times the weight of oat-straw, contains the
same amount or nutritive matter; that is, it would take 4.79 times as
much rye-straw to produce the same result as good meadow hay.
The more elaborate nutritive equivalents of Boussingault will be found
to be very valuable and suggestive, and the following table is given in
this connection for the sake of convenient reference.
NUTRITIVE EQUIVALENTS. (PRACTICAL AND THEORETICAL.)
----------------------+------------------------------------------+
| THEORETICAL VALUES. |
+------------------------------------------+
| BOUSSINGAULT. |
+------+----------+------------+-----------+
| | Nitrogen | Nitrogen | |
| | in 100 | in 100 | |
| Water| parts of |parts of un-| |
|in 100|dried sub-| dried sub- | Nutritive |
ARTICLES OF FOOD. |parts.| stance. | stance. |equivalent.|
----------------------+------+----------+------------+-----------+
English Hay, | 11.0 | 1.34 | 1.15 | 100 |
Lucerne, | 16.6 | 1.66 | 1.38 | 83 |
Red Clover-hay, | 10.1 | 1.70 | 1.54 | 75 |
Red Clover (green), | 76.0 | - | .64 | 311 |
Rye-straw, | 18.7 | .30 | .24 | 479 |
Oat-straw, | 21.0 | .36 | .30 | 383 |
Carrot-leaves (tops), | 70.9 | 2.94 | .85 | 135 |
Swedish Turnips, | 91.0 | 1.83 | .17 | 676 |
Mangold Wurzel, | - | - | - | - |
White Silician Beet, | 85.6 | 1.43 | .18 | 669 |
Carrots, | 87.6 | 2.40 | .30 | 382 |
Potatoes, | 75.9 | 1.50 | .36 | 319 |
Potatoes kept in pits,| 76.8 | 1.18 | .30 | 383 |
Beans, | 7.9 | 5.50 | 5.11 | 23 |
Peas, | 8.6 | 4.20 | 3.84 | 27 |
| | | | |
Indian Corn, | 18.0 | 2.00 | 1.64 | 70 |
Buckwheat, | 12.5 | 2.40 | 2.10 | 55 |
Barley, | 13.2 | 2.02 | 1.76 | 65 |
Oats, | 12.4 | 2.22 | 1.92 | 60 |
Rye, | 11.5 | 2.27 | 2.00 | 58 |
Wheat, | 10.5 | 2.33 | 2.09 | 55 |
Oil-cake (Linseed), | 13.4 | 6.00 | 5.20 | 22 |
----------------------+------+----------+------------+-----------+
----------------------+----------------------------+
| THEORETICAL VALUES. |
+----------------------------+
| FRESENIUS. |
+----------------+-----------+
| Relative | |
| proportion of | |
| nitrogenized to| |
|non-nitrogenized| Nutritive |
ARTICLES OF FOOD. | substances. |equivalent.|
----------------------+----------------+-----------+
English Hay, | - | 100 |
Lucerne, | - | - |
Red Clover-hay, | 1 to 6.08 | 77.9 |
Red Clover (green), | - | - |
Rye-straw, | 1 to 24.40 | 527⁷⁄₁₂ |
Oat-straw, | 1 to 12.50 | 445⁵⁄₁₂ |
Carrot-leaves (tops), | - | - |
Swedish Turnips, | - | - |
Mangold Wurzel, | 1 to 7.26 | 391¹⁄₂ |
White Silician Beet, | - | - |
Carrots, | 1 to 7.84 | 542.1 |
Potatoes, | 1 to 9.00 | 330⁵⁄₁₂ |
Potatoes kept in pits,| - | - |
Beans, | 1 to 2.8 | 34⁵⁄₁₂ |
Peas, | 1 to 2.14 | 34¹⁄₂ |
| | |
Indian Corn, | 1 to 6.55 | - |
Buckwheat, | 1 to 6.05 | 93⁵⁄₁₂ |
Barley, | 1 to 4.25 | - |
Oats, | 1 to 4.08 | 58¹¹⁄₁₂ |
Rye, | 1 to 4.42 | 58¹⁄₁₆ |
Wheat, | 1 to 2.42 | 38⁵⁄₆ |
Oil-cake (Linseed), | - | - |
----------------------+----------------+-----------+
----------------+-----------------------------------------------------
| Practical values, as obtained by
| experiments in feeding, according to
+------+------+------+------+------+---------+--------
ARTICLES | | | | | | |Schweit-
OF FOOD. |Block.|Petri.|Meyer.|Thaër.|Pabst.|Schwertz.| zer.
----------------+------+------+------+------+------+---------+--------
English Hay, |100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100
Lucerne, | - | 90 | - | 90 | 100 | 100 | -
Red Clover-hay, |100 | 90 | - | 90 | 100 | 100 | -
Red Clover | | | | | | |
(green), |430 | - | - | 450 | 425 | - | -
Rye-straw, |200 | 500 | 150 | 666 | 350 | - | 267
Oat-straw, |200 | 200 | 150 | 190 | 200 | 400 | 200
Carrot-leaves | | | | | | |
(tops), | - | - | - | - | - | - | -
Swedish Turnips,| - | 300 | - | 300 | 250 | 200 | -
Mangold Wurzel, |366 | 400 | 250 | 460 | 250 | 333 | 366²⁄₃
White Silician | | | | | | |
Beet, | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Carrots, |366 | 250 | 225 | 300 | 250 | 270 | 300
Potatoes, |216 | 200 | 150 | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200
Potatoes kept in| | | | | | |
pits, |400 | - | - | - | - | - | -
Beans, | 30 | 54 | 50 | 73 | 40 | - | 30
Peas, | 30 | 54 | 48 | 66 | 40 | Boussin-| 30
| | | | | | gault |
Indian Corn, | - | 52 | - | - | - | 59 | -
Buckwheat, | - | 64 | - | - | - | - | -
Barley, | 33 | 61 | 53 | 76 | 50 | - | 35
Oats, | 39¹⁄₂| 71 | - | 86 | 60 | - | 37¹⁄₂
Rye, | 33 | 55 | 51 | 71 | 50 | - | 33¹⁄₂
Wheat, | 27 | 52 | 46 | 64 | 40 | - | 30
Oil-cake | | | | | | |
(Linseed), | 42 | 108 | - | - | - | - | 43
----------------+------+------+------+------+------+---------+--------
The reader will find no difficulty in making this table of practical
value in deciding upon the proper course of feeding to be pursued.
In winter the best food for cows in milk will be good sweet meadow hay,
a part of which should be cut and moistened with water, as all inferior
hay or straw should be, with an addition of root-crops, such as turnips,
carrots, parsnips, potatoes, mangold wurzel, with shorts, oil-cake,
Indian-meal, or bean-meal.
It is the opinion of most successful dairymen that the feeding of moist
food cannot be too highly recommended for cows in milk, especially to
those who desire to obtain the largest quantity. Hay cut and thoroughly
moistened becomes more succulent and nutritive, and partakes more of the
nature of green grass.
As a substitute for the oil-cake, hitherto known as an exceedingly
valuable article for feeding stock, there is probably nothing better
than cotton-seed meal, now to be had in large quantities in the market.
This is an article whose economic value has been but recently made
known, but which, from practical trials already made, has proved
eminently successful as food for milch cows. An average specimen of this
was submitted for analysis to Professor Johnson, who reported that its
composition is not inferior to that of the best flax-seed cake, and that
in some respects its agricultural value surpasses that of any other kind
of oil-cake, as is shown in the following table, containing in column
first the analysis of cotton-seed meal made by himself; in column
second, some of the results obtained by Dr. C. T. Jackson on cake
prepared by himself from hulled cotton-seed; in column third, an
analysis of cotton-seed cake, made by Dr. Anderson, of Edinburgh; in
column fourth, the average composition of eight samples of American
linseed-cake; and in column fifth, an analysis of meadow hay, obtained
by Dr. Wolff in Saxony, given as a means of comparison.
---------------------------+------+------+------+------+------
| I. | II. | III. | IV. | V.
---------------------------+------+------+------+------+------
Water, | 6.82| | 11.19| 9.23| 16.94
Oil, | 16.47| - | 9.08| 12.96| -
Albuminous bodies, | 44.41| 48.82| 25.16| 28.28| 10.69
Mucilaginous and Saccharine|}12.74|} | | 34.22| 40.11
matters, |} |} ... | 48.93| |
Fibre, | 11.76|} | | 9.00| 27.16
Ash, | 7.80| 8.96| 5.64| 6.21| 5.04
+------+ +------+------+------
|100.00| |100.00|100.00|100.00
| | | | |
Nitrogen, | 7.05| 7.75| 3.95| 4.47| -
Phosphoric acid in ash, | 2.36| 2.45| - | - | -
Sand, | .94| - | 1.32| - | -
---------------------------+------+------+------+------+------
Johnson also remarks, in this connection, that the great value of
linseed-cake, as an adjunct to hay for fat cattle and milch cows, has
long been recognized; and is undeniably traceable in the main to three
ingredients of the seeds of the oil-yielding plants. The value of food
depends upon the quantity of matters it contains which may be
appropriated by the animal which consumes the food. Now, it is proved
that the fat of animals is derivable from the _starch_, _gum_, and
_sugar_, and more directly and easily from the _oil_ of the food. These
four substances are, then, the _fat-formers_. The muscles, nerves, and
tendons of animals, the fibrine of their blood, and the curd of their
milk, are almost identical in composition, and strongly similar in many
of their properties with matters found in all vegetables, but chiefly in
such as form the most concentrated food. These _blood_ (and muscle)
_formers_ are characterized by containing about fifteen and a half per
cent. of nitrogen; and hence are called _nitrogenous substances_. They
are also often designated as the _albuminous bodies_.
The bony framework of the animal owes its solidity to _phosphate of
lime_, and this substance must be furnished by the food. A perfect food
must supply the animal with these three classes of bodies, and in proper
proportions. The addition of a small quantity of a food rich in oil and
albuminous substances to the ordinary kinds of feed, which contain a
large quantity of vegetable fibre or woody matter, more or less
indigestible, but nevertheless indispensable to the herbivorous animals,
their digestive organs being adapted to a bulky food, has been found
highly advantageous in practice. Neither hay alone nor concentrated food
alone gives the best results. A certain combination of the two presents
the most advantages.
A Bavarian farmer has recently announced that heifers fed, for three
months before calving, with a little linseed-cake, in addition to their
other fodder, acquire a larger development of the milk-vessels, and
yield more milk afterwards, than similar animals fed as usual.
Cotton-seed cake must have an equally good effect.
Some of those who have used cotton-seed cake have found difficulty in
inducing cattle to eat it. By giving it at first in small doses, mixed
with other palatable food, they soon learn to eat it with relish.
On comparing the analyses II. and I. with the average composition of
linseed-cake IV., it will be seen that the cotton-seed cake is much
richer in oil and albuminous matters than the linseed-cake. A
correspondingly less quantity will therefore be required. Three pounds
of this cotton-seed cake are equivalent to four of linseed-cake of
average quality.
During the winter season, as already remarked, a frequent change of food
is especially necessary, both as contributing to the general health of
animals, and as a means of stimulating the digestive organs, and thus
increasing the secretion of milk. A mixture used as cut feed, and well
moistened, is now especially beneficial, since concentrated food, which
would otherwise be given in small quantities, may be united with larger
quantities of coarser and less nutritive food, and the complete
assimilation of the whole be better secured. On this subject Dr.
Voelcker truly observes that the most nutritious kinds of food produce
little or no effect when they are not digested by the stomach, or if the
digested food is not absorbed by the lymphatic vessels, and not
assimilated by the various parts of the body. Now, the normal functions
of the digestive organs not only depend on the composition of the food,
but also on its volume. The volume or bulk of the food contributes to
the healthy activity of the digestive organs, by exercising a
stimulating effect on the nerves which govern them. Thus the whole
organization of ruminating animals necessitates the supply of bulky
food, to keep the animal in good condition.
Feed sweet and nutritious food, therefore, regularly, frequently, and in
small quantities, and change it often, and the best results may be
confidently expected. If the cows are not in milk, but are to come in in
the spring, the difference in feeding should be rather in the quantity
than the quality, if the highest yield is to be expected from them the
coming season.
The most common feeding is hay alone, and oftentimes very poor hay, at
that. The main point is to keep the animal in a healthy and thriving
condition, and not to suffer her to fail in flesh; and with this object
some change and variety of food is highly important. And here it may be
remarked that cows in calf should not, as a general rule, be milked the
last month or six weeks before calving, and many prefer to have them run
dry as many as eight or ten weeks. The yield of milk is better the
coming season, and holds out better, than if they are milked up to the
time of calving.
There are exceptions, however, and it is often very difficult to dry off
a cow sufficiently to make it judicious to cease milking much, if any,
before the time of calving. Some even prefer to milk quite up to this
time; but the weight of authority among the best practical farmers is so
decidedly against it, that there can be no question of its bad economy.
Towards the close of winter, a herd of cows will begin to come in, or
approach their time of calving. Care should then be taken not to feed
too rich or stimulating food for the last week or two before this event,
as it is often attended with ill consequences. A plenty of hay, a few
potatoes or shorts, and pure water, will be sufficient.
As the time of calving approaches, the cow should be removed from the
rest of the herd, to a pen with a level floor, by herself. Nothing is
needed, usually, but to supply her regularly with food and drink, and
leave her quietly to herself. In most cases the parturition will be
natural and easy, and the less the cow is disturbed or meddled with, the
better. She will do better without help than with; but she should be
watched, in order to see that no difficulty occurs which may require aid
and attention. In cases of difficult parturition the aid of a skilful
veterinary surgeon may be required. For those who may desire to make
themselves familiar with the details of such cases so far as to be able
to act for themselves, Skellett’s “Practical Treatise on the Parturition
of the Cow, or the Extraction of the Calf,” an elaborate work, published
in London in 1844, will be an important guide.
In spring the best feeding for dairy cows will be much the same as that
for winter; the roots in store over winter, such as carrots, mangold
wurzel, turnips, and parsnips, furnishing very valuable aid in
increasing the quantity and improving the quality of milk. Towards the
close of this season, and before the grass of the pastures is
sufficiently grown to make it judicious to turn out the cows, the best
dairymen provide a supply of green fodder in the shape of winter rye,
which, if cut while it is tender and succulent, and before it is half
grown, will be greatly relished. Unless cut young, however, its stalk
soon becomes hard and unpalatable.
Having stated briefly the general principles of feeding cows for the
dairy, it is proper to give the statements of successful practical
dairymen, both as corroborating what has already been said, and as
showing the difference in practice in feeding and managing with
reference to the specific objects of dairy farming. And first, a farmer
of Massachusetts, supplying milk for the Boston market, and feeding for
that object, says: “For thirty cows, cut with a machine thirty bushels
for one feed; one third common English hay, one third salt hay, and one
third rye or barley straw; add thirty quarts of wheat bran or shorts,
and ten quarts of oat and corn meal moistened with water. One bushel of
this mixture is given to each cow in the morning, and the same quantity
at noon and in the evening. In addition to this, a peck of mangold
wurzel is given to each cow per day. This mode of feeding has been found
to produce nearly as much milk as the best grass feed in summer. When no
wheat-bran or any kind of meal is given, the hay is fed without
cutting.”
Another excellent farmer, of the western part of the same state,
devoting his attention to the manufacture of cheese, and the successful
competitor for the first prize of the state society for dairies, says of
his feeding: “My pastures are upland, and yield sweet feed. I fed, in
the month of June, all the whey from the milk made into cheese, without
any meal. In September, my pastures being very much dried up, I fed all
the whey, with one quart of meal to each cow, and also ten pounds of
corn fodder to each cow per day.
“I commence feeding my cows in the spring, before calving, with three
quarts of meal each per day, until the feed in the pasture is good.
“I consider the best mixture of grain, ground into meal, for milk, is
equal quantities of rye, buckwheat, and oats. For the last ten years I
have not made less than five hundred pounds of cheese and twenty pounds
of butter to each cow; and one year I made six hundred and forty pounds
of cheese and twenty pounds of butter to each cow.
“A cow will give more milk on good fresh grass than any other feed. When
the grass begins to fail, I make up the deficiency by extra feed of meal
and corn fodder. I feed all my whey to my cows. I let them run dry four
months, and during this time I give them no extra feed, always keeping
salt before them.”
Another, with one of the best butter dairies in the same state, explains
his mode of management of cows in the stall as follows: “In the
management of my stock the utmost gentleness is observed, and exact
regularity in the hours of feeding while confined to the stable, and of
milking throughout the year.
“The stock is fed regularly three times a day.
“In the morning, as soon as the milking is over, each cow (having been
previously fed, and her bag cleaned by washing, if necessary) is
thoroughly cleaned and groomed, if the expression may be used, with a
curry-comb, from head to foot, and, when cleaned, turned out to drink.
The stable is now cleaned out, the mangers swept, and the floors
sprinkled with plaster; and as the cows return, which they do as soon as
inclined, they are tied up and left undisturbed until the next hour of
feeding, which is at noon.
“The cattle at this time are again turned out to drink, and, after being
tied up on their return again, fed. Of course the stable is at this time
again thoroughly cleansed. And so again at night the same course is
pursued. At this time a good bedding is spread for each cow, and, after
all are in, they are fed.
“At six o’clock the milking commences, and at its termination, after
removing from the floor whatever manure may have been dropped, the
stable is closed for the night. If carrots are fed, which is the only
root allowed to my cows in milk, they are given at the time of the
evening milking.
“Whatever material is taken for bedding (as corn-stalks, husks, &c.) is
passed through a cutting-machine, and composes the noon feed, such
portions as are not consumed by the cows being used for bedding. The
additional labor of cutting up is amply compensated by the reduced
amount of labor in working (loading) and ploughing under the manure.
“While I consider it highly desirable that the cows, during the period
they are stabled, should be kept warm and dry, I regard it as
indispensable that they should be perfectly clean; and, although the
stock is stabled the whole time, care is taken that there is a
sufficient degree of ventilation.”
In Herkimer county, New York, one of the best dairy districts in the
country, a dairy farmer who kept twenty-five cows for the manufacture of
cheese, making in one year nearly seven hundred pounds per cow, states
his mode of feeding as follows: “When the ground is settled, and grass
is grown so that cows can get their fill without too much toil, they are
allowed to graze an hour, only, the first day; the second day a little
longer, and so on, till they get accustomed to the change of feed before
they are allowed to have full range of pasture. Shift of pasture is
frequently made to keep feed fresh and a good bite. About one acre per
cow affords plenty of feed till the first of August. If enough land was
turned to pasture to feed the cows through the season, it would get a
start of them about this time, and be hard and dry the balance of the
season. To avoid turning on my meadows in the fall, I take one acre to
every ten cows, plough and prepare it the fore part of June for sowing;
I commence sowing _corn_ broadcast, about half an acre at a time (for
twenty-five cows), so that it may grow eighty or ninety days before it
is cut and fed. I have found, by experiment, that it then contains the
most saccharine juice, and will produce the most milk. If the ground is
strong, I sow two bushels per acre; more if the ground is not manured.
“The common yield is from fifteen to twenty tons (of green feed) per
acre. About the first of August, when heat and flies are too oppressive
for cows to feed quietly in the day-time, I commence feeding them with
what corn they will eat in the morning, daily, which is cut up with a
grass-scythe, and drawn on a sled or wagon to the milk-barn and fed to
them in the stalls, which is one hour’s work for a man at each feeding.
When thus plentifully fed, my cows have their _knitting_-work on hand
for the day, which they can do up by lying quietly under artificial
shades, erected in such places as need manuring most, and are most airy,
by setting posts and putting poles and bushes on top, the sides being
left open. These shades may be made and removed annually, to enrich
other portions of soil, if desired, at the small expense of one dollar
for each ten cows. At evening, my cows are fed whey only, because they
can feed more quietly, with less rambling, and will give more milk by
feeding most when the dew is on the grass.
“The capacity of cows for giving milk is varied much by habit. In fall,
after the season of feeding is past, I feed four quarts of wheat bran or
shorts made into slop with whey, or a peck of roots to each cow, till
milking season closes (about the first of December). When confined in
stables and fed hay and milked, they are fed each one pail full of thin
slop at morning before foddering, and also at evening, to render their
food more succulent, and they will not drink so much cold water when let
out in the middle of the day. In cold weather cows are kept well
attended in warm stables. No foddering is done on the ground. Thus a
supply of milk is kept up, and the cows get in good flesh, while their
blood and bags are left in a healthy condition when dried off.
“This flesh they hold till milk season in spring, without other feed
than good hay. They will not get fleshy bags, but come into milk at
once. About the first of April they are carded daily, till they are
turned to grass. Wheat-bran in milk or whey, slops, or roots, are daily
fed, as they are found best adapted to the nature of different cows, and
most likely to establish a regular flow of milk till grass comes.”
All practical dairymen concur in saying that a _warm and well-ventilated
barn_ is indispensable to the promotion of the highest yield of milk in
winter; and most agree that cows in milk should not be turned out even
to drink in cold weather, all exposure to cold tending to lessen the
yield of milk.
In the London dairies, where, of course, the cows are fed so as to
produce the largest flow of milk, the treatment is as follows: The cows
are kept at night in stalls. About three A. M. each has half a bushel of
grains. When milking is finished, each receives a bushel of turnips (or
mangolds), and shortly afterwards one tenth of a truss of hay of the
best quality. This feeding occurs before eight A. M., when the animals
are turned into the yard. Four hours after, they are again tied up in
their stalls, and have another feed of grains. When the afternoon
milking is over (about three P. M.), they are fed with a bushel of
turnips, and after the lapse of an hour, hay is given them as before.
This mode of feeding usually continues throughout the root season, or
from November to March. During the remaining months they are fed with
grains, tares, and cabbages, and a proportion of rowen or second-cut
hay. They are supplied regularly until they are turned out to grass,
when they pass the whole of the night in the field. The yield is about
six hundred and fifty gallons a year for each cow.
Mr. Harley, whose admirable dairy establishment has been already alluded
to, as erected for the purpose of supplying the city of Glasgow with a
good quality of milk, and which contributed more than anything else to
improve the quality of milk furnished to all the cities of Great
Britain, adopted the following system of feeding with the greatest
profit: In the early part of summer, young grass and green barley, the
first cutting especially, mixed with a large proportion of old hay or
straw, and a good quantity of salt to prevent swelling, were used. As
summer advanced less hay and straw were given, and as the grass
approached ripeness they were discontinued altogether, but young and wet
clover was never given without an admixture of dry provender. When grass
became scarce, young turnips and turnip-leaves were steamed with hay,
and formed a good substitute. As grass decreased the turnips were
increased, and at length became a complete substitute. As the season
advanced a large proportion of distillers’ grains and wash was given
with other food, but these were found to be apt to make the cattle
grain-sick; and if this feeding were long continued, the health of the
cows became affected. Boiled linseed and short-cut wheat-straw mixed
with the grains were found to prevent the cows from turning sick. As
spring approached, Swedish turnips, when cheap, were substituted for
yellow turnips. These two roots, steamed with hay and other mixtures,
afforded soft food till grass was again in season. When any of the cows
were surfeited, the food was withheld till the appetite returned, when a
small quantity was given, and increased gradually to the full allowance.
But the most elaborate and valuable experiments in the feeding and
management of milch cows are those recently made by Mr. T. Horsfall, of
England, and published in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society.
His practice, though adapted, perhaps, more especially to his own
section, is nevertheless of such general application and importance as
to be worthy of attention. By his course of treatment he found that he
could produce as much and as rich butter in winter as in summer.
His first object was to afford a full supply of the elements of food
adapted to the _maintenance_ and also to the _produce_ of the animal;
and this could not be effected by the ordinary food and methods of
feeding, since it is impossible to induce a cow to consume a quantity of
hay requisite to supply the waste of the system, and keep up, at the
same time, a full yield of the best quality of milk. He used, to some
extent, cabbages, kohl rabi, mangolds, shorts, and other substances,
rich in the constituents of cheese and butter. “My food for milch cows,”
says he, “after having undergone various modifications, has for two
seasons consisted of rape-cake five pounds and bran two pounds, for each
cow, mixed with a sufficient quantity of bean-straw, oat-straw, and
shells of oats, in equal proportions, to supply them three times a day
with as much as they will eat. The whole of the materials are moistened
and blended together, and, after being well steamed, are given to the
animals in a warm state. The attendant is allowed one pound to one and a
half pounds per cow, according to circumstances, of bean-meal, which he
is charged to give to each cow in proportion to the yield of milk; those
in full milk getting two pounds each per day, others but little. It is
dry, and mixed with the steamed food on its being dealt out separately.
When this is eaten up, green food is given, consisting of cabbages from
October to December, kohl rabi till February, and mangold till grass
time. With a view to nicety of flavor, I limit the supply of green food
to thirty or thirty-five pounds per day for each. After each feed, four
pounds of meadow hay, or twelve pounds per day, is given to each cow.
They are allowed water twice a day to the extent they will drink.”
Bean-straw uncooked being found to be hard and unpalatable, it was
steamed to make it soft and pulpy, when it possessed an agreeable odor,
and imparted its flavor to the whole mess. It was cut for this purpose
just before ripening, but after the bean was fully grown, and in this
state was found to possess nearly double the amount of albuminous
matter, so valuable to milch cows, of good meadow or upland hay. Bean or
shorts is also vastly improved by steaming or soaking with hot water,
when its nutriment is more readily assimilated. It contains about
fourteen per cent. of albumen, and is rich in phosphoric acid. Rape-cake
was found to be exceedingly valuable. Linseed and cotton-seed cake may
probably be substituted for it in this country. Mr. Horsfall is
accustomed to turn his cows in May into a rich pasture, housing them at
night, and giving them a mess of the steamed mixture and some hay
morning and night; and from June to October they have cut grass in the
stall, besides what they get in the pasture, and two feeds of the
steamed mixture a day. After the beginning of October the cows are kept
housed. With such management, his cows generally yield from twelve to
sixteen quarts of milk (wine measure) a day, for about eight months
after calving, when they fall off in milk, but gain in flesh, up to
calving-time. In this course of treatment the manure is far better than
the average, and his pastures are constantly improved. The average
amount of butter from every sixteen quarts of milk is twenty-five
ounces, a proportion far larger than the average. His investigations are
very full and complete.--See Appendix.
How widely does this course of practice differ from that of most
farmers! The object with many seems to be to see with how little food
they can keep the cow alive. Now, it appears to me that the milch cow
should be regarded as an instrument of transformation. With so much hay,
so much grain, so many roots, how can the most milk, or butter, or
cheese, be made? The conduct of a manufacturer who owned good machinery,
and an abundance of raw material, and had the labor at hand, would be
considered as very absurd, if he hesitated to supply the material, and
keep the machinery at work at least so long as he could run it with
profit.
Stimulate the appetite, then, and induce the cow to eat, by a frequent
change of diet, not merely enough to supply the constant waste of her
system, but enough and to spare, of a food adapted to the production of
milk of the quality desired.
SOILING.--Of the advantages of soiling milch cows, or feeding
exclusively in the barn, there are still many conflicting opinions. As
to its economy of land and food there is no question, it being generally
admitted that a given number of animals may be abundantly fed on a less
space; nor is there much question as to the increased quantity of milk
yielded in stall feeding. Its economy in this country turns rather upon
the cost of labor and land; and the question asked by the dairyman is
whether it will pay--whether its advantages are sufficient to balance
the extra expense of cutting and feeding over and above cropping on the
pasture. The importance of this subject has been strongly impressed upon
the attention of farmers in many sections of the country, by a growing
conviction that something must be done to improve the pastures, or that
they must be abandoned altogether.
Thousands of acres of neglected pasture-land in the older states are so
poor and worn out that from four to eight acres furnish but a miserable
subsistence for a good-sized cow. No animal can flourish under such
circumstances. The labor and exertion of feeding is too great, to say
nothing of the vastly inferior quality of the grasses in such pastures
to those on more recently seeded lands. True economy would dictate that
such pastures should either be allowed to run up to wood, or be devoted
to sheep-walks, or ploughed and improved. Cows, to be able to yield
well, must have plenty of food of a sweet and nutritious quality; and
unless they find it, they wander over a large space, if at liberty, and
deprive themselves of rest.
If a farmer or dairyman is the unfortunate owner of such pastures, there
can be no question that, as a matter of real economy, he had better
resort to the soiling system for his milch cows, by which means he will
largely increase his annual supply of good manure, and thus have the
means of improving, and bringing his land to a higher state of
cultivation. A very successful instance of this management occurs in the
report of the visiting committee of an agricultural society in
Massachusetts, in which they say: “We have now in mind a farmer in this
county who keeps seven or eight cows in the stable through the summer,
and feeds them on green fodder, chiefly Indian-corn. We asked him the
reasons for it. His answer was: 1. That he gets more milk than he can by
any other method. 2. That he gets more manure, especially liquid manure.
3. That he saves it all, by keeping a supply of mould or mud under the
stable, to be taken out and renewed as often as necessary. 4. That it is
less troublesome than to drive his cows to pasture; that they are less
vexed by flies, and have equally good health. 5. That his mowing-land is
every year growing more productive, without the expense of artificial
manure. He estimates that on an acre of good land twenty tons of green
fodder may be raised. That which is dried is cut fine, and mixed with
meal or shorts, and fed with profit. He believes that a reduced and
partially worn-out farm--supposing the land to be naturally good--could
be brought into prime order in five years, without extra outlay of money
for manure, by the use of green fodder in connection with the raising
and keeping of pigs; not fattening them, but selling at the age of four
or five months.” He keeps most of his land in grass, improving its
quality and productiveness by means of top-dressing, and putting money
in his pocket,--which is, after all, the true test both for theory and
practice.
Another practical case in hand on this point is that of a gentleman in
the same state, who had four cows, but not a rod of land to pasture them
on. They were, therefore, never out of the barn,--or, at least, not out
of the yard,--and were fed with grass, regularly mown for them; with
green Indian-corn fodder, which had been sown broadcast for the purpose;
and with about three pints of meal a day. Their produce in butter was
kept for thirteen weeks. Two of them were but two years old, having
calved the same spring. All the milk of one of them was taken by her
calf six weeks out of the thirteen, and some of the milk of the other
was taken for family use, the quantity of which was not measured. These
heifers could not be estimated, therefore, as more than equal to one cow
in full milk. And yet from these cows no less than three hundred and
eighty-nine pounds of butter were made in the thirteen weeks. Another
pound would have made an average of thirty pounds a week for the whole
time.
It appears from these, and other similar instances of successful
soiling, or stall-feeding in summer on green crops cut for the purpose,
that the largely increased quantity of the yield fully counterbalances
the slightly deteriorated quality. And not only is the quantity yielded
by each cow increased, but the same extent of land, under good culture,
will carry double or treble the number of ordinary pastures, and keep
them in better condition. There is also a saving of manure. But with us
the economy of soiling is the exception, and not the rule.
In adopting this system of feeding, regularity is required as much as in
any other, and a proper variety of food. A succession of green crops
should be provided, as near as convenient to the stable. The first will
naturally be winter rye, in the Northern States, as that shoots up with
great luxuriance. Winter rape would probably be an exceedingly valuable
addition to the plants usually cultivated for soiling in this country,
in sections where it withstands the severity of the winter. Cabbages
kept in the cellar, or pit, and transplanted early, will also come in
here to advantage, and clover will very soon follow them; oats, millet,
and green Indian-corn, as the season advances; and, a little later
still, perhaps, the Chinese sugar-cane, which should not be cut till
headed out. These plants, in addition to other cultivated grasses, will
furnish an unfailing succession of succulent and tender fodder; while
the addition of a little Indian, linseed, or cotton-seed meal will be
found economical.
In the vicinity of large towns and cities, where the object is too often
to feed for the largest quantity, without reference to quality, an
article known as distillers’ swill, or still-slop, is extensively used.
This, if properly fed in limited quantities, in combination with other
and more bulky food, may be a valuable article for the dairyman; but, if
given, as it too often is, without the addition of other kinds of food,
it soon affects the health and constitution of the animals fed on it.
This swill contains a considerable quantity of water, some nitrogenous
compounds, and some inorganic matter, in the shape of phosphates and
alkaline salts found in the different kinds of grain of which it is made
up, as Indian corn, wheat, barley, rye, &c. Where this forms the
principal food of milch cows, the milk is of a very poor quality--blue
in color, and requiring the addition of coloring substances to make it
salable. It contains, often, less than one per cent. of butter, and
seldom over one and three tenths or one and a half per cent., while
good, salable milk ought to contain from three to five per cent. It will
not coagulate, it is said, in less than five or six hours, while good
milk will invariably coagulate in one hour or less, under the same
conditions. Its effect on the system of young children is therefore very
destructive, causing diseases of various kinds, and, if continued,
certain death.
MILKING.--The manner of milking exerts a more powerful and lasting
influence on the productiveness of the cow than most farmers are aware
of. That a slow and careless milker soon dries up the best of cows,
every practical farmer and dairyman knows; but a careful examination of
the beautiful structure of the udder will serve further to explain the
proper mode of milking, to obtain and keep up the largest yield. “The
udder of a cow,” says a writer in the Rural Cyclopædia, “is a unique
mass, composed of _two_ symmetrical parts, simply united to each other
by a cellular tissue, lax, and very abundant; and each of these parts
comprises two divisions or quarters, which consist of many small
granules, and are connected together by a compact laminous tissue; and
from each quarter proceed systems of ducts, which form successive unions
and confluences, somewhat in the manner of the many affluents of a large
river, until they terminate in one grand excretory canal, which passes
down through the elongated mammillary body called the teat. Its
lactiferous or milk tubes, however, do not, as might be supposed,
proceed exactly from smaller to larger ducts by a gradual and regular
enlargement, because it would not have been proper that the secretion of
milk should escape as it was formed; and therefore we find an apparatus
adapted for the purpose of retaining it for a proper time. This
apparatus is to be found both in the teat and in the internal
construction of the udder. The teat resembles a funnel in shape, and
somewhat in office; and it is possessed of a considerable degree of
elasticity. It seems formed principally of the cutis, with some muscular
fibres, and it is covered on the outside by cuticle, like every other
part of the body; but the cuticle here not only covers the exterior, but
also turns upwards, and lines the inside of the extremity of the teat,
as far as it is contracted, and there terminates by a frilled edge, the
rest of the interior of the teats and ducts being lined by mucous
membrane. But, as the udder in most animals is attached in a pendulous
manner to the body, and as the weight of the column of fluid would press
with a force which would, in every case, overcome the resistance of the
contractions of the extremity, or prove oppressive to the teat, there is
in the internal arrangement of the udder a provision made to obviate
this difficulty. The various ducts, as they are united, do not become
gradually enlarged so as to admit the ready flow of milk in a continual
stream to the teat, but are so arranged as to take off, in a great
measure, the extreme pressure to which the teat would be otherwise
exposed. Each main duct, as it enters into another, has a contraction
produced, by which a kind of valvular apparatus is formed in such a
manner as to become pouches or sacks, capable of containing the great
body of the milk. In consequence of this arrangement, it is necessary
that a kind of movement upwards, or lift, should be given to the udder
before the teat is drawn, to force out the milk; and by this lift the
milk is displaced from these pouches, and escapes into the teat, and is
then easily squeezed out; while the contractions, or pouches, at the
same time resist, in a certain degree, the return or reflux of the
displaced milk.”
The first requisite of a good milker is, of course, the utmost
cleanliness. Without this, the milk is unendurable. The udder should,
therefore, be carefully cleaned before the milking commences. The milker
may begin gradually and gently, but should steadily increase the
rapidity of the operation till the udder is emptied, using a pail
sufficiently large to hold all, without the necessity of changing. Cows
are very sensitive, and the pail cannot be changed, nor can the milker
stop or rise during the process of milking, without leading the cow more
or less to withhold her milk. The utmost care should be taken to strip
to the last drop, and to do it rapidly, and not in a slow and negligent
manner, which is sure to have its effect on the yield of the cow. If any
milk is left, it is reabsorbed into the system, or else becomes caked,
and diminishes the tendency to secrete a full quantity afterwards.
Milking as dry as possible is especially necessary with young cows with
their first calf, as the mode of milking, and the length of time to
which they can be made to hold out, will have very much to do with their
milking qualities as long as they live.
At the age of two or three years the milky glands have not become fully
developed, and their largest development will depend very greatly upon
the management after the first calf. Cows should have, therefore, the
most milk-producing food; be treated with constant gentleness; never
struck, or spoken harshly to, but coaxed and caressed; and in
ninety-nine cases out of a hundred they will grow up gentle and quiet.
But harshness is worse than useless. Nothing does so much to dry a cow
up, especially a young cow.
The longer the young cow, with her first, and second calf, can be made
to hold out, the more surely will this habit be fixed upon her. Stop
milking her four months before the next calf, and it will be difficult
to make her hold out to within four or six weeks of the time of calving
afterwards. Induce her, if possible, by moist and succulent food, and by
careful milking, to hold out even up to the time of calving, if you
desire to milk her so long, and this habit will be likely to be fixed
upon her for life. But do not expect to obtain the full yield of a cow
the first year after calving. Some of the very best cows are slow to
develop their best qualities; and no cow reaches her prime till the age
of five or six years.
The extreme importance of care and attention to these points cannot be
over-estimated. The wild cows grazing on the plains of South America are
said to give only about three or four quarts a day at the height of the
flow; and many an owner of large herds in Texas, it is said, has too
little milk for family use, and sometimes receives his supply of butter
from the New York market. There is, therefore, a constant tendency to
dry up in milch cows; and it must be guarded against with special care,
till the habit of yielding a large quantity, and yielding it long,
becomes fixed in the young animal, when, with proper care, it may easily
be kept up.
If gentle and mild treatment is observed and persevered in, the
operation of milking appears to be one of pleasure to the animal, as it
undoubtedly is; but if an opposite course is pursued,--if, at every
restless movement, caused, perhaps, by pressing a sore teat, the animal
is harshly spoken to,--she will be likely to learn to kick as a habit,
and it will be difficult to overcome it ever afterwards. To induce quiet
and readiness to give down the milk freely, it is better that the cow
should be fed at milking-time with cut feed, or roots, placed within her
easy reach.
I have never practised milking more than twice a day, because in spring
and summer other farm-work was too pressing to allow of it; but there is
no doubt that, for some weeks after calving, and in the height, of the
flow, the cows ought, if possible, to be milked regularly three times a
day--at early morning, noon, and night. Every practical dairyman knows
that cows thus milked give a larger quantity of milk than if milked only
twice, though it may not be quite so rich; and in young cows, no doubt,
it has a tendency to promote the development of the udder and
milk-veins. A frequent milking stimulates an increased secretion,
therefore, and ought never to be neglected in the milk-dairy, either in
the case of young cows or very large milkers, at the height of the flow,
which will ordinarily be for two or three months after calving.
The charge of this branch of the dairy should generally be intrusted to
women. They are more gentle and winning than men. The same person should
milk the same cow regularly, and not change from one to another, unless
there are special reasons for it.
There being a wide difference in the quality as well as in the quantity
of milk of different cows, no dairyman should neglect to test the milk
of each new addition to his dairy stock, whether it be an animal of his
own raising or one brought from abroad. A lactometer is a very
convenient instrument here; but any one can set the milk of each cow
separately at first, and give it a fair and full trial, when the
difference will be found to be great. Economy will dictate that the cows
least adapted to the purpose should be disposed of, and their place
supplied by better ones.
THE BARN.--The management of dairy stock requires a warm and
well-ventilated barn or cow-room, in latitudes where it becomes
necessary to stall-feed during several months of the year. This should
be arranged in a manner suitable to keeping hay and other fodder dry and
sweet, and with reference to the comfort and health of animals, and the
economy of labor and manure. The size and finish will, of course, depend
on the wants and means of the farmer or dairyman; but many little
conveniences can be added at trifling cost.
The cow-room, Fig. 56a, is given as an illustration merely of a
convenient arrangement for a medium-sized dairy, and not as adapted to
all circumstances or situations. The barn stands, we will suppose, upon
a side hill, or an inclined surface, where it is easy to have a cellar,
if it is desired; and the cow-room, as shown in the figure, is in the
second story, or directly over the cellar, the bottom of which should be
somewhat dished, or lower in the middle than around the outer sides, and
carefully paved or laid in cement.
[Illustration: Fig. 56a. Cow-room for 34 cows and 3 yoke of oxen.]
The cow-room, as shown in the figure, is drawn on a scale of twenty feet
to the inch. On the outside is represented an open shed, _m_, for carts
and wagons to remain under cover, thirty feet by fifteen, while _l l l l
l l_ are bins for vegetables, to be filled through scuttles from the
floor of the story above, and surrounded by solid walls. The area of
this whole floor equals one hundred feet by fifty-seven. _k_, open
space, and nearly on a level with the cow-chamber, through the door _p_.
_s_, stairs to third story and to the cellar. _d d d_, passage next to
the walls, five feet wide, and nine inches above the dung-pit. _e e e_,
dung-pit, two feet wide, and seven inches below the floor where the
cattle stand. The manure drops from this pit into the cellar below, five
feet from the walls, and quite round the cellar. _c c c_, plank floor
for cows, four feet six inches long. _b b b_, stalls for three yoke of
oxen, on a platform five feet six inches long. _n n_, calf-pens, which
may be used also for cows in calving. _r r_, feeding-troughs for calves.
The feeding-boxes are made in the form of trays, with partitions between
them. Water comes in by a pipe, to cistern _a_. This cistern is
regulated by a cock and ball, and the water flows by dotted lines, _o o
o_, to the boxes, and each box is connected by lead pipes well secured
from frost, so that, if desired, each animal can be watered without
leaving the stall, or water can be kept constantly before it. A scuttle
by which sweepings, etc., may be put through into the cellar, is seen
at _f_. _g_ is a bin receiving cut hay from third story, or hay-room. _h
h h h h h_, bins for grain-feed. _i_ is a tunnel to conduct manure or
muck from the hay-floor to the cellar. _j j_, sliding doors on wheels.
The cows all face towards the open area in the centre.
This cow-room may be furnished with a thermometer, clock, etc., and
should always be well ventilated by sliding windows, which at the same
time admit the light.
[Illustration: Fig. 57a.]
Fig. 57a is a transverse section of the cow-room, Fig. 56a, _a_ being a
walk behind the cows, five feet wide; _b_, dung-pit; _c_, cattle-stand;
_d_, feeding-trough, with a bottom on a level with the platform where
the cattle stand; _k_, open area, forty-three feet by fifty-six.
The story above the cow-room, Fig. 58a, is one hundred feet by
forty-two, the bays for hay, ten on each side, being ten feet front and
fifteen feet deep, and the open space, _p_, for the entrance of wagons,
carts, etc., twelve feet wide. _b_, hay-scales. _c_, scale-beam. _m m m
m m m_, ladders reaching almost to the roof. _l l l_, &c., scuttle-holes
for sending vegetables direct to the bins, _l l l_, etc., below. _a a b
b_, rooms on the corners for storage. _d_, scuttles, four of which are
used for straw, one for cut hay, and one for muck for the cellar. _n_
and the other small squares are eighteen-feet posts. _f_, passage to the
tool-house, a room one hundred feet long by fifteen wide. _o_, stairs
leading to the scaffold in the roof of the tool-house. _i i_, benches.
_g_, floor. _h_, boxes for hoes, shovels, spades, picks, iron bars, old
iron, etc. _j j j_, bins for fruit. _k_, scuttles to put apples into
wagons, etc., in the shed below. One side of this tool-house may be used
for ploughs and large implements, hay-rigging, harrows, etc.
[Illustration: Fig. 58a. Room over the cow-room for hay, &c.]
Proper ventilation of the cellar and the cow-room avoids the objection
that the hay is liable to injury from noxious gases.
The excellent manure-cellar beneath this barn extends only under the
cow-room. It has a drive-way through doors on each side. No barn-cellar
should be kept shut up tight, even in cold weather. The gases are
constantly escaping from the manure, unless held by absorbents, and are
liable not only to affect the health of the stock, but to injure the
quality of the hay. To prevent this, and yet secure the important
advantages of a manure-cellar, the barn may be furnished with good-sized
ventilators on the top, for every twenty-five feet of its length, and
with wooden tubes leading from the cellar to the top.
There should also be windows on different sides of the cellar, to admit
a free circulation of air. With these precautions, together with the use
of absorbents in the shape of loam and muck, there will be no danger of
rotting the timbers of the barn, or of risking the health of the cattle
or the quality of the hay.
The temperature at which the cow-room should be kept is somewhere from
50° to 60°, Fahr. The practice and the opinions of successful dairymen
differ on this point. Too great heat would affect the health and
appetite of the herd, while too low a temperature is equally
objectionable, for various reasons.
CHAPTER V.
THE RAISING OF CALVES.
It has been found in practice that calves properly bred and raised on
the farm have a far greater intrinsic value for that farm, other things
being equal, than any that can be procured elsewhere, while on the
manner in which they are raised will depend much of their future
usefulness and profit. These considerations should have their proper
weight in the decision as to whether a promising calf from a good cow
and bull shall be kept or sold to the butcher. But, rather than raise a
calf at hap-hazard, and simply because its dam was celebrated as a
milker, the judicious farmer will judge of the peculiar characteristics
of the animal itself. This will often save a great and useless outlay
which has sometimes been incurred in raising calves for dairy purposes,
that a more careful examination would have rejected as unpromising.
The method of judging stock developed in a former chapter is of
practical use here, and it is safer to rely upon it, to some extent,
particularly when other appearances concur, than to go on blindly. The
milk-mirror on the calf is small, but no smaller in proportion to its
size than that of the cow; while its shape and form can generally be
distinctly seen, particularly at the end of ten or twelve weeks. The
development of the udder, and other peculiarities, will give some
indication of the future capacities of the animal, and these should be
studied.
If we except the manure of young stock, the calf is the first product of
the cow, and as such demands our attention, whether it is to be raised
or hurried off to the shambles. The practice adopted in raising calves
differs widely in different sections of the country, being governed very
much by local circumstances, as the vicinity of a milk-market, the value
of milk for the dairy, the object of breeding, whether mainly for beef,
for work, or for the dairy, etc.; but, in general, it may be said that
within the range of thirty or forty miles of good veal-markets, which
large towns furnish, comparatively few are raised at all. Most of them
are fatted and sold at ages varying from three to eight or ten weeks;
and in milk-dairies still nearer large towns and cities they are often
hurried off at one or two days, or, at most, a week old. In both of
these cases, as long as the calf is kept it is generally allowed to
suckle the cow, and, as the treatment is very simple, there is nothing
which particularly calls for remark, unless it be to condemn the
practice entirely, on the ground that there is a more profitable way
even for fattening calves for the butcher, and to say that allowing the
calf to suck the cow at all is objectionable on the score of economy,
except in cases where it is rendered necessary by the hard and swollen
condition of the udder.
If the calf is so soon to be taken away, I should prefer not to suffer
the cow to become attached to it at all, since she is apt to withhold
her milk when it is removed, and a loss is sustained. The farmer will be
governed by the question of profit, whatever course it is proposed to
adopt. In raising blood stock, however, or in raising beef cattle,
without any regard to economy of milk, the system of suckling the
calves, or letting them run with the cow, may and will be adopted,
since it is usually attended with somewhat less labor.
The other course, which is regarded as the best where the calf is to be
raised for the dairy, is to bring it up by hand. This is done almost
universally in all countries where the raising of dairy cows is best
understood,--in Switzerland, Holland, some parts of Germany, and
England. It requires rather more care, on the whole; but it is decidedly
preferable, since the calves cost less, as the food can be easily
modified, and the growth is not checked, as it is apt to be when the
calf is finally taken off from the cow. I speak, of course, of sections
where the milk of the cow is of some account for the dairy, and where it
is too valuable to be devoted entirely to nourishing the calf. In this
case, as soon as the calf is dropped the cow is allowed to lick off the
slimy moisture till it is dry, which she will usually do from instinct,
or, if not, a slight sprinkling of salt over the body of the calf will
immediately tempt her. The calf is left to suck once or twice, which it
will do as soon as it is able to stand. It should, in all cases, be
permitted to have the first milk that comes from the cow, which is of a
turbid, yellowish color, unfit for any of the purposes of the dairy, but
somewhat purgative or medicinal, and admirably and wisely designed by
nature to free the bowels and intestines of the new-born animal from the
mucous, excrementitious matter always existing in them after birth. Too
much of this new milk may, however, be hurtful even to the new-born
calf, while it should never be given at all to older calves. The best
course, it seems to me,--and I speak from considerable experience, and
much observation and inquiry of others,--is to milk the cow dry
immediately after the calf has sucked once, especially if the udder is
painfully distended, which is often the case, and to leave the calf with
the cow during one day, and after that to feed it by putting the
fingers into its mouth, and gently bringing its muzzle down to the milk
in a pail or trough, when it will imbibe in sucking the fingers. I have
never found much difficulty in teaching the calf to drink when taken so
young, though some take to it much more readily than others. What the
calf does not need should be given to the cow. Some, however, prefer to
milk immediately after calving; and if the udder is overloaded this may
be the best course, though the better practice seems to be to leave the
cow as quietly to herself as possible for a few hours. The less she is
disturbed, as a general thing, the better. The after-birth should be
taken from her immediately after it is dropped. It is customary to give
the cow, as soon as convenient, after calving, some warm and stimulating
drink,--a little meal stirred into warm water, with a part of the first
milk that comes from her, seasoned with a little salt.
In many cases the calf is taken from the cow immediately, and before she
has seen it, to a warm, dry pen out of her sight, and there rubbed till
thoroughly dry; and then, when able to stand, fed with the new milk from
the cow, which it should have three or four times a day, regularly, for
the first fortnight, whatever course it is proposed to adopt afterwards.
It is of the greatest importance to give the young calf a thrifty start.
The milk, unless coming directly from the cow, should be warmed.
Some object to removing the calf from the cow in this way, on the ground
of its apparent cruelty. But the objection to letting the calf suckle
the cow for several days, as they do, or indeed of leaving it with the
cow for any length of time, is, that she invariably becomes attached to
it, and frets and withholds her milk when it is at last taken from her.
She probably suffers a great deal more, after this attachment is once
formed, at the removal of the object of it, than she does at its being
taken at once out of her sight. The cow’s memory is far greater than
many suppose; and the loss and injury sustained by removing the calf
after it has been allowed to suck her for a longer or shorter period is
never known exactly, because it is not usually known how much milk the
calf takes; but it is, without doubt, very considerable. If the udder is
all right, there seems to be no good reason for leaving the calf with
the cow two or three days, if it is then to be taken away.
The practice in Holland is to remove the calf from the mother even
before it has been licked, and to take it into one corner of the barn,
or into another building, out of the cow’s sight and hearing, put it
upon soft dry straw, and rub it dry with some hay or straw, when its
tongue and gums are slightly rubbed with salt, and the mucus and saliva
removed from the nostrils and lips. After this has been done, the calf
is made to drink the milk first taken as it comes from the mother. It is
slightly diluted with water, if taken last from the udder; but, if the
first of the milking, it is given just as it is. The calf is taught to
drink in the same manner as in this country, by putting the fingers in
its mouth and bringing it down to the milk, and it soon gets so as to
drink alone. It is fed at first from four to six times a day, or even
oftener; but soon only three times, at regular intervals. Its food for
two or three weeks is clear milk, as it comes warm and fresh from the
cow. This is never omitted, as the milk during the most of that time
possesses certain qualities which are necessary to the calf, and which
cannot be effectually supplied by any other food. In the third or fourth
week the milk is skimmed, but warmed to the degree of fresh milk;
though, as the calf grows a little older, the milk is given cold, while
less care is taken to give it the milk of its own mother, that of other
cows now answering equally well. In some places calves are fed on
butter-milk at the age of two weeks and after; but the change from new
milk, fresh from the cow, is made gradually, some sweet skim-milk and
warm water being at first added to it.
At three weeks old, or thereabouts, the calf will begin to eat a little
sweet, fine hay, and potatoes cut fine, and it very soon becomes
accustomed to this food. Many now begin to give linseed-meal mixed into
hot water, to which is added some skim-milk or butter-milk; and others
use a little bran cooked in hay-tea, made by chopping the hay fine, and
pouring on boiling hot water, which is allowed to stand a while on it.
An egg is frequently broken into such a mixture. Others still at this
age take pains to have fresh linseed-cake, broken into pieces of the
size of a pigeon’s-egg; putting one of these into the mouth after the
meal of milk has been finished, and when it is eager to suck at anything
in its way. It will very soon learn to eat linseed-meal. A little sweet
clover is put in its way at about the age of three weeks, and it will
soon eat that also.
In this manner the feeding is continued from the fourth to the seventh
week, the quantity of solid food being gradually increased. In the sixth
or seventh week the milk is by degrees withheld, and water or
butter-milk used instead; and soon after this, green food may be safely
given, increasing it gradually with the hay to the age of ten or twelve
weeks, when it will do to put them upon grass alone, if the season is
favorable for it. A lot as near the house as possible, where they can be
easily looked after and frequently visited, is best. Calves should be
gradually accustomed to all changes; and even after being turned to
pasture they ought to be taken in if the weather is not dry and warm.
The want of care and attention to these little details will be apparent
sooner or later; while, if the farmer give his own time to these
matters, he will be fully paid in the rapid growth of his calves. It is
especially necessary to see that the troughs from which they are fed, if
troughs are used, are kept clean and sweet.
But there are some even among intelligent farmers who make a practice of
turning their calves out to pasture at the tender age of two and three
weeks, and that, too, when they have sucked the cow up to that time, and
allow them nothing in the shape of milk or tender care. I cannot but
think that this is the poorest possible economy, to say nothing of the
cruelty of such treatment. The growth of the calf is checked, and the
system receives a shock from so sudden a change, from which it cannot
soon recover. The careful Dutch breeders bring the calves either skimmed
milk or butter-milk to drink several times a day after they are turned
to grass, which is not till the age of ten or twelve weeks; and, if the
weather is chilly, the milk is warmed for them. They put a trough
generally under a covering, where the calves may come and drink at
regular times. Thus they are kept tame and docile.
In the raising of calves, through all stages of their growth, great care
should be taken neither to starve nor to over-feed. A calf should never
be surfeited, and never be fed so highly that it cannot be fed more
highly as it advances. The most important point is to keep it growing
thriftily without getting too fat, if it is to be raised for the dairy.
Mr. Aiton, in describing the mode of rearing calves in the dairy
districts of Scotland, says: “They are fed on milk, with seldom any
admixture; and they are not permitted to suckle their dams, but are
taught to drink milk by the hand from a dish. They are generally fed on
milk only for the first four, five, or six weeks, and are then allowed
from two to two and a half quarts of new milk each meal, twice in the
twenty-four hours. Some never give them any other food when young except
milk, lessening the quantity when the calf begins to eat grass or other
food, which it generally does when about five weeks old, if grass can be
had; and withdrawing it entirely about the seventh or eighth week of the
calf’s age. But, if the calf is reared in winter, or early in spring,
before the grass rises, it must be supplied with at least some milk till
it is eight or nine weeks old; as a calf will not so soon learn to eat
hay or straw, nor fare so well on them alone as it will do on pasture.
Some feed their calves reared for stock partly with meal mixed in the
milk after the third or fourth week. Others introduce gradually some new
whey among the milk, first mixed with meal; and, when the calf gets
older, they withdraw the milk, and feed it on whey and porridge.
Hay-tea, juices of peas and beans, or pea or bean straw, linseed beaten
into powder, treacle, &c., have all been sometimes used to advantage in
feeding calves; but milk, when it can be spared, is by far their most
natural food.
“In Galloway, and other pastoral districts, where the calves are allowed
to suckle, the people are so much wedded to their own customs as to
argue that suckling is much more nutritive to the calves than any other
mode of feeding. That suckling induces a greater secretion of saliva,
which, by promoting digestion, accelerates the growth and fattening of
the young animal, cannot be doubted; but the secretion of that fluid may
likewise be promoted by placing an artificial teat in the mouth of the
calf; and giving it the milk slowly, and at the natural temperature. In
the dairy districts of Scotland, the dairy-maid puts one of her fingers
into the mouth of the calf, when it is fed, which serves the purpose of
a teat, and will have nearly the same effect as the natural teat, in
inducing the secretion of saliva. If that, or an artificial teat of
leather, be used, and the milk given slowly before it is cold, the
secretion of saliva may be promoted to all the extent that can be
necessary; besides, that secretion is not confined to the mere period of
eating, but, as in the human body, the saliva is formed and part of it
swallowed at all times. As part of the saliva is sometimes seen dropping
from the mouths of the calves, it might be advisable to give them not
only an artificial teat, when fed, but to place, as is frequently done,
a lump of chalk before them to lick, thus leading them to swallow the
saliva. The chalk would so far supply the want of salt, of which cattle
are so improperly deprived, and it would also promote the formation of
saliva. Indeed, calves are much disposed to lick and suckle everything
that comes within their reach, which seems to be the way that nature
teaches them to supply their stomachs with saliva.
“But, though suckling their dams may be most advantageous in that
respect, yet it has also some disadvantages. The cow is always more
injured than the calf is benefited, by that mode of feeding. She becomes
so fond of the calf that she does not, for a long time after, yield her
milk freely to the dairy-maid. The calf does not when young draw off the
milk completely, and when it is taken off by the hand the cow withholds
part of her milk; and, whenever a cow’s udder is not completely emptied
every time she is milked, the lactic secretion is thereby diminished.
“Feeding of calves by the hand is in various other respects
advantageous. Instead of depending on the uncertain or perhaps
precarious supply of the dam, which may be more at first than the young
animal can consume or digest, and at other times too little for its
supply, its food can, by hand-feeding, be regulated to suit the age,
appetite, and purposes for which the calf is intended; other admixtures
or substitutes can be introduced into the milk, and the quantity
gradually increased or withdrawn at pleasure. This is highly necessary
when the calves are reared for stock. The milk is in that case
diminished, and other food introduced so gradually that the stomach of
the young animal is not injured as it is when the food is too suddenly
changed. And, in the case of feeding of calves for the butcher, the
quantity of milk is not limited to that of the dam (for no cow will
allow a stranger calf to suckle her), but it can be increased, or the
richest or poorest parts of the milk given, at pleasure.”
In these districts, where, probably, the feeding and management of
calves is as well and judiciously conducted as in any other part of
Britain, the farmers’ wives and daughters, or female domestics, have the
principal charge of young calves; and they are, no doubt, much better
calculated for this duty than men, since they are more inclined to be
gentle and patient. The utmost gentleness should always be observed in
the treatment of all stock; but especially of milch cows, and calves
designed for the dairy. Persevering kindness and patience will, almost
invariably, overcome the most obstinate natures; while rough and
ungentle handling will be repaid in a quiet kind of way, perhaps, by
withholding the milk, which will always have a tendency to dry a cow up;
or, what is nearly as bad, by kicking, and other modes of revenge, which
often contribute to the personal discomfort of the milker. The
disposition of the cow is greatly modified, if not, indeed, wholly
formed, by her treatment while young; and therefore it is best to handle
calves as much as possible, and make pets of them, lead them with a
halter, and caress them in various ways. Calves managed in this way will
always be docile, and suffer themselves to be approached and handled
both in the pasture and the barn.
With respect to the use of hay-tea, often used in this country, but more
common abroad, where greater care and attention is usually given to the
details of breeding, Youatt says: “At the end of three or four days, _or
perhaps a week, or even a fortnight_, after a calf has been dropped, and
the first passages have been cleansed _by allowing it to drink as much
of the cow’s milk as it feels inclined for_, let the quantity usually
allotted for a meal be mixed, consisting, for _the first week_, of three
parts milk and one part hay-tea. _The only nourishing infusion of hay is
that which is made from the best and sweetest hay, cut by a chaff-cutter
into pieces about two inches long_, and put into an earthen vessel; over
this boiling water should be poured, and the whole allowed to stand for
two hours, during which time it ought to be kept carefully closed. After
the first week, the proportions of milk and hay-tea may be equal; then
composed of two thirds of hay-tea and one of milk; and at length one
fourth part of milk will be sufficient. This food should be given to the
calf in a lukewarm state _at least three, if not four times a day, in
quantities averaging three quarts at each meal_, but gradually
increasing to four quarts _as the calf grows older_. _Towards the end of
the second month_, beside the usual quantity given at each meal
(composed of three parts of the infusion and one of milk), a small wisp
or bundle of hay is to be laid before the calf, which will gradually
come to eat it; but, if the weather is favorable, as in the month of
May, the beast may be turned out to graze in a fine, sweet pasture, well
sheltered from the wind and sun. This diet may be continued until
towards the latter end of the third month, when, if the calf grazes
heartily, each meal may be reduced to less than a quart of milk, with
hay-water; or skimmed milk or fresh butter-milk may be substituted for
new milk. At the expiration of the third month the animal will hardly
require to be fed by hand, though, if this should still be necessary,
one quart of the infusion given daily, and which during the summer need
not be warmed, will be sufficient.” The hay-tea should be made fresh
every two days, as it soon loses its nutritious quality.
This and other preparations are given not because they are better than
milk, than which nothing is better adapted to fatten a calf, or promote
its growth, but simply to economize by providing the most suitable and
cheaper substitutes. Experience shows that the first two or three calves
are smaller than those that follow; and hence, unless they are
pure-bred, and to be kept for the blood, they are not generally thought
to be so desirable to raise for the dairy as the third or fourth, and
those that come after, up to the age of nine or ten years. On this point
opinions differ.
According to the comparative experiments of a German agriculturist, cows
which as calves had been allowed to suckle their dams from two to four
weeks brought calves which weighed only from thirty-five to forty-eight
pounds; while others, which, as calves, had been allowed to suckle from
five to eight weeks, brought calves weighing from sixty to eighty
pounds. It is difficult to see how there can be so great a difference,
if, indeed, there is any; but it may be worthy of careful observation
and experiment, and as such it is stated in this connection. The
increased size of the calf would be due to the larger size to which the
cow would attain; and if as a calf she were allowed to run with her dam
in the pasture four or five months, taking all the milk she wanted, she
would doubtless be kept growing on in a thriving condition. But taking a
calf from the cow at four or even eight weeks must check its growth to
some extent, and this may be avoided by feeding liberally, and bringing
up by hand.
After the calf is fully weaned, there is nothing very peculiar in the
general management. A young animal will require for the first few
months--say up to the age of six months--an average of five or six
pounds daily of good hay, or its equivalent. At the age of six months it
will require from four and a half to five pounds, and at the end of the
year from three and a half to four pounds of good hay, or its
equivalent, for every one hundred pounds of its live weight; or, in
other words, about three and a half or four per cent. of its live
weight. At two years old it will require three and a half, and some
months later three per cent. of its live weight daily in good hay or its
equivalent. Indian-corn fodder, either green or cured, forms an
excellent and wholesome food at this age.
The heifer should not be pampered, nor yet poorly fed or half starved,
so as to receive a check in her growth. An abundant supply of good
healthy dairy food and drink will do all that is necessary up to the
time of having her first calf, which should not ordinarily be till the
age of three years, though some choose to allow them to come in at two
or a little over, on the ground that it early stimulates the secretion
of milk, and that this will increase the milking propensity through
life. This is undoubtedly the case, as a general rule; but I think
greater injury is done by checking the growth, unless the heifer has
been fed up to large size and full development from the start, in which
case she may perhaps take the bull at fifteen or eighteen months without
injury. I have had several come in as early as two years, and one at
less than twenty months. This last was not by design, however, and I
would rather have given a considerable sum than had it happen, as she
was an exceedingly beautiful pure-bred Jersey, and I was desirous to
have her attain to good size and growth. Even if a heifer comes in at
two years, it is generally thought desirable to let her run farrow for
the following year, which will promote her growth and more perfect
development.
The feeding which young stock often get is not such as is calculated to
make good-sized or valuable cattle of them. They are often fed on the
poorest of hay or straw through the winter, not unfrequently left
exposed to cold, unprotected and unhoused, and thus stinted in their
growth. This seems to me to be the very worst economy, or rather no
economy at all. Properly viewed, it is an extravagant wastefulness which
no farmer can afford. No animal develops its good points under such
treatment; and if the starving system is to be followed at all, it had
better be after the age of two or three years, when the animal’s
constitution has attained strength and vigor to resist ill treatment.
To raise up first-rate milkers, it is absolutely necessary to feed on
dairy food even while young. No matter how fine the breed is, if the
calf is raised on poor, short feed, it will never be so good a milker as
if raised on better keeping; and hence, in dairy districts, where calves
are raised at all, they ought to be allowed the best pasture during the
summer, and good sweet and wholesome food during the winter.
CHAPTER VI.
CULTURE OF GRASSES AND OTHER PLANTS RECOMMENDED FOR FODDER.
As already stated, the grasses in summer, and hay in winter, form the
most natural and important food for milch cows; and whatever other crops
come in as additional, these will form the basis of all systems of
feeding.
The nutritive qualities of the grasses differ widely; and their value as
feed for cows will depend, to a considerable extent, on the management
of pastures and mowing-lands.
If the turf of an old pasture is carefully examined, it will be found to
contain a large variety of grasses and plants adapted for forage; some
of them valuable for one purpose, and some for another. Some of them,
though possessing a lower percentage of nutritive constituents than
others, are particularly esteemed for an early and luxuriant growth,
furnishing a sweet feed in early spring, before other grasses appear;
some of them, for starting more rapidly than others, after being eaten
off by cattle, and consequently of great value as pasture grasses. Most
grasses will be found to be of a social character, and to do best in a
large mixture with other varieties.
In forming a mixture for pasture grasses, the peculiarities of each
species should, therefore, be regarded: as the time of flowering, the
habits of growth, the soil and location on which it grows best, and
other characteristics. Among the grasses found on cultivated lands, in
this country, the following are considered as among the most valuable
for ordinary farm cultivation; some of them adapted to pastures, and
others almost exclusively to mowing and the hay crop: Timothy (_Phleum
pratense_). Meadow Foxtail (_Alopecurus pratensis_). June, or Kentucky
Blue Grass (_Poa pratensis_). Fowl meadow (_Poa serotina_).
Rough-stalked Meadow (_Poa trivialis_). Orchard Grass (_Dactylis
glomerata_). Perennial Rye Grass (_Lolium perenne_). Italian Rye Grass
(_Lolium italicum_). Redtop (_Agrostis vulgaris_). English Bent
(_Agrostis alba_). Meadow Fescue (_Festuca pratensis_). Tall Oat Grass
(_Arrhenatherum avenaceum_). Sweet-scented Vernal (_Anthoxanthemum
odoratum_). Hungarian Grass (_Panicum Germanicum_). Red Clover
(_Trifolium pratense_). White or Dutch Clover (_Trifolium repens_), and
some others.
Of these, the most valuable, all things considered, is the first, or
Timothy (Fig. 56b). It forms a large proportion of what is commonly
called English, or in some sections meadow hay, though it originated and
was first cultivated in this country. It contains a large percentage of
nutritive matter, in comparison with other agricultural grasses. It
thrives best on moist, peaty, or loamy soils, of medium tenacity, and is
not well suited to very light, sandy lands. On very moist soils its root
is almost always fibrous; while on dry and loamy ones it is bulbous. On
soils of the former description, which it especially affects, its growth
is rapid, and its yield of hay large, sometimes amounting to three and
four tons to the acre, depending much, of course, on cultivation. But,
though very valuable for hay, it is not adapted to pastures, as it will
neither endure severe grazing, nor is its aftermath to be compared with
meadow foxtail, and some of the other grasses.
[Illustration: Fig. 56b. Timothy grass.]
[Illustration: Fig. 57b. June grass.]
JUNE GRASS (Fig. 57b), better known in some sections as Kentucky Blue
grass, is very common in most sections of the country, especially on
limestone lands, forming a large part of the turf, wherever it
flourishes, and being universally esteemed as a pasture grass. It starts
early, but varies much in size and appearance, according to the soil;
growing in some places with the utmost luxuriance, and forming the
predominant grass; in others, yielding to the other species. If cut at
the time of flowering, or a few days after, it makes a good and
nutritive hay, though it is surpassed in nutritive qualities by several
of the other grasses. It starts slowly after being cut, especially if
not cut very early. But its herbage is fine and uniform, and admirably
adapted to lawns, growing well in almost all soils, though it does not
endure very severe droughts. It withstands, however, the frosts of
winter better than most other grasses.
In Kentucky, a section where it attains its highest perfection and
luxuriance, ripening its seed about the 10th of June, and in latitudes
south of that, it sometimes continues green through the mild winters. It
requires three or four years to become well set, after sowing, and it
does not attain its highest yield as a pasture grass till the sod is
even older than that. It is not, therefore, suited to alternate
husbandry, where land usually remains in grass but two or three years
before being ploughed up. In Kentucky it is sown any time in winter when
the snow is on the ground three or four quarts of seed being used to the
acre. In spring the seeds germinate, when the sprouts are exceedingly
fine and delicate. Stock is not allowed on it the first year.
[Illustration: Fig. 58b. Meadow Foxtail.]
[Illustration: Fig. 59. Orchard grass.]
The MEADOW FOXTAIL (Fig. 58b) is also an excellent pasture grass. It
somewhat resembles Timothy, but is earlier, has a softer spike, and
thrives on all soils except the dryest. Its growth is rapid, and it is
greatly relished by stock of all kinds. Its stalk and leaves are too few
and light for a field crop, and it shrinks too much in curing to be
valuable for hay. It flourishes best in a rich, moist, and rather strong
soil, sending up a luxuriant aftermath when cut or grazed off, which is
much more valuable, both in quantity and nutritive value, than the first
crop. In all lands designed for permanent pasture, therefore, it should
form a considerable part of a mixture. It will endure almost any amount
of forcing, by liquid manures, or irrigation. It requires three or four
years, after sowing, to gain a firm footing in the soil. The seed is
covered with the soft and woolly husks of the flower, and is
consequently light; weighing but five pounds to the bushel, and
containing seventy-six thousand seeds to the ounce.
The ORCHARD GRASS, or ROUGH COCKSFOOT (Fig. 59), for pastures, stands
preëminent. This is a native of this country, and was introduced into
England, from Virginia, in 1764, since which time its cultivation has
extended into every country of Europe, where it is universally held in
very high estimation. The fact of its being very palatable to stock of
all kinds, its rapidity of growth, and the luxuriance of its aftermath,
with its power of enduring the cropping of cattle, have given it a very
high reputation, especially as a pasture grass. It blossoms earlier than
Timothy; when green is equally relished by milch cows; requires to be
fed closer, to prevent its forming tufts and growing up to seed, when it
becomes hard and wiry, and loses much of its nutritive quality. As it
blossoms about the same time, it forms an admirable mixture with red
clover, either for permanent pasture or mowing. It resists drought, and
is less exhausting to the soil than either rye grass or Timothy. The
seed weighs twelve pounds to the bushel, and when sown alone requires
about two bushels to the acre.
[Illustration: Fig. 60. Rough-stalked Meadow grass.]
[Illustration: Fig. 61. Rye grass.]
The ROUGH-STALKED MEADOW GRASS (Fig. 60) is somewhat less common than
June grass, but is considered as equally valuable. It grows best on
moist, sheltered meadows, where it flowers in June and July. It is
easily distinguished from June grass, by having a rough sheath, while
the latter has a smooth one, and by having a fibrous root, while the
root of June grass is creeping. It possesses very considerable nutritive
qualities, and comes to perfection at a desirable time; is exceedingly
relished by cattle, horses, and sheep. For suitable soils it should form
a portion of a mixture of seeds, producing, in mixture with other
grasses which serve to shelter it, a large yield of hay, far above the
average of grass usually grown on a similar soil. It should be cut when
the seed is formed. Seven pounds of seed to the acre will produce a good
sward. The grass loses about seventy per cent. of its weight in drying.
The nutritive qualities of its aftermath exceed very considerably those
of the crop cut in the flower or in the seed.
FOWL MEADOW GRASS is another indigenous species, of great value for low
and marshy grounds, where it flourishes best; and, if cut and properly
cured, makes a sweet and nutritious hay, which, from its fineness, is
eaten by cows without waste. According to Sinclair, who experimented,
with the aid of Sir Humphrey Davy, to ascertain its comparative
nutritive properties, it is superior, in this respect, to either meadow
foxtail, orchard grass, or tall meadow oat grass; but it is probable
that he somewhat overrates it. If allowed to stand till nearly ripe, it
falls down, but sends up innumerable flowering stems from the joints, so
that it continues green and luxuriant till late in the season. It
thrives best in mixture with other grasses, and deserves a prominent
place in all mixtures for rich, moist pastures, and low mowing-lands.
RYE GRASS (Fig. 61) has a far higher reputation abroad than in this
country, and probably with reason; for it is better adapted to a wet and
uncertain climate than to a dry and hot one. It varies exceedingly,
depending much on soil and culture; but, when cut in the blossom to make
into hay, it possesses very considerable nutritive power. If allowed to
get too ripe, it is hard and wiry, and not relished by cows. The change
from a juicy and nutritious plant to woody fibre, possessing but little
soluble matter, is very rapid. Properly managed, however, it is a
tolerably good grass, though not to be compared to Timothy, or orchard
grass.
ITALIAN RYE GRASS (Fig. 62) has also been cultivated to considerable
extent in this country, but with less satisfactory results than are
obtained from it in Europe, where it endures all climates, giving better
crops, both in quantity and quality, than the perennial rye grass. It is
one of the greatest gluttons of all the grasses, and luxuriates in
frequent irrigation with liquid manure, though it is said to stand the
drought very well. The soils best adapted to it are rich, moist, and
fertile, of medium tenacity; and it is admirably adapted to the purposes
of soiling, as it endures repeated cutting, rapidly sending up luxuriant
crops. For rich soils near the barn, used for the growth of crops for
soiling, therefore, it may be confidently used as a profitable addition
to our list of cultivated grasses.
[Illustration: Fig. 62. Italian Rye grass.]
[Illustration: Fig. 63. Redtop.]
REDTOP (Fig. 63) is a grass familiar to every farmer in the country. It
is the Herd’s grass of Pennsylvania, while in New York and New England
it is known by a great variety of names, and assumes a great variety of
forms, according to the soil in which it grows. It is well adapted to
almost every soil, though it seems to prefer a moist loam. It makes a
profitable crop for spending, in the form of hay, though its yield is
less than that of Timothy. It is well suited to our permanent pastures,
where it should be fed close, otherwise it becomes wiry and
innutritious, and cattle refuse it. It stands the climate of the
country as well as any other grass, and so forms a valuable part of any
mixture for pastures and permanent mowing-lands; but it is probably
rather overrated by us.
[Illustration: Fig. 64. English Bent.]
[Illustration: Fig. 65. Meadow Fescue.]
ENGLISH BENT (Fig. 64), known also by a great variety of other names, is
also largely cultivated in some sections. It closely resembles redtop,
but may be distinguished from it by the roughness of the sheaths when
the hand is drawn from above downwards. It possesses much the same
qualities as redtop.
MEADOW FESCUE (Fig. 65) is one of the most common of the fescue grasses,
and is said to be the Randall grass of Virginia. It is an excellent
pasture grass, forming a very considerable portion of the turf of old
pastures and fields; and is more extensively propagated and diffused by
the fact that it ripens its seeds before most other grasses are cut, and
sheds them to spring up and cover the ground. Its long and tender leaves
are much relished by cattle. It is rarely sown in this country,
notwithstanding its great and acknowledged value as a pasture grass. If
sown at all, it should be in mixture with other grasses, as orchard
grass, rye grass, or June grass. It is of much greater value at the time
of flowering than when the seed is ripe.
The TALL OAT GRASS (Fig. 66) is the Ray grass of France. It furnishes a
luxuriant supply of foliage, is valuable either for hay or for pasture,
and has been especially recommended for soiling purposes, on account of
its early and luxuriant growth. It is often found on the borders of
fields and hedges, woods and pastures, and is sometimes very plenty in
mowing-lands. After being sown it shoots up a very thick aftermath, and
on this account, partly, is regarded as nearly equal for excellence to
the common foxtail.
It grows spontaneously on deep, sandy soils, when once naturalized. It
has been cultivated to a considerable extent in this country, and is
esteemed by those who know it mainly for its early, rapid, and late
growth, making it very well calculated as a permanent pasture grass. It
will succeed on tenacious clover soils.
[Illustration: Fig. 66. Tall Oat grass.]
[Illustration: Fig. 67. Sweet-scented Vernal.]
The SWEET-SCENTED VERNAL GRASS (Fig. 67) is one of the earliest in
spring and one of the latest in autumn; and this habit of growth is one
of its chief excellences, as it is neither a nutritious grass nor very
palatable to stock of any kind, nor does it yield a very good crop. It
is very common all over New England and the Middle States, coming into
old worn-out fields and moist pastures spontaneously, and along every
roadside. It derives its name from its sweetness of smell when partially
wilted, or crushed in the hand, and it is this chiefly that gives the
delicious fragrance to all new-mown hay. It is almost the only grass
that possesses a strongly-marked aromatic odor, which is imparted to
other grasses with which it is cured. Its seed weighs eight pounds to
the bushel. In mixtures for permanent pastures it may be of some value.
HUNGARIAN GRASS, or Millet (Fig. 68), is an annual forage plant,
introduced into France in 1815, and more recently into this country. It
germinates readily and withstands the drought remarkably, remaining
green when other grasses are parched and dried up. It has numerous
succulent leaves, which furnish an abundance of sweet fodder, greatly
relished by stock of all kinds. It attains its greatest luxuriance on
soils of medium consistency and richness, but does very well on light
and dry plains.
[Illustration: Fig. 69. Red Clover.]
[Illustration: Fig. 68. Hungarian grass.]
RED CLOVER (Fig. 69) is an artificial grass of the leguminous family,
and one of the most valuable of cultivated plants for feeding to dairy
cows. It flourishes best on tenacious soils and stiff loams. Its growth
is rapid, and a few months after sowing are sufficient to supply an
abundant sweet and nutritious food. In the climate of New England clover
should be sown in the spring of the year, while most of the natural
grasses do far better sown in the fall. It is often sown with perfect
success on the late snows of March or April, and soon finds its way down
into the soil and takes a vigorous root. It is valuable not only as a
forage plant, but as shading the ground, and thereby increasing its
fertility.
The introduction of clover among the cultivated plants of the farm has
done more, perhaps, for modern agriculture than that of any other single
plant. It has now come to be considered indispensable in all good dairy
districts.
[Illustration: Fig. 70. White Clover.]
WHITE CLOVER (Fig. 70), often called Honeysuckle, is also widely
diffused over this country, to which it is undoubtedly indigenous. As a
mixture in all pasture grasses it holds a very high rank, as it is
exceedingly sweet and nutritious, and relished by stock of all kinds. It
grows most luxuriantly in moist grounds and moist seasons, but easily
accommodates itself to a great variety of circumstances.
With respect to the mixtures of grass-seeds most profitable for the
dairy farmer, no universal rule can be given, as they depend very much
upon the nature of the soil and the locality. The most important point
to be observed, and one in which we, as a body, are perhaps most
deficient, is to use a large number of species, with smaller quantities
of each than those most commonly used. This is nature’s rule; for, in
examining the turf of a rich old pasture, we shall find a large number
of different species growing together, while, if we examine the turf of
a field sown with only one or two different species, we find a far less
number of plants to the square foot, even after the sod is fairly set.
No improvement in grass culture is more important, it seems to me. I
have suggested, in another place, a large number of mixtures adapted to
the different varieties of soil and circumstance, together with the
reasons for the mixture in many instances. (See _A Practical Treatise on
Grasses and Forage Plants_, comprising their Natural History,
Comparative Nutritive Value, Methods of Cultivating, Cutting, and
Curing, and the Management of Grass Lands, &c. 236 pp. 8vo., with
illustrations.) As an instance of what I should consider an improvement
on our ordinary mixtures for _permanent pastures_, I would suggest the
following as likely to give satisfactory results, dependent, of course,
to a considerable extent, on the nature and preparation of the soil:
Meadow Foxtail, flowering in May and June, 2 pounds
Orchard Grass, flowering in May and June, 6 “
Sweet-scented Vernal, flowering in April and May, 1 “
Meadow Fescue, flowering in May and June, 2 “
Redtop, flowering in June and July, 2 “
June Grass, flowering in May and June, 4 “
Italian Rye Grass, flowering in June, 4 “
Perennial Rye Grass, flowering in June, 6 “
Timothy, flowering in June and July, 3 “
Rough-stalked Meadow Grass, flowering in June and July, 2 “
Perennial Clover, flowering in June, 3 “
White Clover, flowering in May to September, 5-40 “
For mowing-lands the mixture would, of course, be somewhat changed. The
meadow foxtail and sweet-scented vernal would be left out entirely, and
some six or eight pounds added to the Timothy and red clover. The
proper time to lay down lands to grass in the latitude of New England is
August or September, and no grain crop should be sown with the seed.
Stiff or clayey pastures should never be over-stocked, but when fed
pretty close the grasses are far sweeter and more nutritious than when
they are allowed to grow up rank and coarse; and if, by a want of
sufficient feeding, they get the start of the stock, and grow into rank
tufts, they should be cut and removed, when a fresh grass will start up,
similar to the aftermath of mowing-lands, which will be greedily eaten.
Grasses for curing into hay should be cut either at the time of
flowering or just before, especially if designed for milch cows. They
are then more succulent and juicy, and, if properly cured, form the
sweetest food.
Grass cut in the blossom will make more milk than if allowed to stand
later. Cut a little before the blossoming, it will make more than when
in the blossom; and the cows prefer it, which is by no means an
unimportant consideration, since their tastes should always be
consulted. Grass cut somewhat green, and properly cured, is next to
fresh, green grass in palatable and nutritive qualities. And so a
sensible practical farmer writes me: “The time of cutting grass depends
very much upon the use you wish to make of it. If for working oxen and
horses, I would let it stand till a little out of the blossom; but if to
feed out to new milch cows in the winter, I would prefer to cut it very
green. It is then worth for the making of milk in the winter almost
double that cut later.” Every farmer knows the milk-producing properties
of rowen, which is generally cut before it blossoms.
No operation on the farm is of greater importance to the dairyman than
the cutting of his grass and the manner of curing hay, and in this
respect the practice over the country generally is susceptible of very
great improvement. The chief object is to preserve the sweetness and
succulence of grass in its natural state, so far as it is possible; and
this object cannot be gained by exposing it too long to the scorching
suns and the drenching rains to which we are liable in this climate. We
generally try to make our hay too much.
As to the best modes of curing clover, my own experience and observation
accord with that of several practical farmers, who write me as follows:
“My method of curing clover is this: What is mown in the morning I leave
in the swath, to be turned over early in the afternoon. At about four
o’clock, or while it is still warm, I put it into small cocks with a
fork, and, if the weather is favorable, it may be housed on the fourth
or fifth day, the cocks being turned over on the morning of the day it
is to be carted. By so doing all the heads and leaves are saved, and
these are worth more than the stems. This has been my method for the
last ten years. For new milch cows in the winter I think there is
nothing better. It will make them give as great a flow of milk as any
hay, unless it be good rowen.” Another says: “When the weather bids fair
to be good, I mow it after the dew is off, and cock it up after being
wilted, using the fork instead of rolling with the rake, and let it
remain several days, when it is fit to put into the barn.” And another:
“I mow my clover in the forenoon, and towards night of the same day I
take forks and pitch it into cocks and let it stand till it cures. The
day I cart it, I turn the cocks over, so as to air the lower part. I
then put it into the mow with all the leaves and heads on, and it is as
nice and green as green tea. I think it worth for milch cows and sheep
as much per ton as English hay.” And still another: “I have found no
better hay for farm stock than good clover, cut in season. For milch
cows it is much better than Timothy. The rowen crop is better than any
other for calves.”
INDIAN CORN makes an exceedingly valuable fodder, both as a means of
carrying a herd of milch cows through our severe droughts of summer, and
as an article for soiling cows kept in the stall. No dairy farmer will
neglect to sow an extent in proportion to the number of cows he keeps.
The most common practice is to sow in drills from two and a half to
three feet apart, on land well tilled and thoroughly manured, making the
drills from six to ten inches wide with the plough, manuring in the
furrow, dropping the corn about two inches apart, and covering with the
hoe. In this mode of culture the cultivator may be used between the rows
when the corn is from six to twelve inches high, and unless the ground
is very weedy no other after culture is generally needed. The first
sowing usually takes place about the 20th of May, and this is succeeded
by other sowings at intervals of a week or ten days, till July, in order
to have a succession of green fodder. But, if it is designed to cut it
up to cure for winter use, an early sowing is generally preferred, in
order to be able to cure it in warm weather, in August or early in
September. Sown in this way, about three or four bushels of corn are
required for an acre, since, if sown thickly, the fodder is better, the
stalks smaller, and the waste less.
The chief difficulty in curing corn cultivated for this purpose, and
after the methods spoken of, arises mainly from the fact that it comes
at a season when the weather is often colder, the days shorter, and the
dews heavier, than when the curing of hay takes place. Nor is the curing
of corn cut up green so easy and simple as that of drying the stalks of
Indian corn cut above the ear, as in our common practice of topping. The
plant is then riper, less juicy, and cures more readily.
The method sometimes adopted is to cut and tie into small bundles, after
it is somewhat wilted, and stook upon the ground, where it is allowed to
stand, subject to all the changes of the weather, with only the
protection of the stook itself. The stooks consist of bunches of stalks
first bound in small bundles, and are made sufficiently large to prevent
the wind from blowing them over. The arms are thrown around the tops to
bring them together as closely as possible, when the tops are broken
over or twisted together, or otherwise fastened, in order to make the
stook “shed the rain” as well as possible. In this condition they stand
out till sufficiently dried to put into the barn. Corn fodder is very
excellent for young dairy stock.
COMMON MILLET (_Panicum miliaceum_) is another very valuable crop for
fodder in soiling, or to cure for winter use, but especially to feed out
during our usual periods of drought. Many varieties of millet are
cultivated in this country, the ground being prepared and treated as for
oats. If designed to cut for green fodder, half a bushel of seed to the
acre should be used; if to ripen seed, twelve quarts, sown broad-cast,
about the last of May or early in June. A moist loam or muck is the best
adapted to millet; but I have seen very great crops grown on dry upland.
It is very palatable and nutritious for milch cows, both green and when
properly cured. The curing should be very much like clover, care being
taken not to over-dry it. For fodder, either green or cured, it is cut
before ripening. In this state all cattle eat it as readily as green
corn, and a less extent will feed them. Millet is worthy of a
widely-extended cultivation, particularly on dairy farms. Indian millet
(_Sorghum vulgare_) is another cultivated variety.
RYE, as a fodder plant, is chiefly valuable for its early growth in
spring. It is usually sown in September or October, from the middle to
the end of September being, perhaps, the most desirable time, on land
previously cultivated and in good condition. If designed to ripen only,
a bushel of seed is required to the acre, evenly sown; but, if intended
for early fodder in spring, two or two and a half bushels per acre of
seed should be used. On warm land the rye can be cut green the last of
April or first of May; and care should be taken to cut early, as, if
allowed to advance too far towards maturity, the stalk becomes hard and
unpalatable to cows.
OATS are also sometimes used for soiling, or for feeding green, to eke
out a scanty supply of pasture feed; And for this purpose they are
valuable. They should be sown on well-tilled and well-manured land,
about four bushels to the acre, towards the last of April or first of
May. If the whole crop is to be used as green fodder, five bushels of
seed will not be too much on strong, good soil. They will be
sufficiently grown to cut by the first of July, or in some sections
earlier, depending on location.
The CHINESE SUGAR-CANE also may deserve attention as a fodder plant.
Experiments hitherto made seem to show that when properly cultivated,
and cut at the right time, it is a palatable and nutritious plant, while
many of the failures have been the result of too early cutting. For a
fodder crop the drill culture is preferable, both on account of the
larger yield obtained and to prevent it from becoming too hard and
stalky.
THE POTATO (_Solanum tuberosum_) is the first of the root crops to be
mentioned. This produces a large quantity of milk, though the quality
is inferior. The market value of this root is, at the present time, too
great to allow of feeding extensively with it, even in milk-dairies,
where it is most valuable as food for cows; still, there are locations
where it may be judicious to cultivate this root for dairy feed, and in
all circumstances there is a certain portion of the crop of unmarketable
size, which will be of value fed to milch cows or swine. It should be
planted in April or May, but in many sections in June, on good mellow
soil, first thoroughly ploughed and harrowed, then furrowed three feet
apart, and manured in the furrows with a mixture of ashes, plaster of
Paris, and salt. The seed may be dropped in the furrows, one foot apart,
after the drill system, or in hills, two and a half or three feet apart,
to be covered with the plough by simply turning the furrows back, after
which the whole should be rolled with the field roller, where it can be
done.
If the land is not already in good heart from continued cultivation, a
few loads of barn-yard manure may be spread, and ploughed under by the
first ploughing. Used in this way, it is far less liable to cause the
rot than when put in the hill. If a sufficient quantity of wood-ashes is
not at hand, sifted coal-ashes will answer the purpose, and are said to
be valuable as a preventive of the rot. In this way one man, two boys,
and a horse, can plant from three to four acres a day on mellow land. I
have planted two acres a day on the sod, the manure being first spread
on the grass, a furrow made by a yoke of oxen and one man, another
following after and dropping, a foot apart, along the outer edge of the
furrow on the grass. By quick work, one hand can nearly keep up with the
plough in dropping. When arrived at the end of the piece, a back furrow
is turned up to the potatoes, and a good ploughman will cover nearly
all without difficulty. On the return-furrow the man or boy who dropped
follows after, covering up any that may be left or displaced, and
smoothing off the top of the back-furrows where necessary. Potatoes thus
planted came out as fine as I ever saw any.
The cost of cultivation in this mode, it must be evident, is but
trifling compared with the slower method of hand-planting. The plan will
require a skilful ploughman, a quick, active lad, and a good yoke of
oxen, and the extent of the work will depend somewhat on the state of
the turf. The nutritive equivalent in potatoes for one hundred pounds of
good hay is 3.19 pounds; that is, it will take 319 pounds of potatoes to
afford the same amount of nourishment as one pound of hay. The great
value of roots is as a change or condiment, calculated to keep the
animal in a healthy condition.
THE CARROT (_Daucus carota_) is somewhat extensively fed, and is a
valuable root for milch cows. This, like the potato, has been cultivated
and improved from a wild plant. Carrots require a deep, warm, mellow
soil, thoroughly cultivated, but clean and free from weed-seed. The
difference between a very good profit and a loss on the crop depends
much on the use of land and manures perfectly free from foul seeds of
any kind. Ashes, guano, sea-weed, ground bone, and other similar
substances, or thoroughly-rotted and fermented compost, will answer the
purpose.
After ploughing deep, and harrowing carefully, the seed should be sown
with a seed-sower, in drills about eighteen inches apart, at the rate of
four pounds to the acre, about the middle or twentieth of May. The
difference between sowing the fifteenth of May and the tenth of June in
New England is said to be nearly one third in the crop on an average of
years. In weeding, a little wheel-hoe is invaluable, as with it a large
part of the labor of cultivation is saved. A skilful hand can run this
hoe within half an inch of the young plants without injury, and go over
a large space in the course of a day, if the land was properly prepared
in the first place.
The American farmer should always plan to economize labor. That is the
great item of expense on the farm. I do not mean that he should try to
shirk or avoid work, but that he should make the least amount of work
accomplish the largest and most profitable results. Labor-saving
machinery on the farm is applied not to reduce the number of hours’
labor, or to make the owner a man of leisure,--who is, generally, the
unhappiest man in the world,--but to enable him to accomplish the
greatest results in the same time that he would be compelled to labor to
obtain smaller ones.
Carrots will continue to grow and increase in size late into the fall.
When ready to dig, plough around as near to the outside rows as
possible, turning the furrow away from the row. Then take out the
carrots, pulling off the tops, and throw the carrots and tops into
separate heaps on the ploughed furrows. In this way a man and two boys
can harvest and put into the cellar over a hundred bushels a day.
The TURNIP (_Brassica rapa_) and the Swedish turnip or ruta baga
(_Brassica campestris_) are also largely cultivated as a field crop to
feed to stock; and for this purpose numberless varieties are used,
furnishing a great amount of succulent and nutritious food, late into
winter, and, if well kept, late into spring. The chief objection to the
turnip is that it taints the milk. This may be remedied, to a
considerable extent, if not wholly, by the use of salt, or salt hay, and
by feeding at the time of milking, or immediately after, or by steaming
before feeding, or putting a small quantity of the solution of nitre
into the pail, and milking upon it.
Turnips may be sown any time in June, in rich land, well mellowed by
cultivation. Very large crops are often obtained sown as late as the
middle of July, or first of August, on an inverted sod. The Michigan or
double-mould-board plough leaves the land light, and in admirable
condition to harrow, and drill in turnips. A successful root-grower last
year cut two tons of hay to the acre, on the 23d of June, and after it
was removed from the land spread eight cords of rotten kelp to the acre,
and ploughed in; after which about three cords of fine old compost
manure were used to the acre, which was sown, with ruta baga seed, in
drills, three feet apart, plants thinned to eight or ten inches in the
drill. No after cultivation was required. On the 15th of November he
harvested three hundred and seventy bushels of splendid roots to the
acre, carefully measured off.
The nutritive equivalent of Swedish turnips as compared with good meadow
hay is 676, taking hay as a standard at 100; that is, it would require
6.76 lbs. of turnips to furnish the same nutriment as one pound of good
hay; but, fed in connection with other food, as hay, for instance,
perhaps five pounds of turnips would be about equal to one pound of hay.
The English or round turnip is usually sown broadcast after some other
crop, and large and valuable returns are often obtained. The Swede is
sown in drills. Both these varieties are used for the production of
milk.
The chief objection to the turnip crop is that it leaves many kinds of
soil unfit for a succession of some other crops, like Indian corn, for
instance. In some sections no amount of manuring appears to make corn do
well after turnips or ruta bagas.
The MANGOLD WURZEL, a variety of the _Beta vulgaris_, is often
cultivated with great success in this country, and fed to cows with
advantage, furnishing a succulent and nutritive food in winter and
spring. The crop is somewhat uncertain. When it does well an enormous
yield is often obtained; but it often proves a failure, and is not, on
the whole, quite as reliable as the ruta baga, though a more valuable
crop when the yield is good. It is cultivated like the common beet, in
moist, rich soils, three pounds of seed to the acre. The leaves may be
stripped off, towards fall, and fed out, without injury to the growth of
the root. Both mangolds and turnips should be cut with a root-cutter,
before being fed out.
The PARSNIP (_Pastinaca sativa_) is a very sweet and nutritive article
of fodder, and adds richness and flavor to the milk. It is worthy of
extended culture in all parts of this country where dairy husbandry is
pursued. It is a biennial, easily raised on deep, rich, well-cultivated
and well-manured soils, often yielding enormous crops, and possessing
the advantage of withstanding the severest winters. As an article of
spring feeding, therefore, it is exceedingly valuable. Sown in April or
May, it attains a large growth before winter. Then, if desirable, a part
of the crop may be harvested for winter use, and the remainder left in
the ground till the frost is out, in March or April, when they can be
dug as wanted, and are exceedingly relished by milch cows, and stock of
all kinds. They make an admirable feed at the time of milking, and
produce the richest cream, and the yellowest and finest-flavored butter,
of any root with which I am acquainted. The good dairy farmers on the
island of Jersey often feed to their cows from thirty to thirty-five
pounds of parsnips a day, in addition to hay or grass.
Both practical experiment and scientific analysis prove this root to be
eminently adapted to dairy stock, where the richness of milk or
fine-flavored butter is any object. For mere milk-dairies, it is not
quite so valuable, probably, as the Swedish turnip. The culture is
similar to that of carrots, a rich, mellow, and deep loam being best;
while it has a great advantage over the carrot in being more hardy, and
rather less liable to injury from insects, and more nutritive. For
feeding and fattening stock it is eminently adapted.
To be sure of a crop, fresh seed must be had, as it cannot be depended
on more than one year. For this reason, the largest and straightest
roots should be allowed to stand for seed, which, as soon as nearly
ripe, should be taken off and spread out to dry, and carefully kept for
use. For field culture the hollow-crowned parsnip is the best and most
profitable; but on thin, shallow soils the turnip-rooted variety should
be used. Parsnips may be harvested like carrots, by ploughing along the
rows. Let butter or cheese dairymen give this crop a fair and full
trial, and watch its effect on the quality of the milk and butter.
The KOHL RABI (_Brassica oleracea_, var. _caulorapa_) is also cultivated
to a considerable extent in this country, to feed to stock. It is
supposed to be a hybrid between the cabbage and the turnip, and is often
called the cabbage-turnip, having the root of the former, with a
turnip-like or bulbous stem. The special reason for its more extensive
cultivation among us is its wonderful indifference to droughts, in which
it seems to flourish best, and to bring forth the most luxuriant crops.
It also withstands the frosts remarkably, being a hardy plant. It yields
a somewhat richer quality of milk than the ordinary turnip, and the crop
is generally admitted to be as abundant and profitable. I have seen
very large crops of it produced by the ordinary turnip or cabbage
cultivation. As in cabbage culture, it is best to sow the seed in March
or April, in a warm and well-enriched seed-bed; from which it is
transplanted in May, and set out after the manner of cabbages in garden
culture. It bears transplanting better than most other roots. Insects
injure it less than the turnip, dry weather favors it, and it keeps well
through the winter. For these reasons, it must be regarded as a valuable
addition to our list of forage plants adapted to dairy farming. It grows
well on stronger soils than the turnip.
LINSEED MEAL is the ground cake of flax-seed, after the oil is pressed
out. It is very rich in fat-forming principles, and given to milch cows
it increases the quality of butter, and keeps them in condition. Four or
five pounds a day are sufficient for cows in milk, and this amount will
effect a great saving in the cost of other food, and at the same time
make a very rich milk. It is extensively manufactured in this country,
and largely exported, but is worthy of more general use here. It must
not be fed in too large quantities to milch cows, for it would be liable
to give too great a tendency to fat, and thus affect the quantity of
milk.
RAPE-CAKE possesses much the same qualities. It is the residuum after
pressing the oil from rape-seed.
COTTON-SEED MEAL is an article of comparatively recent introduction. It
is obtained by pressing the seed of the cotton-plant, which extracts the
oil, when the cake is crushed or ground into meal, which has been found
to be a very valuable article for feeding stock. An analysis has been
given on a preceding page, which shows it to be equal or superior to
linseed meal. Practical experiments are needed to establish it. It is
prepared chiefly in Providence, R. I., and is for sale in the market at
a very reasonable price.
The MANURES used in this country in the culture of the plants mentioned
above are mostly such as are made on the farm, consisting chiefly of
barn-yard composts of various kinds, with often a large admixture of
peat-mud. There are few farms that do not contain substances which, if
properly husbanded, would add very greatly to the amount of manure
ordinarily made. The best of the concentrated manures, which it is
sometimes necessary to use, for want of time and labor to prepare enough
on the farm, is, unquestionably, Peruvian guano. The results of this,
when properly applied, are well known and reliable, which can hardly be
said of any other artificial manure offered for the farmer’s notice. The
chief objection to depending on manures made off the farm is, in the
first place, their great expense; and in the second, which is equally
important, the fact that, though they may be made valuable, and produce
at one time the best results, a want of care in the manufacture, or
designed fraud, may make them almost worthless, with the impossibility
of detecting the imposition, without a chemical analysis, till it
becomes too late, and the crop is lost.
It is, therefore, safest to rely mainly upon the home manufacture of
manure. The extra expense of soiling cattle, saving and applying the
liquid manure, and thus bringing the land to a higher state of
cultivation, when it will be capable of keeping more stock, and of
furnishing more manure, would offer a surer road to success than a
constant outlay for concentrated fertilizers.
The various articles used for top-dressing grass lands, and the
management of grass and pasture lands, have been treated of in detail in
the work already alluded to, on the CULTURE OF GRASSES AND FORAGE
PLANTS.
CHAPTER VII.
MILK.
Milk, as the first and natural food of man, has been used from the
remotest antiquity of the human race. It is produced by the females of
that class of animals known as the _mammalia_, and was designed by
nature as the nourishment of their young; but the richest and most
abundant secretions in common use are those of the cow, the camel, the
mare, and the goat. The use of camel’s milk is confined chiefly to
Africa and to China, that of mares to Tartary and Siberia, and that of
goats to Italy and Spain. The milk of the cow is universally esteemed.
Milk is an opaque fluid, generally white in color, having a sweet and
agreeable taste, and is composed of a fatty substance, which forms
butter, a caseous substance, which forms cheese, and a watery residuum,
known as serum, or whey, in cheese-making. The fatty or butyraceous
matter in pure milk varies usually from two and a half to six and a half
per cent.; the caseous or cheesy matter, from three to ten per cent.;
and the serous matter, or whey, from eighty to ninety per cent.
To the naked eye milk appears to be of the same character and
consistence throughout; but under the microscope a myriad of little
globules of varied forms, but mostly round or ovoid, and of very unequal
sizes, appear to float in the watery matter. On more minute
examination, these butter-globules are seen to be enclosed in a thin
film of caseous matter. They are so minute that they filter through the
finest paper. Milk readily assimilates with water and other sweet and
unfermented liquids, though it weighs four per cent. more than water.
Cold condenses, heat liquefies it.
The elements of which it is composed, not being similar in character or
specific gravity, undergo rapid changes when at rest. The oily
particles, being lighter than the rest, soon begin to separate from
them, and rise to the surface in the form of a yellowish semi-liquid
cream, while the greater specific gravity of the serous matter, or whey,
carries it to the bottom.
A high temperature very soon develops acidity, and hastens the
separation of the cheesy matter, or curd, from the whey. And so the
three principal elements are easily distinguished.
But the oily or butyraceous matter, in rising to the surface, brings up
along with it many cheesy particles, which mechanically adhere to it,
and give it more or less of a white instead of a yellow color; and many
watery or serous particles, which make it thinner, or more liquid, than
it otherwise would be. If it rose up free from the adhesion of the other
elements, it would appear in the form of pure butter, and would not need
to undergo the process of churning to separate it from other substances.
The time may come when some means will be devised, either mechanical or
chemical, to separate the butter particles from the rest instantaneously
and completely, and thus avoid the often long and tedious process of
churning.
The coagulation, or collecting together of the cheesy particles, by
which the curd becomes separated from the whey, sometimes takes place so
rapidly, from the effect of great heat, or sudden changes in the
atmosphere, that there is not time for the butter particles to rise to
the surface, and they remain mixed up with the curd.
Nor does the serous or watery matter remain distinct or free from the
mixture of particles of the cheesy and buttery matters. It also holds in
suspension some alkaline salts and sugar of milk, to the extent of from
three to four per cent. of its weight.
We have, then,
{Butter. }
{Cream. {Butter-milk.} Water.
Milk. { {Buttery and cheesy residuum.}
{Skimmed milk. {Curd. {Sugar of milk. } Pure
{Whey. {Salts. } water.
It may be stated, in other words, that milk is composed chiefly of
caseine, or curd, which gives it its strength, and from which cheese is
made; a butyraceous or oily substance, which gives it its richness; a
sugar of milk, to which it owes its sweetness, and a watery substance,
which makes it refreshing as a beverage; together with traces of
alkaline salts, from whence are derived its flavor and medicinal
properties; and that these constituents appear in proportions which vary
in different specimens, according to the breed of the animal, the food,
the length of time after parturition, etc.
Milk becomes sour, on standing exposed to a warm atmosphere, by the
change of its sugar of milk into an acid known as lactic acid; and it is
owing to this sugar, and the chemical changes to which it gives rise,
that milk is susceptible of undergoing all degrees of fermentation, and
of being made into a fermented and palatable but intoxicating liquor,
which, by distillation, produces pure alcohol. This liquor is
extensively used in some countries. The arrack of the Arabs is
sometimes made from camel’s milk.
The Tartars make most of their spirituous liquors from milk; and for
this purpose they prefer mare’s milk, on account of its larger
percentage of sugar, which causes a greater and more active
fermentation. The liquor made from it is termed milk-wine, or khoumese.
It resembles beer, and has intoxicating qualities. The process of
manufacture is very simple. The milk, being allowed first to turn sour,
is then heated to the proper temperature, when it begins to ferment; and
in a day in summer, or two or three days in winter, the process is
completed, and the liquor may be kept several weeks without losing its
good qualities.
The admirable though complicated organization of the udder and teats of
the cow has already been explained, in speaking of the manner of
milking. But it may be said, in general, that the number of stomachs or
powerful digestive organs of the ruminants is wonderfully adapted to
promote the largest secretions of every kind.
The udder of the cow, the more immediate and important receptacle of
milk, and in which other milk-vessels terminate, is divided into two
sections, and each of these sections is subdivided into two others,
making four divisions, each constituting in itself, to some extent, an
organ of secretion. But it is well known that, as a general thing, the
lateral section, comprising the two hind teats, usually secretes larger
quantities of milk than the front section, and that its development,
both external and internal, is usually the greatest.
Milk is exceedingly sensitive to numerous influences, many of which are
not well understood. It is probably true that the milk of each of the
divisions of the udder differs to some extent from that of the others in
the same animal; and it is well known that the milk of different cows,
fed on the same food, has marked differences in quality and composition.
But food, no doubt, has a more powerful and immediate effect than
anything else, as we should naturally suppose from the fact that it goes
directly to supply all the secretions of the body. Feeding exclusively
on dry food, for instance, produces a thicker, more buttery and cheesy
milk, though less abundant in quantity, than feeding on moist and
succulent food. The former will be more nutritive than the latter.
Cows in winter will usually give a milk much richer in butter and less
cheesy than in summer, for the same reason; while in summer their milk
is richer in cheese and less buttery than in winter. As already
intimated, the frequency of milking has its effect on the quality.
Milking but once a day would give a more condensed and buttery milk than
milking twice or three times. The separation of the different
constituents of milk begins, undoubtedly, before it leaves the udder;
and hence we find that the milk first drawn from the cow at a milking is
far more watery than that drawn later, the last drawn, commonly called
the strippings, being the richest of all, and containing from six to
twelve times as much butter as the first.
Many other influences affect the milk of cows, both in quantity and
quality, as the length of time after calving, the age and health of the
cow, the season of the year, etc. Milk is whiter in color in winter than
in summer, even when the feeding is precisely the same. At certain
seasons the milk of the same cow is bluer than at others. This is often
observable in dog-days.
The specific gravity of milk is greater than that of water, that of the
latter being one thousand, and that of the former one thousand and
thirty-one on an average, though it varies greatly as it comes from
different cows, and even at different times from the same cow. A feeding
of salt given to the cow will, in a few hours, cause the specific
gravity of her milk to vary from one to three per cent.
Milk will ordinarily produce from ten to fifteen per cent. of its own
volume in cream; or, on an average, not far from twelve and a half per
cent. Eight quarts of milk will, therefore, make about one quart of
cream. But the milk of cows that are fed so as to produce the richest
milk and butter will often very far exceed this, sometimes giving over
twenty per cent. of cream, and in very rare instances twenty-five or
twenty-six per cent. The product of milk in cream is more regular than
the product of cream in butter. A very rich milk is lighter than milk of
a poor quality, for the reason that cream is lighter than skim-milk.
Of the different constituents of milk, caseine is that which most
resembles animal matter, and hence the intrinsic value of cheese as a
nutritive article of food. Hence, also, the nutritive qualities of
skimmed milk, or milk from which the cream only has been removed, while
the milk is still sweet. The oily or fatty parts of milk furnish heat to
the animal system; but this is easily supplied by other substances.
From the peculiar nature of milk, and its extreme sensitiveness to
external influences, the importance of the utmost care in its management
must be apparent; and this care must begin from the moment when it
leaves the udder, especially if it is to be made into butter. In this
case it would be better, if it were convenient, to keep the different
kinds of milk of the same milking by itself--that which comes first from
the udder, and that which is drawn last; and if the first third could be
set by itself, and the second and the third parts by themselves, the
time required to raise the cream of each part would doubtless be
considerably less than it is where the different elements of the milk
are so intimately mixed together in the process of milking, after being
once partially separated, as they are before they leave the udder.
After milking, as little time as possible should elapse before the milk
is brought to rest in the pan. The remarks of Dr. Anderson on the
treatment of milk are pertinent in this connection. “If milk,” says he,
“be put into a dish and allowed to stand until it throws up cream, the
portion of cream rising first to the surface is richer in quality and
equal in quantity to that which rises in a second equal space of time;
and the cream which rises in a second interval of time is greater in
quantity and richer in quality than that which rises in a third equal
space of time. That of the third is greater than that of the fourth, and
so of the rest; the cream that rises continuing progressively to
decrease in quantity and quality, so long as any rises to the surface.
“Thick milk always throws up a much smaller proportion of the cream
which it actually contains than milk that is thinner, but the cream is
of a richer quality; and if water be added to that thick milk, it will
afford a considerably greater quantity of cream, and consequently more
butter, than it would have done if allowed to remain pure; but its
quality at the same time is greatly deteriorated.
“Milk which is put into a bucket or other proper vessel, and carried in
it to a considerable distance, so as to be much agitated and in part
cooled before it be put into the milk-pans to settle for cream, never
throws up so much or so rich a cream as if the same milk had been put
into the milk-pans, without agitation, directly after it was milked.”
Milk as it comes from the cow is about blood-heat, or 98° Fah. It should
be cooled off as little as possible before coming to rest. With this
object in view, the pails may be rinsed with hot water before milking,
and the distance from the place of milking to the milk-room should be as
short as possible; but, even with all these precautions, the fall in
temperature will be considerable.
From what has already been said with regard to the manner in which the
cream or oily particles of the milk rise to the surface, and the
difficulty of rising through a great space, on account of their intimate
entanglement with the cheesy and other matters, the importance of using
shallow pans must be sufficiently obvious.
To facilitate and hasten the rising of the butter or oily particles, the
importance of keeping the milk-room at a uniform and pretty high
temperature will be equally obvious. The greatest density of milk is at
or near the temperature of 41° Fah.; and at this point the butter
particles will, of course, rise with the greatest difficulty and
slowness, and bring up a far greater amount of cheese particles than
under more favorable circumstances. These caseous and watery matters, as
has been already stated, cause the cream or the butter to look white,
and to ferment and become rancid. To avoid this, the temperature is
generally kept, in the best butter-dairies, as high as from 58° to 62°.
Some recommend keeping the milk at over 70°, and from that to 80°, at
which temperature the cream, they say, rises very rapidly, especially if
the depth through which it has to rise is but slight. But that, in the
opinion of most practical dairymen, is too high.
To obtain the greatest amount of cream from a given quantity of milk,
the depth in the pan should, it seems to me, never exceed two inches. A
high temperature and shallow depth, as they liquefy the milk and
facilitate the rising of the particles, tend to secure a cream free
from the cheesy matter, and such cream will make a quality of butter
both more delicate to the taste, and less likely to become rancid, than
any other.
It has already been intimated, in another connection, that neither the
largest quantity nor the best quality of milk is given by the cow till
after she has had two or three calves, or has arrived at the age of five
or six years. It may also be said, what cannot fail to have attracted
the attention of observing dairymen, that in very dry seasons the
quantity of milk yielded will generally be less, though the quality will
be richer, than in moist and mild seasons.
Hence it may be inferred that moist climates are much more favorable to
the production of milk than dry ones; and this also has been frequently
observed and admitted to be a well-known fact. From these facts it may
be stated that dry and warm weather increases the quantity of butter,
but it is also true that cooler weather produces a greater amount of
cheese. A state of pregnancy, it is obvious, must reduce the quality of
the milk, and cause it to yield less cream than before.
In the treatment of milk the utmost cleanliness is especially requisite.
The pails, the strainers, the pans, the milk-room, and, in short,
everything connected with the dairy, must be kept neat and clean to an
extent which few but the very best dairy-women can appreciate. The
smallest portion of old milk left to sour in the strainers or pans will
be sure to taint them, and impart their bad flavor to the new milk put
into them. Every one is familiar with the fact that an exceedingly small
quantity of yeast causes an active fermentation. The process is a
chemical one, and another familiar instance of it is in the distillation
of liquors and the brewing of beer, where the malt creates a very active
fermentation. In a similar manner the smallest particle of sour milk
will taint a large quantity of sweet.
The milk-room should be removed from dampness, and all gases which might
be injurious to the milk by infecting the atmosphere. If the state of
the atmosphere and the temperature, as has been stated, affect it, all
contact with foreign substances to which it is liable in careless and
slovenly milking, and all air rendered impure by vegetables and
innumerable other things kept in a house-cellar, will be much more
liable to taint and injure it. Milk appears to absorb odors from objects
near it, to such an extent that a piece of catnip lying near the pan has
been known to impart its flavor to it.
Milk, as sold in most large cities, is often adulterated to a great
extent, but most frequently with water. Not unfrequently, too, a part of
the cream is first taken off, and water afterwards added; in which case
the use of burnt sugar is very common for coloring the milk, the
blueness of which would otherwise lead to detection. The adulteration of
pure milk from the healthy cow by water, though dishonest, and
objectionable in the highest degree, is far less iniquitous in its
consequences than the nefarious traffic in “swill-milk,” or milk
produced from cows fed entirely on “still-slops,” from which they soon
become diseased, after which the milk contains a subtle poison, which is
as difficult of detection by any known process of chemistry as the
miasma of an atmosphere tainted with yellow fever or the cholera. The
simple fact is sufficiently palpable, that no pure and healthy milk can
be produced by an unhealthy and diseased animal; and that no animal can
long remain healthy that is fed on an unnatural food, and treated in the
manner too common around the distilleries of many large cities.
[Illustration: Fig. 71.]
It is evident, from the well-known influence which “still-slops” and
other exceedingly succulent food have in increasing the amount of water
in the milk, that adulteration may be effected by means of the food, as
well as by addition of water to the milk itself. It is evident, too, on
a moment’s reflection, that the specific gravity of pure milk must vary
exceedingly, as it comes from different cows, or from the same cow at
different times. This variation reached to the extent of twenty-three
degrees in the milk of forty-two different cows, or from one thousand
and eight to one thousand and thirty-one; but so great a variation is
very rare, and not to be expected.
No reliable conclusion, as to whether a particular specimen of milk has
been adulterated or not, can therefore be drawn from the differences in
specific gravity alone. A radical difficulty attending this test arises
from the fact that the specific gravity both of water and cream is less
than that of pure milk. If, therefore, the hydrometer sinks deeper into
the fluid than would be expected in ordinary pure milk, how is it
possible, unless the variation is very large, to tell whether it is due
to the richness of the milk in cream, or to the water? I have, for
instance, two instruments, each labelled “Lactometer,” but both of which
are simple hydrometers (Fig. 71), or specific gravity testers, one of
which is graduated with the water-mark 0 and that of pure milk 20°; the
water-mark of the other being 0, like the first, and that of pure milk
100°. Both are the same in principle, the only difference being in the
graduation. On the former, graduated for pure milk at 20°, it is
difficult to tell with accuracy the small variations in the percentage
of water or cream, the divisions on the scale are so minute, while the
latter marks them so that they can be read off with greater ease and
precision.
For the purpose of showing the difference in the specific gravity in
different specimens of pure milk, taken from the cows in the morning,
and allowed to cool down to about 60°, I used the latter instrument with
the following results: The first pint drawn from a native cow stood at
101°, the scale being graduated at 100° for pure milk. The last pint of
the same milking, being the strippings of the same cow, stood at 86°.
The mixture of the two pints stood at about 93¹⁄₂°. The milk of a
pure-bred Jersey stood at 95°, that of an Ayrshire at 100°, that of a
Hereford at 106°, that of a Devon at 111°, while a thin cream stood at
66°. All these specimens of milk were pure, and milked at the same time
in the morning, carefully labelled in separate vessels, and set upon the
same shelf to cool off; and yet the variations of specific gravity
amounted to 25°, or, taking the average quality of the native cows’ milk
at 93¹⁄₂°, the variations amounted to 17¹⁄₂°.
But, knowing the specific gravity, at the outset, of any specimen of
milk, the hydrometer would show the amount of water added. This cheap
and simple instrument is therefore of frequent service.
The lactometer is a very different instrument, and measures the
comparative richness of different specimens of milk. It is of very great
service both in the butter and cheese dairy, for testing the comparative
value of different cows for the purposes for which they are kept. This
instrument is very simple and cheap and the practical dairyman can tell
by it what cows he can best part with without detriment to his
business. No cow should be admitted to a herd kept for butter-making
without knowing her qualities in this respect.
Many would find, on examination, that some of their cows, though giving
a good quantity, were comparatively worthless to them. Such was the
experience of John Holbert, of Chemung, New York, who, in his statement
to the state agricultural society, says: “I find, by churning the milk
of each cow separately, that one of my best cows will make as much
butter as three of my poorest, _giving the same quantity_ of milk. I
have kept a dairy for twenty years, but I never until the past season
knew that there was so much difference in cows.”
[Illustration: Fig. 72. Lactometer.]
The simplest form of the lactometer is a series of graduated glass tubes
(Fig. 72), or vials, of equal diameter; generally a third of an inch
inside, and about eleven inches long. The tubes are filled to an equal
height, each one with the milk of a different cow, and allowed to stand
for the cream to rise. The difference in thickness of the column of
cream will be very perceptible, and it will be greater than most people
imagine. The effect of different kinds of food for the production of
butter may be studied in the same way. This form of the lactometer was
invented by Sir Joseph Banks.
Various means are used for the preservation of milk. One of these is by
concentrating it by boiling. Where this is followed, as it is by some
dairymen, as a regular business, the milk is poured, as it comes from
the dairy, into long, shallow, copper pans, and heated to a temperature
of a hundred and ten degrees, Fahrenheit. A little sugar is then mixed
in, and the whole body of milk is kept in motion by stirring for some
three or four hours. The water is evaporated, leaving the milk about one
fourth of its original bulk. It is now put into tin cans, the covers of
which are soldered on, when the cans are lowered into boiling water.
After remaining a while, they are taken out and hermetically sealed, in
which condition the milk will keep for months. Concentrated milk may
thus be taken to sea or elsewhere. Another form is that of solidified
milk, in which state it is easily and perfectly soluble in water; and
when so dissolved with a proper proportion of water, it assumes its
original form of milk, and may be made into butter. A statement by Dr.
Dorémus, in the New York _Medical Journal_, explains the process, as
follows:
“To one hundred and twelve pounds of milk twenty eight pounds of
Stuart’s white sugar were added, and a trivial portion of bicarbonate of
soda,--a teaspoonful,--merely enough to insure the neutralizing of any
acidity, which, in the summer season, is exhibited even a few minutes
after milking, although inappreciable to the organs of taste. The sweet
milk was poured into evaporating pans of enamelled iron, imbedded in
warm water heated by steam. A thermometer was immersed in each of these
water-baths, that, by frequent inspection, the temperature might not
rise above the point which years of experience have shown advisable. To
facilitate the evaporation, by means of blowers and other ingenious
apparatus a current of air is established between the covers of the pans
and the solidifying milk. Connected with the steam-engine is an
arrangement of stirrers, for agitating the milk slightly, while
evaporating, and so gently as not to _churn_ it. In about three hours
the milk and sugar assumed a pasty consistency, and delighted the
palates of all present. By constant manipulation and warming, it was
reduced to a rich, creamy-looking powder, then exposed to the air to
cool, weighed into parcels of a pound each, and by a press, with the
force of a ton or two, made to assume the compact form of a tablet (the
size of a small brick), in which shape, covered with tin-foil, it is
presented to the public.
“Some of the solidified milk which had been grated and dissolved in
water the previous evening was found covered with a rich cream; this,
skimmed off, was soon converted into excellent butter. Another solution
was speedily converted into wine-whey by a treatment precisely similar
to that employed in using ordinary milk. It fully equalled the
expectations of all; so that solidified milk will hereafter rank among
the necessary appendages to the sick room. In fine, this article makes
paps, custards, puddings, and cakes, equal to the best milk; and one may
be sure it is an unadulterated article, obtained from well-pastured
cattle, and not the produce of distillery slops; neither can it be
_watered_. For our steamships, our packets, for those travelling by land
or by sea, for hotel purposes, or use in private families, for young or
old, we recommend it cordially as a substitute for fresh milk.”
A pound of this solidified milk, it is said, will make five pints when
dissolved in water.
Another favorite form in which milk is used is that known as ice-cream,
a cheap and healthy luxury during the summer months. It is frozen in a
simple machine made for the purpose, in the best form of which the time
of the operation is from six to ten minutes. The richest quality of
ice-cream is made from cream, in the following manner: To one quart of
cream use the yolks of three eggs. Put the cream over the fire till it
boils, during which time the eggs are beaten up with half a pound of
white sugar, powdered fine; and when the cream boils stir it upon the
eggs and sugar, then let it stand till quite cold, then add the juice of
three or four lemons. It is then ready to put into the freezer. The heat
of the cream partially cooks the eggs, and the stirring must be
continued to prevent their cooking too much.
A somewhat simpler receipt, given by the confectioners, is the
following: To half a pound of powdered sugar add the juice of three
lemons. Mix the sugar and lemon together, and then add one quart of
cream. This is less rich and delicate than the preceding, but is quite
rich enough for common use, and some trouble is saved.
The following receipt makes a very good ice-cream.
Two quarts of good _rich_ milk; four fresh eggs; three quarters of a
pound of white sugar; six teaspoons of Bermuda arrow-root. Rub the
arrow-root smooth in a little cold milk, beat the eggs and sugar
together, bring the milk to the boiling point, then stir in the
arrow-root; remove it then from the fire, and immediately add the eggs
and sugar, stirring briskly, to keep the eggs from cooking, then set
aside to cool. If flavored with extracts, let it be done _just before_
putting it in the freezer. If the vanilla bean is used, it must be
boiled in the milk. The preparation must be _thoroughly cooled_ before
the freezing is proceeded with.
The ice-cream by this receipt may be produced at a cost not exceeding
twenty-five cents a quart, calling the milk five cents a quart, and the
eggs a cent apiece, and including the cost of labor. It is quite equal
to that commonly furnished by the confectioners at seventy-five cents a
quart. The arrow-root may be dispensed with. The freezer is a cheap and
simple machine.
After the cream has frozen in the machine, it should stand an hour or
two to harden before it is used.
* * * * *
To secure a more uniform flow and a richer quality of milk, cows are
sometimes spayed, or castrated. The milk of spayed cows is pretty
uniform in quantity, and this quantity will be, on an average, a little
more than before the operation was performed. But few instances have
come under my observation, and those few have resulted satisfactorily,
the quality of the milk having been greatly improved, the yield becoming
regular for some years, and varying only by the difference in the
succulence of the food. The proper time for spaying is about five or six
weeks after calving, or at the time when the largest quantity of milk is
given. There seem to be some advantages in spaying for milk and butter
dairies, where the raising of stock is not attended to. The cows are
more quiet, never being liable to returns of seasons of heat, which
always more or less affect the milk both in quantity and quality. They
give milk nearly uniform in these respects, for several years, provided
the food is uniformly succulent and nutritious. Their milk is influenced
like that of other cows, though to less extent, by the quality and
quantity of food; so that in winter, unless the animal is properly
attended to, the yield will decrease somewhat, but will rise again as
good feed returns. This uniformity for the milk-dairy is of immense
advantage. Besides, the cow, when old, and inclined to dry up, takes on
fat with greater rapidity, and produces a juicy and tender beef,
superior, at the same age, to that of the ox. The operation of spaying
is simple, and may be performed by any veterinary surgeon, without much
risk of injury.
The milk of the cow has often been analyzed. It was found by Haidlen to
consist of
Water, 873.
Butter, 30.
Caseine, 48.2
Sugar of milk, 43.9
Phosphate of lime, 2.31
Magnesia, .42
Iron, .47
Chloride of Potassium, 1.44
Sodium and Soda, .66
-------
1000.
But its composition, as already intimated, varies exceedingly with the
food of the animal, and is influenced by an infinite variety of
circumstances.
Skim-milk is much more watery than whole milk. It was found by one
analysis to contain about 97 per cent. of water and 3 per cent. of
caseine.
Swill-milk, or milk from cows fed on “still-slops,” in New York, was
found by analysis to contain less than 1.5 per cent. of butter, some
specimens having even less than one per cent.
The colostrum, or milk of the cow just after calving, contains a large
proportion of cheesy matter. Its amount of caseine was found by careful
analysis to be 15.1 per cent., of butter 2.6, mucous matter 2, and water
80.3, there being only a trace of sugar of milk.
The measures for milk in common use in this country are those used for
wine and beer. The wine quart is about one fifth less than the beer
quart, and is that most commonly used in England. It is to be regretted
that no uniform standard has been adopted throughout the country.
CHAPTER VIII.
BUTTER AND THE BUTTER-DAIRY.
“Slow rolls the churn--its load of clogging cream
At once foregoes its quality and name.
From knotty particles first floating wide,
Congealing butter’s dashed from side to side.”
Butter, as we have seen, is the oily or fatty constituent of all good
milk, mechanically united or held in suspension by the solution of
caseine or cheesy matter in water. It is already formed in the udder of
the cow, and the operations required after it leaves the udder, to
produce it, effect merely the separation, more or less complete, of the
butter from the cheese and the whey.
This being the case, it is natural to suppose that butter was known at
an early date. The wandering tribes, accustomed to take on their
journeys a supply of milk in skins, would find it formed by the
agitation of travelling, and thus would be suggested the first rude and
simple process of churning.
But it is not probable that the Jews possessed a knowledge of it; and it
is pretty well settled, at the present time, that the passages in our
English version of the Old Testament in which it is used are erroneously
translated, and that wherever the word butter occurs the word milk, or
sour, thick milk, or cream, should be substituted. And so in Isaiah,
“Milk and honey shall he eat,” instead of “butter;” and in Job (29: 6),
“When I washed my feet in milk,” instead of “butter.” And the
expression in Prov. (30: 33), “Surely the churning of milk bringeth
forth butter,” would be better translated, according to the best
critics, “the pressing of the milker bringeth forth milk,” or the
“pressing of milk bringeth forth cheese.”
In the oldest Greek writers milk and cheese are spoken of, but there is
no evidence that butter was known to them. The Greeks obtained their
knowledge of it from the Scythians or the Thracians, and the Romans
obtained theirs from the Germans.
In the time of Christ it was used chiefly as an ointment in the baths,
and as a medicine. In warm latitudes, as in the southern part of Europe,
even at the present day, its use is comparatively limited, the delicious
oil of the olive supplying its place.
I have already stated that all good milk of the cow contained butter
enclosed in little round globules held in suspension, or floating in the
other substances. As soon as the milk comes to rest after leaving the
udder, these round particles, being lighter than the mass of cheesy and
watery materials by which they are surrounded, begin to rise and work
their way to the surface. The largest globules, being comparatively the
lightest, rise first, and form the first layer of cream, which is the
best, since it is less filled with caseine. The next smaller, rising a
little slower, are more entangled with other substances, and bring more
of them to the surface; and the smallest rise the slowest and the last,
and come up loaded with foreign substances, and produce an inferior
quality of cream and butter. The most delicate cream, as well as the
sweetest and most fragrant butter, is that obtained by a first skimming,
only a few hours after the milk is set. Of three skimmings, at six,
twelve, and eighteen hours after the milk is strained into the pan, that
first obtained will make more and richer butter than the second, and
that next obtained richer than the third, and so on.
The last quart of milk drawn at a milking, for reasons already stated,
will make a more delicious and savory butter than the first; and if the
last quart or two of a milking is set by itself, and the first cream
that rises taken from it after standing only five or six hours, it will
produce the richest and highest-flavored butter the cow is capable of
giving, under like circumstances as to season and feed.
The separation of the butter particles from the others is slower and
more difficult in proportion to the thickness and richness of the milk.
Hence in winter, on dry feeding, the milk being richer and more buttery,
the cream or particles of butter are slower and longer in rising. But,
as heat liquefies milk, the difficulty is overcome in part by elevating
the temperature. The same effect is produced by mixing a little water
into the milk when it is set. It aids the separation, and consequently
more cream will rise in the same space of time, from the same amount of
rich milk, with a little water in it, than without. Water slightly warm,
if in cold weather, will produce the most perceptible effect. The
quantity of butter will be greater from milk treated in this way; the
quality, slightly deteriorated.
It must be apparent, from what has been said, that butter may be
produced by agitating the whole body of the milk, and thus breaking up
the filmy coatings of the globules, as well as by letting it stand for
the cream to rise. This course is preferred by many practical dairymen,
and is the general practice in some of the countries most celebrated for
superior butter.
The general treatment of milk and the management of cream have been
already alluded to in a former chapter. It has been seen that the first
requisites to successful dairy husbandry are good cows, and abundant
and good feeding, adapted to the special object of the dairy, whether it
be milk, butter, or cheese; and that, with both these conditions, an
absolute cleanliness in every process, from the milking of the cow to
bringing the butter upon the table, is indispensably necessary.
Cleanliness may, indeed, with propriety be regarded as the chief
requisite in the manufacture of good butter; for the least suspicion of
a want of it turns the appetite at once, while both milk and cream are
so exceedingly sensitive to the slightest taint in the air, in
everything with which they come in contact, as to impart the
unmistakable evidence of any negligence, in the taste and flavor of the
butter.
It is safe to say, therefore, that good butter depends more upon the
manufacture than upon any other one thing, and perhaps than all others
put together. So important is this point, that a judicious writer
remarks that “in every district where good butter is made it is
universally attributed to the richness of the pastures, though it is a
well-known fact that, take a skilful dairymaid from that district into
another, where good butter is not usually made, and where, of course,
the pastures are deemed very unfavorable, she will make butter as good
as she used to do. And bring one from this last district into the other,
and she will find that she cannot make better butter there than she did
before, unless she takes lessons from the servants, or others whom she
finds there;” and a French writer very justly observes that “the
particular nature of Bretagne butter, whose color, flavor, and
consistence, are so much prized, depends neither on the pasture nor on
the particular species of cow, but on the mode of making;” and this will
hold, to a considerable extent, in every country where butter is made.
Many things, indeed, concur to produce the best results, and it would be
useless to underrate the importance of any; but, with the best of cows
to impart the proper color and consistency to butter, the sweetest feed
and the purest water to secure a delicate flavor, the utmost care must
still be bestowed by the dairymaid upon every process of manufacture, or
else the best of milk and cream will be spoiled, or produce an article
which will bring only a low price in the market, when, with greater
skill, it might have obtained the highest.
From what has been said of the care requisite to preserve the milk from
taint, it may be inferred that attention to the milk and dairy room is
of no small importance. In very large butter-dairies, a building is
devoted exclusively to this department. This should be at a short
distance from the yard, or place of milking, but no further than is
necessary to be removed from all impurities in the air arising from it,
and from all low, damp places, subject to disagreeable exhalations. This
is of the utmost importance. It should be well ventilated, and kept
constantly clean and sweet, by the use of pure water; and especially, if
milk is spilled, it should be washed up immediately, with fresh water.
No matter if it is but a single drop; if allowed to soak into the floor
and sour, it cannot easily be removed, and it is sufficient to taint the
air and the milk in the room, though it may not be perceptible to the
senses.
In smaller dairies, economy dictates the use of a room in the house; and
this, in warm climates, should be on the north side, and used
exclusively for this purpose. I have known many to use a room in the
cellar as a milk-room; but very few cellars are at all suitable. Most
are filled with a great variety of articles which never fail to infect
the air.
But, if a house-cellar is so built as to make it a suitable place to
set the milk, as where a large dry and airy room, sufficiently isolated
from the rest, can be used, a greater uniformity of temperature can
usually be secured than on the floor above. The room, in this case,
should have a gravel or loamy bottom, uncemented, but dry and porous.
The soil is a powerful absorbent of the noxious gases which are apt to
infect the atmosphere near the bottom of the cellar.
Milk should never be set on the bottom of a cellar, if the object is to
raise the cream. The cream will rise in time, but rarely or never so
quickly or so completely as on shelves from five to eight feet from the
bottom, around which a free circulation of pure air can be had from the
latticed windows. It is, perhaps, safe to say that as great an amount of
better cream will rise from the same milk in twelve hours on suitable
shelves, six feet from the bottom, as would be obtained directly on the
bottom of the same cellar in twenty-four hours.
[Illustration: Fig. 73. Milk-stand.]
One of the most convenient forms for shelves in a dairy-room designed
for butter-making is represented in Fig. 73, made of light and seasoned
wood, in an octagonal form, and capable of holding one hundred and
seventy-six pans of the ordinary form and size. It is so simple and
easily constructed, and so economizes space, that it may readily be
adapted to other and smaller rooms for a similar purpose. If the
dairy-house is near a spring of pure and running water, a small stream
can be led in by one channel and taken out by another, and thus keep a
constant circulation under the milk-stand, which may be so constructed
as to turn easily on the central post, so as often to save many
footsteps.
The pans designed for milk are generally made of tin. That is found,
after long experience, to be, on the whole, the best and most
economical, and subject to fewer objections than most other materials.
Glazed earthen ware is often used, the chief objection to it being its
liability to break, and its weight. It is easily kept clean, however,
and is next in value to tin, if not, indeed, equal to it. A tin skimmer
is commonly used, somewhat in the form of the bowl of a spoon, and
pierced with holes, to remove the cream. In some sections of the
country, a large white clam-shell is very commonly used instead of a
skimmer made for the purpose, the chief objection to it being that the
cream is not quite so carefully separated from the milk.
A mode of avoiding the necessity of skimming has long been used to some
extent in England, by which the milk is drawn off through a hole in the
bottom of the pan. This plan is recommended by Unwerth, a German
agriculturist, who proposes a pan represented in Fig. 74, made of block
tin, oblong in shape, and having the inside corners carefully rounded.
The pan is only two inches in depth, and is made large enough to hold
six or eight quarts of milk at the depth of one and a half inches. This
shallowness greatly facilitates the rapid separation of the cream,
especially at a temperature somewhat elevated. A strainer is shown in
Fig. 75, pierced with holes, the centre half an inch lower than the rim,
to which hooks are fixed to hold it to the top of the pan. On this a
coarse linen cloth is laid, the milk being strained through both the
cloth and the strainer, thus serving to separate all foreign substances
in a thorough manner.
[Illustration: Fig. 74. Milk-pan.]
[Illustration: Fig. 75.]
[Illustration: Fig. 76.]
[Illustration: Fig. 77.]
In the bottom of the milk-pan, near one end, is an opening, _a_, through
which the milk is drawn, after the cream is all risen or separated from
it, by raising a brass pin, _b_. The opening is lined with brass, and is
three fourths of an inch in diameter. Fig. 76 represents the tin
cylinder magnified. This is pierced, to the height of an inch, with many
small holes, diminishing in size towards the top. The cream is all risen
in twenty-four hours. The pin is then drawn from the cylinder, and the
milk flows out, leaving the thick cream, which is prevented from flowing
out by the smallness of the holes in the cylinder.
With the form of pans in most common use in this country, which are
circular, three or four inches deep, this shallow depth of milk causes a
little more trouble in skimming; but, if the principle is correct, the
form and depth of the pan will be easily adapted to it.
After the cream is removed, it is put into stone or earthen jars, and
kept in a cool place till a sufficient quantity is accumulated to make
it convenient to churn. If a sufficient number of cows is kept, it is
far better to churn every day; but in ordinary circumstances that may be
oftener than is practicable. The more frequently the better; and the
advantages of frequent churning are so great that cream should never be
kept longer than three or four days, where it is possible to churn so
often.
The mode of churning in one of the many good dairies in
Pennsylvania,--that of Mr. J. Comfort, of Montgomery county,--is as
follows: He uses a large barrel-shaped churn, of the size of about two
hogsheads, hung on journals supported by a framework in an adjoining
building. It is worked by machinery in a rotatory motion, by a horse
travelling around in a circle. The churning commences about four o’clock
in the morning in summer, the cream being poured into the churn and the
horse started. When the butter has come, a part of the butter-milk is
removed by a vent-hole in the churn. Then, without beating the mass
together, as is usual, a portion of the butter and its butter-milk is
taken out by the spatula and placed in the bottom of a tub covered with
fine salt, and spread out equally to a proper depth; then the surface of
this butter is covered with salt, and another portion of butter and
butter-milk taken from the churn and spread over the salted surface in
the same manner, and salted as before, thus making a succession of
layers, till the tub is full. The whole is then covered with a white
cloth, and allowed to stand a while. A part of this butter, say eight or
ten pounds, is then taken from the tub and laid on a marble table (Fig.
80), grooved around the edges, and slightly inclined, with a place in
the groove for the buttermilk and whey to escape. It is then worked by a
butter-worker or brake, turning on a swivel-joint, which perfectly and
completely removes the butter-milk, and flattens out the butter into a
thin mass; then the surface is wiped by a cloth laid over it, and the
working and wiping repeated till the cloth adheres to the butter, which
indicates that the butter is dry enough, when it is separated into pound
lumps, weighed and stamped, ready for market. The rest of the butter in
the tub is treated in the same way.
It will be seen that this method avoids the ordinary washing with water,
not a drop of water being used, from beginning to the end. It avoids
also the working by hand, which in warm weather has a tendency to soften
the butter. In the space of about an hour a hundred pounds are thus
made, and its beautiful color and fragrance preserved. If it happens to
come from the churn soft, it hardens by standing a little longer in the
brine.
The most common form of the churn in small dairies is the upright or
dash-churn, Fig. 77; but many other forms are in extensive use, each
possessing, doubtless, more or less merit peculiar to itself. The
cylinder churn, Fig. 78, is very simply constructed, and capable of
being easily cleaned. Some prefer the thermometer churn, Fig. 79, having
an attachment for indicating the temperature of the cream.
[Illustration: Fig. 78.]
[Illustration: Fig. 79.]
As already stated, there are two modes of practice with regard to the
process of churning, each of which has its advantages. The milk itself
may be churned, or it may be set in the milk-room for the cream to rise,
which is to be churned by itself. The former is the practice of a
successful dairyman of New York, who, in his statement, says: “I take
care to have my cellar thoroughly cleansed and whitewashed early every
spring. I keep milk in one cellar, and butter in another. Too much care
cannot be taken by dairymen to observe the time of churning. I usually
churn from one hour to one hour and a half, putting from one to two
pails of cold water in each churn. When the butter has come, I take it
out, wash it through one water, set it in the cellar and salt it, then
work it from three to five times before packing. Butter should not be
made quite salt enough until the last working. Then add a little salt,
which makes a brine that keeps the butter sweet. One ounce of salt to a
pound of butter is about the quantity I use. I pack the first day, if
the weather is cool; if warm, the second. If the milk is too warm when
churned, the quantity of butter will be less, and the quality and flavor
not so good as when it is at a a proper temperature, which, for churning
milk, is from 60° to 65°.”
But, whichever course it is thought best to adopt, whether the milk or
cream is churned, it is the concussion, rather than the motion, which
serves to bring the butter. This may be produced in the simple square
box as well as by the dasher churn; and it is the opinion of a
scientific gentleman with whom I have conversed on the subject, that the
perfect square is the best form of the churn ever invented. The cream or
milk in this churn has a peculiar compound motion, and the concussion on
the corners and right-angled sides is very great, and causes the butter
to come as rapidly as it is judicious to have it. This churn consists of
a simple square box, which any one who can handle a saw and plane can
make, hung on axles turned by a crank somewhat like the barrel churn. No
dasher is required. If any one is inclined to doubt the superiority of
this form over all others, he can easily try it and satisfy himself. It
costs but little.
In some sections the milk is churned soon after milking; in others, the
night’s and morning’s milk are mixed together, and churned at noon; in
others, the cream is allowed to rise, when the milk is curdled, and
cream, curd, and whey, are all churned together.
A successful instance of churning only the cream is found in the
statement of Mr. Lincoln, who received the first dairy premium of the
Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture. He says: “The
cream, as it is skimmed, is poured into stone pots, which in warm
weather are kept in a refrigerator, and during the winter stand in the
milk-room. The times of churning depend upon the quantity of cream.
“The time usually occupied in churning is from fifty minutes upwards.
This is deemed a matter of importance. We consider it much better to
bring the cream to the degree of temperature necessary to the formation
of butter by a steady, moderate agitation, than to use artificial heat
to take it to that point before commencing to churn. By such moderate,
long-continued agitations, we think the butter has a firmer, more waxy
consistence than it can have by more rapid churning. The churn used is
‘Galt’s.’ Numerous trials have been made with many of the other kinds of
churns in comparison with this, and the result has been uniformly
favorable to this patent.
“When the butter has _come_, the butter-milk is drawn off, and the
butter, after being thoroughly worked, is salted with from one half to
three fourths ounces of salt to the pound. It is now set away for
twenty-four hours, when it is again worked over thoroughly, and made
into pound lumps with wooden ‘spatters.’ After standing another
twenty-four hours, it is sent into market. In ‘working’ butter we use a
table over which a fluted roller is made to pass (Fig. 80), rolling out
the butter into a thin sheet, and completely and entirely depriving it
of butter-milk.
“From many years’ experience, the observation is warranted, that by no
other process of manufacture can the butter-milk be so completely
extracted. I am aware of the truth of the objection made that the
shrinkage occasioned by its use is too great; yet there is, in fact, a
difference in the worth of the butter made upon it, over that
manufactured in the ordinary way, quite equal to the loss in weight
occasioned by it.”
The high reputation of Philadelphia butter being so well known, I was
desirous of ascertaining the opinions of practical men as to what this
was due,--whether to any peculiar richness of the pasturage, or to the
careful mode of manufacture. In reply to my inquiries, I have received
satisfactory statements from several sources, and among them the
following communication from one of the most successful of the
butter-makers who supply that market. “The high reputation of
Philadelphia butter,” he says, “is owing to the manner of its
manufacture, though I would not say that the sweet-scented vernal and
other natural grasses do not add to the fine quality of well-made
butter.
“In proof of what I say, I would refer to the experience of my brother,
who is the owner of two farms. His tenant, an excellent butter-maker,
lived on one farm, and made a very fine article, which brought the
highest prices. He moved to the other farm, where the former tenant had
never made good butter, and had ascribed his want of success to the
spring-house. On this farm he succeeded in establishing a higher
reputation than he ever had before. The tenant who followed him on the
first farm never succeeded in gaining a reputation for good butter, his
inability arising from his ignorance of the proper mode of manufacture,
and his unwillingness to improve by the experience of others.
“Only a part of the information as to the best mode of manufacture can
be given, so much depends on the _judgment_ and experience of the
operator. The first thing required is to provide a suitable place. This
should be, for the summer months, a well-ventilated house, over a good
spring of water. The second requisite will be proper vessels to hold the
milk and cream, and for churning. A table is needed which shall not be
used for any other purpose than for working and printing the butter on.
I have always used a lever in connection with the table (Fig. 80). A
large sponge, with a linen cloth to cover it, with which the milk can be
removed from the butter, is another important article; and then a
skimmer, either of wood or tin, or both, as may be necessary in the
different states of the milk; a thermometer, and a boiler convenient for
heating water for cleansing the vessels. No person can expect to make
good butter without the greatest attention to the cleanliness of the
vessels used for the milk and cream, and care in exposing them to the
sun and air.
“After the milk has been brought from the yard or stable, strain it
immediately into the pans, in which has been put a little sour milk from
which the cream has been removed, the quantity varying from a
tablespoonful to half a common teacupful, according to the state of the
weather. In very warm weather the smaller quantity is sufficient. But
the rule for warm weather will not always hold good; for, from the
electrical state of the atmosphere, the milk may sour either too slow or
too fast.
“The pans containing the milk should then be set into the water, if the
weather be hot: and here is a point where the operator should exercise
his or her judgment; for even in warm weather it may be necessary to
draw off the water from the milk, if the spring be cold. The milk should
remain there, under no circumstances, longer than the fourth meal, or
forty-eight hours; but thirty-six hours is much to be preferred, if the
milk has become thick, or the cream sufficiently raised, when it should
be taken off carefully, so as not to take any sour milk with it, and put
in the cream-pot. When the cream-pot is full, sprinkle a small handful
of fine salt over the top of the cream, and let it remain. Our custom
has been, when making butter but once a week, to pour the cream into a
clean vessel at the end of three days, keeping back any milk that might
have been taken up with the cream, which is found at the bottom of the
jar.
“I would mention that it is essential, in making a fine article, to keep
the cream clear of milk. The next operation will he preparatory to
churning, by straining the cream, and reducing the temperature of the
churn by the use of the cold spring-water. The operation of churning
should neither be protracted nor hastened too much. After the butter has
made its appearance of the size of a small pea, draw off the milk, and
throw in a small amount of cold water, and gather it. After the butter
has been taken from the churn, it is placed upon the table, worked over
by the lever, and salted; then worked again with the lever, in
connection with the sponge and cloth, a pan of cold water being at hand,
with a piece of ice in it in summer, into which you throw the cloth and
sponge frequently, and wring out dry before again using it. These, as
well as every other article which will come into contact with the
butter, must be scalded, and afterward, as well as the hands, placed in
cold water. I would here add that the use of the sponge is one of the
important points in making butter to keep well; for by it you can
remove almost every particle of butter-milk, which is the great agent in
the destruction of its sweetness and solidity. For the winter dairy a
room in which is placed a stove should be provided, which can be made
warm, and also well ventilated. I prefer the use of coal, on account of
keeping the fire through the night. My dairy-room is adjoining the
spring-house, and connects with it, which I consider important. This
room should be used for no other purpose, as cream and butter are the
greatest absorbents of effluvia with which I am acquainted. I have known
good butter to be spoiled by being placed over night in a close closet.
“The thermometer should always accompany the winter dairy. There is one
thing very important in the winter dairy, which, perhaps, I should have
placed first, and that is the food of the cows; for, without something
else than hay, you will not make very fine butter. Mill-feed and
corn-meal I consider about the best for yield and quality, although
there are many other articles of food which will be useful, and
contribute to the appetite and health of the cattle.
“The process for the winter dairy is similar to that of the summer, with
the exception of the regulation as to the temperature of room, etc.,
which is as follows:
“Particular care should be taken not to let the milk get cold before
placing it in the dairy-room; for, should it be completely chilled, the
cream will not rise well. Add about a gill of warm water to the sour
milk for each pan, before straining into it, which will greatly
facilitate the rising of the cream. Keep the temperature of the room as
near fifty-eight degrees, Fahrenheit, as possible, and guard against the
air being dry by having a small vessel of water upon the stove, or else
a dry coat will form on the surface of the cream. The cream should be
kept in a colder place than the dairy-room until the night before
churning, when it might be placed in the warm room, so that its
temperature shall be about 58°.
“The churn may be prepared by scalding it, and then reduced to the same
temperature as the cream by cold water, using the thermometer as a test.
“This regulation of temperature is of the greatest importance: for,
should it be too low, you will be a long time churning, and have poor,
tasteless butter; if too high, the butter will be soft and white.”
What is especially noticeable in the above statement is the use of the
sponge, and the thorough and complete removal of all the butter-milk.
Here is probably the secret of success, after all. I have given the
statement in full, notwithstanding its length, on account of the
well-known excellence of the butter produced by the process, as well as
for the suggestions with regard to the dairy-rooms, and not because I
can recommend all its details for the imitation of others. The use of
sour milk in the pans is based, I suppose, on the idea that the cream
does not begin to rise till acidity commences in the milk,--an idea
which was once pretty generally entertained; but the process of souring
undoubtedly commences, though imperceptible to the senses, very soon
after the milk comes to rest in the pan. At any rate, there is no doubt
that the separation of the butter from the other substances commences at
once, and without the addition of any foreign substance to the milk.
Nor do I believe there is any necessity for the milk to stand over
twenty-four hours in any case; for I have no doubt that all the best of
the cream rises within the first twelve hours, under favorable
circumstances, and I am inclined to think that whatever is added to the
quantity of cream after twenty-four hours, detracts from the quality of
the butter to an extent which more than counterbalances the whole of the
quantity.
Many good dairy-women make an exceedingly fine article, in spite of the
defects of some parts of the process of manufacture. This does not show
that they would not make still better butter if they remedied these
defects.
The more we can retard the development of acidity in the milk, within
certain limits, the more cream may we expect to get; and hence some use
artificial means for this purpose, mixing in the milk a little
crystallized soda, dissolved in twice its volume of water, which
corrects the acidity as soon as it forms. It is a perfectly harmless
addition, and increases the product of the butter, and improves its
quality. But under ordinarily favorable circumstances, from twelve to
eighteen hours will be sufficient to raise all the cream in summer, and
from twenty to thirty hours in winter.
[Illustration: Fig. 80. Butter-worker.]
The butter-worker, Fig. 80, with its marble top, used by the writer of
the statement above, is an important addition to the implements of the
dairy. It effects the complete removal of the butter-milk, without the
necessity of bringing the hands in contact with it. Another form of the
lever butter-worker is seen in Fig. 81.
[Illustration: Fig. 81.]
To keep the cream properly after it is placed away in pots or jars, it
should stand in a cool place, and whenever additions of fresh cream are
made, they should be stirred in. Many keep the cream, as well as the
butter, in the well, in hot weather. This is the practice of Mr.
Horsfall, whose experiments have been alluded to. Finding his butter
inclined to be soft, he lowered a thermometer twenty-eight feet into the
well, and found it indicated 43°, the temperature of the surface being
70°. He then let down the butter, and found it somewhat improved; and
soon after began to lower down the cream, by means of a movable windlass
and a rope, the cream-jar being placed in a basket hung on the rope. The
cream was let down on the evening previous to churning, and drawn up in
the morning and immediately churned. The time of churning the cream at
this temperature would be as long as in winter, and the butter was found
to have the same consistency.
The same object is effected in this country by the use of ice in many
sections; but, if the butter remains too long on ice, or in an
ice-house, it is apt to become bleached, and lose its natural and
delicate straw-color.
The time of churning is by no means an unimportant matter. Various
contrivances have been made to shorten this operation; but the opinions
of the best and most successful dairymen concur that it cannot be too
much hastened without injuring the fine quality and consistency of the
butter. The time required depends much on the temperature of the cream;
and this can be regulated at convenience, as indicated above.
The temperature of the dairy-room should be as uniform as possible. The
practice of the best and most successful dairymen differs in respect to
the degree to which it should be kept; but the range is from 52° to 62°
Fahr., and I am inclined to think from 58° to 60° the best. At 60°, with
a current of fresh, pure air passing over it, the cream will rise very
rapidly and abundantly.
The greatest density of milk is at about 41°, and cream rises with great
difficulty and slowness as the temperature falls below 50° towards that
point.
A practical butter dealer of New York gives the following as the best
mode of packing butter, or putting it up for a distant market. The
greatest care, he says, should be taken to free the butter entirely from
milk, by working it and washing it after churning at a temperature so
low as to prevent it from losing its granular character and becoming
greasy. The character of the product depends in a great measure on the
temperature of churning and working, which should be between sixty and
seventy degrees Fahr. If free from milk, eight ounces of Ashton salt is
sufficient for ten pounds. Western salt should never be used, as it
injures the flavor. While packing, the contents of the firkin should be
kept from the air by being covered with saturated brine. No undissolved
salt should be put in the bottom of the firkin.
Goshen butter is reputed best, though much is put up in imitation of it,
and sold at the same price. Great care should be taken to have the
firkins neat and clean. They should be of white oak, with hickory hoops,
and should hold about eighty pounds. Wood excludes air better than
stone, and consequently keeps butter better. Tubs are better than pots.
Western butter comes in coarse, ugly packages; even flour and pork
barrels are sometimes used. Much of it must be worked over and re-packed
here before it will sell. It generally contains a good deal of milk, and
if not re-worked soon becomes rancid. Improper packing, in kegs too
large and soiled on the outside, makes at least three cents a pound
difference. Whatever the size of the firkin, it must be perfectly tight
and quite full of butter, so that when opened the brine, though present,
will not be found on the top.
Until the middle of May, dairymen should pack in quarter firkins or
tubs, with white oak covers, and send directly to market as fresh
butter. From this time until the fall frost there is but little change
in color and flavor with the same dairy, and it may be packed in whole
firkins, and kept in a cool place. The fall butter should also be packed
separately in tubs.
To prepare new butter-boxes for use in the shortest time, dissolve
common, or bicarbonate of soda in boiling water, as much as the water
will dissolve, and water enough to fill the boxes; about a pound of soda
will be required to be put into a thirty-two pound box, and the water
should be poured upon it. Let it stand over night, and the box may be
safely used next day. This mode is cheap and expeditious, and, if
adopted, would often save great losses. Potash has a like effect.
As already seen, in the statements of practical dairymen, the greatest
care is required in the salting or seasoning. Over-salted butter is not
only less palatable to the taste, but less healthy than fresh, sweet
butter. The same degree of care is needed with respect to the box in
which it is packed. I have often seen the best and richest-flavored
butter spoilt by sending it to the exhibition or to market in new and
improper boxes. A new pine-wood box should always be avoided.
Butter that has been thoroughly worked, and perfectly freed from
butter-milk, is of a firm and waxy consistence, so as scarcely to dim
the polish of the blade of a knife thrust into it, leaving upon it only
a slight dew as it is withdrawn. If it is soft in texture, and leaves
greasy streaks of butter-milk upon the knife that cuts it, or upon the
cut surface after the blade is withdrawn, it shows an imperfect and
defective process of manufacture, and is of poor quality, and will be
liable to become rancid.
An exceedingly delicate and fine-flavored butter may be made by wrapping
the cream in a napkin or clean cloth, and burying it, a foot deep or
more, in the earth, from twelve to twenty hours. This experiment I have
repeatedly tried with complete success, and have never tasted butter
superior to that produced by this method. It requires to be salted to
the taste as much as butter made by any other process. A tenacious
subsoil loam would seem to be best. After putting the cream into a clean
cloth, the whole should be surrounded by a coarse towel. The butter thus
produced is white instead of yellow or straw-color.
Butter has been analyzed by Prof. Way, with the following result:
Pure fat, or oil, 82.70
Caseine, or curd, 2.45
Water, with a little salt, 14.85 = 100
The fat or oil peculiar to butter is in winter more solid than in
summer, and known as margarine fat, while that of summer is known as
liquid or oleine fat. The proportions in which these are found in
ordinary butter have been stated by Prof. Thomson, as follows:
Summer. Winter.
Solid or margarine fat, 40 65
Liquid or oleine fat, 60 35
--- ---
100 100
Winter butter appears to be rich and fine in proportion as the oleine
fat increases. The proportion is undoubtedly dependent on the food.
A more general attention to the details of butter-making, and to the
best modes of preserving its good qualities, would add many thousands of
dollars to the aggregate profits of our American dairies.
In the management of the dairy, an ice-house and a good quantity of ice
for summer use are not only very convenient for regulating the
temperature of the dairy-room, and for keeping butter at the proper
consistence, and preserving it, but are also profitable in other
respects. And now, when ice-houses are so easily constructed, and ice is
so readily procured, no well-ordered dairy should be without a liberal
supply of it. It is housed at a time when other farm-work is not
pressing, and ponds are so distributed over the country that it may be
generally procured without difficulty; but where ponds or streams are at
too great a distance from the dairy-house, an artificial pond can be
easily made, by damming up the outlet of some spring in the
neighborhood. Where this is done, the utmost care should be taken to
keep the water perfectly clean when the ice is forming. The ice-house
should be above ground, and in a dry, airy place. The top of a dry knoll
is better than a low, damp shade. The ice may be packed in tan, sawdust,
shavings, or other non-conductors, and when wanted for use it should be
taken off the top.
CHAPTER IX.
THE CHEESE-DAIRY.
“Streams of new milk through flowing coolers stray,
And snow-white curds abound, and wholesome whey.”
Milk, if allowed to become sour, will eventually curdle, when the whey
is easily separated; and this simple mode was probably the universal
method of making cheese in ancient times. Cheese, as already explained,
is made from caseine, an ingredient of milk held in solution by means of
an alkali, which it requires the presence of an acid to neutralize.
This, in modern manufacture, is artificially added to form the curd; but
the acidity of milk, after standing, acts in the same manner to produce
coägulation. This is due to the change of the milk-sugar into lactic
acid.
Cheese has been made and used as an article of food from a very early
date. It was well known to the early Jewish patriarchs, and is
frequently mentioned in the earliest Hebrew records. “Hast thou not
poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?” says Job; and David
was sent to “carry ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand in the
camp.” Most of the ancient nations, indeed, barbarous as well as
civilized, made it a prominent article of food. But cheese, as made by
the ancients, was found to be hard and brittle, and not well flavored,
and means were devised to produce the same effect while the milk still
remained sweet. It was observed that acids of various kinds would
answer, and vinegar was used; and cream of tartar, muriatic acid, and
sour milk, added to sweet, produced a rapid coägulation. In Sweden,
Norway, and other countries, a handful of the plant known as butterwort
(_Pinguicula vulgaris_) is sometimes mixed with the food of the cow, to
cause the milk to coägulate readily. A few hours after milking, the curd
is formed without the addition of an acid. Milk taken into the stomach
of the calf was found to curdle rapidly, even while sweet; and hence the
use of rennet, which is simply the stomach of the calf, prepared by
washing, salting, and drying, for preservation. This acts the most
surely, and, if properly prepared and preserved, is the least
objectionable, of any article now known; and is, in fact, the natural
mode of curdling the milk as it enters the stomach, preparatory to the
process of digestion. Besides this, it is generally the cheapest and
most available for the farmer.
The richness of cheese depends very much upon the amount of butter or
oily matter it contains. It may be made entirely of cream, or from whole
or unskimmed milk, to which the cream of other milk is added, or from
milk from which a part of its cream has been taken, or from ordinary
skim-milk, or from milk that has been skimmed three or four times, so as
to remove nearly every particle of cream, or from butter-milk. The acid
used in curdling milk acts upon the caseine alone, and not upon the
butter particles, which are imbedded in the curd as it hardens, and thus
increase its richness and flavor without adding to its consistency,
which is due to the caseine.
It is evident, therefore, that cheese made entirely of cream cannot have
the firmness and consistence of ordinary cheese. It is only made for
immediate use, and cannot be long kept. It is, in fact, little more
than thick, dried, sweet cream, from which all the milk has been
pressed. On the other hand, skim-milk cheese has the opposite fault of
being too hard and tough, and destitute of flavor and richness. The best
quality of cheese is made from full milk, or from milk to which some
extra cream is added, as in the English Stilton renowned for its
richness and flavor. The Gloucester, Cheshire, Cheddar, Dunlop, and the
Dutch Gouda, are made of whole milk, as are the best qualities made in
this country.
The process of making cheese is both chemical and mechanical. The
heating of the milk at the time of adding the acid or rennet hastens the
chemical action, and facilitates the separation of the whey; at the same
time great nicety is required, for, if over-heated, the oily particles
will run off with the whey. On the complete separation of the whey from
the curd, and the amount of butter particles retained in the latter, the
taste or flavor and keeping qualities of the cheese depend. If properly
made, the taste improves by keeping, but the chemical changes effected
by age are not very well understood.
The practical process of manufacture most common in the best dairies of
this country will appear in the following statements of successful
competitors at agricultural exhibitions. The first was made, by request,
to the New York State Agricultural Society, and appeared in its
transactions, by A. L. Fish, of Herkimer county, one of the finest dairy
regions of that state. The value of his statement is enhanced by the
fact that his cows averaged seven hundred pounds of the first quality of
cheese each in 1844, and seven hundred and seventy-five pounds each in
1845. In his mode of manufacture, the evening’s and morning’s milk is
commonly used to make one cheese. The evening’s is strained into a tub
or pans, and cooled to prevent souring. The proper mode of cooling is to
strain the milk into the tin tub set in a wooden vat, described in the
dairy-house, and cool by filling the wooden vat with ice-water from the
ice-house, or ice in small lumps, and water from the pump. The little
cream that rises over night is taken off in the morning, and kept till
the morning and evening milk are put together, and the cream is warmed
to receive the rennet. It is mixed with about twice its quantity of new
milk, and warm water added to raise its temperature to ninety-eight
degrees: stir it till perfectly limpid, put in rennet enough to curdle
the milk in forty minutes, and mix it with the mass of milk by thorough
stirring; the milk having been previously raised to eighty-eight or
ninety degrees, by passing steam from the steam generator to the water
in the wooden vat. In case no double vat is to be had, the milk may be
safely heated to the right temperature, by setting a tin pail of hot
water into the milk in the tubs. It may be cooled in like manner by
filling the pail with ice-water, or cold spring-water where ice is not
to be had. It is not safe to heat milk in a kettle exposed directly to
the fire, as a _slight_ scorching will communicate its _taint_ to the
whole cheese and spoil it. If milk is curdled below eighty-four degrees,
the cream is more liable to work off with the whey. An extreme of heat
will have a like effect.
The curdling heat is varied with the temperature of the air, or the
liability of the milk to cool after adding rennet. The thermometer is
the only safe guide in determining the temperature; for, if the dairyman
depends upon the sensation of the hand, a great liability to error will
render the operation uncertain. If, for instance, the hands have
previously been immersed in cold water, the milk will feel warmer than
it really is; if, on the contrary, they have recently been in warm
water, the milk will feel colder than it really is. To satisfy the
reader how much this circumstance alone will affect the sensation of the
hand, let him immerse one hand in warm water, and at the same time keep
the other in a vessel of cold water, for a few moments; then pour the
water in the two dishes together, and immerse both hands in the mixture.
The hand that was previously in the warm water will feel _cold_, and the
other quite warm, showing that the sense of feeling is not a test of
temperature worthy of being relied upon. A fine cloth spread over the
tub while the milk is curdling will prevent the surface from being
cooled by circulation of air. _No jarring of the milk_, by walking upon
a springy floor, or otherwise, should be allowed while it is curdling,
as it will prevent a _perfect cohesion_ of the particles.
“When milk is curdled so as to appear like a solid, it is divided into
small particles to aid the separation of the whey from the curd. This is
often _too speedily done_ to facilitate the work, but at a sacrifice of
_quality_ and _quantity_.”
To effect the fine division of the curd for the easy separation of the
whey, Mr. Fish uses a wire network, made to fit into the tub, the meshes
of fine wire being about a half-inch square, and the outer rim of coarse
and stronger material. A cheese-knife is also used, about half as long
as the diameter of the tub, and firmly fastened to the lower end of a
long screw which passes through one end of the blade as it lies
horizontally, leaving the blade at right angles with the screw, which
has a coarse thread, and passes through a piece of wood on the top of
the tub, held firm by notches at the ends laid on the edges of the tub.
By turning a crank, the knife passes down through the curd in
revolutions, cutting it into layers of the thickness of the threads of
the screw.
The following is the statement of Mrs. Williams, of Windsor,
Massachusetts, who received the first premium at the Franklin County
Fair, in 1857, for exceedingly rich, fine, and delicately-flavored
cheeses of seventy-five pounds each. Her method, which is the result of
her own experience and observation, corresponds almost exactly, as the
committee remark, with the English mode of making the famous Cheddar
cheese, which is much the same as the Cheshire. Mrs. Williams says: “My
cheese is made from one day’s milk of twenty-nine cows. I strain the
night’s milk into a tub, skim it in the morning, and melt the cream in
the morning’s milk: I warm the night’s milk, so that with the morning’s
milk, when mixed together, it will be at the temperature of ninety-six
degrees; then add rennet sufficient to turn it in thirty minutes. Let it
stand about half or three quarters of an hour; then cross it off and let
it stand about thirty minutes, working upon it very carefully with a
skimmer. When the curd begins to settle, dip off the whey, and heat it
up and pour it on again at the temperature of one hundred and two
degrees. After draining off and cutting up, add a teacup of salt to
fourteen pounds.
“The process of making sage cheese is the same as the other, except
adding the juice of the sage in a small quantity of milk.”
Another successful competitor in the same state says: “We usually make
but one curd in a day. The night’s milk is strained into pans till
morning, when the cream that will have risen is taken off, and the milk
warmed to blood heat, when the cream is again returned to the milk and
thoroughly mixed. This prevents the melting of the cream that would
otherwise run off with the whey. The whole is then immediately laded
into a tub with the morning’s milk, and set for the cheese, with rennet
sufficient to form the curd in about thirty minutes; and here much care
is thought to be necessary in cutting and crossing the curd, and much
moderation in dipping and draining the whey from it, that the white whey
(so called) may not exude from it.
“When sufficiently drained, it is taken and cut with a sharp knife to
about the size and form of dice, when it is salted with about one pound
of fine salt to twenty-five of curd. It is then subjected to a moderate
pressure at first, gradually increasing it for two days, in the mean
time turning it twice a day, and substituting dry cloths. It is then
taken from the press and dressed all over with hot melted butter, and
covered with thin cotton cloth, and this saturated with the melted
butter. It is then placed upon the shelf, and turned and rubbed daily
with the dressing until ripe for use.”
One of the most important processes in the manufacture of good cheese is
the preparation of the rennet. This is made of the inner lining or
mucous membrane of the stomach of the young sucking calf, sometimes
called the bag or maw; and the use of it was undoubtedly suggested,
originally, by observing the complete and rapid coägulation or curdling
of milk in the stomach of a calf newly killed. “Coägulation is the first
process of digestion in the fourth stomach of the calf. There are
numerous glands scattered in and about the stomach that secrete a fluid
which readily and almost immediately accomplishes this coägulation. They
are always full of it; even after the animal is dead they remain filled
with it; and if the stomach is preserved from putrefaction, this fluid
retains its coägulating quality for a considerable period; therefore
dairy-women usually take care of the maw or stomach of the calf; and
preserve it by salting it, and then, by steeping it, or portions of it,
in warm water, they prepare what they call a rennet. After the maw has
been salted a certain time, it may be taken out and dried, and then it
will retain the same property for an indefinite period. A small piece of
the maw thus dried is steeped over night in a few teaspoonfuls of warm
water, and this water will _turn_ the milk of three or four cows.”
It is important that rennet enough should be prepared at once for the
whole season, in order to secure as great a uniformity in strength as
possible. The object should be to produce a prompt, complete, and firm
or compact coägulation of all the cheesy matter.
Mr. Aiton, in his admirable treatise on the Dairy Husbandry of Scotland,
gives the simple method of preparing the rennet in the dairy districts,
as follows: “When the stomach or bag--usually termed the yirning--is
taken from the calf’s body, its contents are examined, and if any straw
or other food is found among the curdled milk, such impurity is
carefully removed; but all the curdled milk found in the bag is
carefully preserved, and no part of the chyle is washed out. A
considerable quantity of salt--at least two handfuls--is put into and
outside the bag, which is then rolled up and hung near a fire to dry. It
is always allowed to hang until it is well dried, and is understood to
be improved by hanging a year or longer before being infused.
“When rennet is wanted, the yirning with its contents is cut small, and
put into a jar with a handful or two of salt; and a quantity of soft
water that has been boiled and cooled to sixty-five degrees, or of new
whey taken off the curd, is poured into it. The quantity of water or
whey necessary is more or less, according to the quality of the yirning:
if it is that of a new-dropped calf, a Scotch chop pin, or at most
three English pints, will be enough; but if the calf has been fed four
or five weeks, two quarts or more may be used; the yirning of a calf
four weeks old yields more rennet than that of one twice that age. When
the infusion has remained in the jar from one to three days, the liquid
is drawn off and strained, after which it is bottled for use; and if a
dram-glass of any ardent spirit is put into each bottle, the infusion
may either be used immediately, or kept as long as may be convenient.”
The mode of preparing rennet in the dairy districts of this country is
various; but that adopted by Mr. Fish, of Herkimer, New York, already
quoted, is simple and easy of application. He says: “Various opinions
exist as to the best mode of saving rennet, and that is generally
adopted which, it is supposed, will curdle the most milk. I have no
objection to any mode that will preserve its strength and flavor so that
it will be smelled and _tasted_ with good relish _when put into the
milk_. Any composition not thus kept I deem unfit for use, as the
coägulator is an essential agent in cheesing the curd, and sure to
impart its own flavor.
“The rennet never should be taken from the calf till the excrement shows
the animal to be in perfect health. It should be emptied of its
contents, salted, and dried, without any scraping or rinsing, and kept
dry for one year, when it will be fit for use. It should not be allowed
to gather dampness, or its strength will evaporate. To prepare it for
use, into ten gallons of water, blood warm, put ten rennets; churn or
rub them often for twenty-four hours; then rub and press them to get the
strength; stretch, salt, and dry them, as before. They will gain
strength for a second use. Make the liquor as salt as it can be made,
strain and settle it, separate it from the sediment, if any, and it is
fit for use. Six lemons, two ounces of cloves, two ounces of cinnamon,
and two ounces of common sage, are sometimes added to the liquor, to
preserve its flavor and quicken its action. If kept cool in a stone jar,
it will keep sweet any length of time desired, and a uniform strength is
secured while it lasts. Stir it before dipping off. To set milk, take of
it enough to curdle milk firm in forty minutes; squeeze or rub through a
rag annatto enough to make the curd a cream color, and stir it in with
the rennet.” It will be seen that he adopts the practice of removing the
contents of the stomach. This, it appears to me, is the best calculated
to promote cleanliness and purity, so important in making a
good-flavored cheese.
But in Cheshire, so celebrated for its superior cheese, the contents of
the stomach are frequently salted by themselves, and after being a short
time exposed to the air are fit for use; while the well-known and
highly-esteemed Limburg cheese is mostly made with rennet prepared as in
Ayrshire, the curd being left in the stomach, and both dried together.
The general opinion is that rennet, as usually prepared, is not fit to
use till nearly a year old.
Perhaps the plan of making a liquid rennet from new and fresh stomachs,
and keeping it in bottles corked tight till wanted for use, would tend
still further to secure this end.
The use of annatto to color the cheese artificially is somewhat common
in this country, though probably not so much so as in many other
countries. Annatto, or annotto, is made from the red pulp of the seeds
of an evergreen tree of the same name, found in the West Indies and in
Brazil, by bruising and obtaining a precipitate. A variety is made in
Cayenne, which comes into the market in cakes of two or three pounds. It
is bright yellow, rather soft to the touch, but of considerable
solidity. The quantity used is rarely more than an ounce to one hundred
pounds, and the effect is simply to give the high coloring so common to
the Gloucester and Cheshire cheeses, and to many made in this country.
This artificial coloring is continued from an idle prejudice, somewhat
troublesome to the dairyman, expensive to the consumer, and adding
nothing to the taste or flavor of the article. The annatto itself is so
universally and so largely adulterated, often by poisonous substances,
such as lead and mercury, that the practice of using it by the
cheese-maker, and of requiring the high coloring by the consumer, might
well be discontinued. The common mode of application is to dissolve it
in hot milk, and add at the time of putting in the rennet, or to put it
upon the outside, in the manner of paint.
[Illustration: Fig. 82. Cheese-press.]
The cheese-presses in most common use are very different in
construction, and each possesses, doubtless, some peculiar merits. The
self-acting press, Fig. 82, is the favorite of some. Another form of
this is seen in Fig. 83.
[Illustration: Fig. 83. Self-acting cheese-press.]
One of the most extensive and experienced dealers in cheese, in one of
the largest dairy districts of New York,--Mr. Harry Burrill, of Little
Falls,--has placed in my hands the following simple directions for
cheese-making.
The cheese-tub should be so graduated that it may be correctly known
what quantity of milk is used. This is requisite, in order that the
proper proportions, both of coloring matter and rennet, may be used. The
temperature should be ascertained by the thermometer. Experience proves
that when the dairy has been at seventy degrees the best temperature at
which to run the milk will be eighty-four degrees; but, as the
temperature of the dairy at different times of the year will be found to
vary above or below seventy degrees, the temperature of the milk must be
proportionally regulated by the simple addition of cold water, to lower
it; but, to increase the temperature, heat the milk in the usual manner,
although it is absolutely necessary to avoid heating it beyond one
hundred and twenty degrees.
After having brought the milk to the required temperature, and added the
coloring, for every quarter hundred weight of cheese mix one pint of new
sour whey with the requisite proportion of rennet; and, having arrived
at the formation of a good curd, which will be the invariable result of
a strict adhesion to the foregoing rules, let it be carefully cut up
with three-bladed knives, as fine as possible; then dip off half the
whey, and heat a portion of it to the temperature of ninety-five
degrees, and return it to the whey and curds; then, after stirring it
for five minutes, allow the curd to sink, and as quickly as possible dip
off the whey. Having done this, press the curd by placing on it a board
weighted with from three to five fifty-pound weights, which will
gradually and effectually press the remainder of the whey out.
When the whey is dipped off, put the curd into white twig basket-vats,
made the shape and size of a turned vat, which would contain the sixth
of a hundred weight (about three inches deep, and two feet in diameter).
It will be necessary to have boards about one inch thick, and two feet
four inches in diameter, to go between each of these twig vats, to
prevent the whey running from one vat into the other. When it has been
pressed, return it again into the cheese-tub, cut it into small pieces,
put it into the vats again in dry cloths, press it and return it to the
tub again, cutting it into small pieces, and to every hundred weight of
curd add one and one quarter pounds of salt; grind it twice, and stir it
so that it shall be properly mixed with the salt; then put it into
well-perforated turned vats, taking care to press it thoroughly whilst
the vats are filling, to prevent the accumulation of air, to the
presence of which is to be attributed the honeycomb appearance so often
observed in cheese when cut.
When the cheese is put into the press let the pressure gradually upon
it. After it has been in press one and a half hours, take it out and
examine it, and, should there be any curd pressed over, cut it round and
put it into the middle of the cheese, carefully breaking it up in the
middle. Wash the ends of the cloths out in a bowl of warm water, squeeze
them, and cover the cheese up, and, if there should be any not
sufficiently full, it will be necessary either to put a follower upon
it, or to put it into a smaller vat; in the evening let them be dry
clothed. The following morning salt them all over and dry cloth them,
and repeat this three successive mornings; after which, put them in
vats, placed one on the other, and allow them to stand, if possible, a
fortnight, occasionally wiping them. The cheese will get matured much
sooner by these means, and the tendency to cracking and bulging be
prevented.
The way to get a fine coat upon cheese, after the first coat has been
washed and scraped off, is to put the cheese on shelves, nail thick
sheeting to the ceiling from one of the shelves to the other, and let it
drop closely to the floor. If put over the floor, cover them over with
thick sheeting, or rugs.
The varieties of cheese are almost infinite in number, and are often
dependent on very minute details of practice. The general principles
involved are the same in all; but it would be next to impossible to find
any one variety of cheese possessing uniformity throughout, in point of
texture, consistency, taste, flavor, and keeping qualities; and it is
rare, with the present guess-work in many of the operations of
cheese-making, to find a lot of cheese made in the same dairy, from the
same cows, on the same pastures and by the same hands, which can be
considered a fair sample of what is generally produced. These great
differences are due to feeding and treatment of the cows in part, but
especially to the temperature of the milk at the time of curding, which
is again in part dependent on the quality and strength of the rennet
employed.
Nothing is more susceptible to external influences, as has been remarked
elsewhere, than milk and cream, both of which are liable to taint from
the food of the cows, from impurities derived from careless milking,
from exposure to foul or impure air in the cellar or milk-room, and from
sudden changes in the atmosphere. The most scrupulous cleanliness is,
therefore, required to produce a first quality of cheese, even under
favorable circumstances. And when it is considered that it is necessary
to observe minutely the temperature of the milk, and that slight
differences at the time of forming the curd may make the difference of
mellowness or toughness in the ripened cheese, and that the proper
temperature is affected by the time taken to bring the curd, which
depends on the strength and quality of the rennet, some of which will
act in fifteen or twenty minutes, while the same quantity of others
requires even two or three hours to produce the same effect, the
infinite variety in the qualities of cheese will scarcely be a matter of
surprise.
A brief statement of the mode of making some of the more important and
well-known varieties will be sufficient in this connection. The details
of cheese-making in some of the best of the dairies of New England and
New York correspond in a remarkable degree with the mode of making
Cheddar and Cheshire cheese, both celebrated for their richness and
popularity in the market. Of the latter there are made, it is said, over
twelve thousand tons annually; Cheshire taking the lead in
cheese-making, and keeping about forty thousand cows.
CHESHIRE CHEESE is remarkable for its uniformity, being, in dairies of
the best repute, made by fixed rules, and usually by the same persons.
If the number of cows is sufficient to make a cheese from one meal, that
amount is used; if not, two meals are united. The cows are milked at six
o’clock, morning and evening; are kept on rich pastures, and never
driven far, great care being taken that nothing shall interfere with the
regularity with which every operation connected with this chief source
of the wealth and prosperity of the Cheshire farmer is conducted. The
milk is brought in large wooden pails into the milk-house, which it is
generally contrived shall have a cool north aspect, and immediately
strained into pans, and placed upon the floor of the dairy. Each pan is
about six inches in depth, and usually made of block-tin. This substance
is objected to by some because it is liable, like every other metal,
although, perhaps, in a less degree than either zinc or lead, to be
acted upon by the lactic acid, and so produce compounds of a deleterious
character. At six o’clock in the morning the cheese-ladder is put on the
cheese-tub, the whole of the night’s milk is again passed through the
sieve, and the morning’s milk is then poured upon it, and well agitated
to equalize the temperature; in cold weather a pan of hot water is
previously put into the tub, to increase the temperature of the previous
night’s meal.
The rennet is next applied, care being taken that the heat of the whole
quantity of the milk is about seventy-four degrees; and, almost
simultaneously with the rennet, the annatto,--about a quarter of an
ounce is sufficient for a cheese of sixty-four pounds,--both of which,
in all well-regulated dairies, are strained through a piece of silk or
fine cloth. The rennet is generally made on the previous evening, by a
piece of the dried skin about the size of a crown-piece being immersed
in hot water, and allowed to stand all night. After the rennet and
coloring matter have been thoroughly mixed with the milk, it is covered
with the lid of the cheese-tub, and in cold weather with a cloth in
addition, to preserve the temperature of the mass until the curd has
formed. It is then left undisturbed for about an hour, and frequently
longer, to allow the coägulation of the milk. After that time a
curd-breaker is passed up and down it for about five minutes, and again
it is allowed to settle for another half-hour. The whey is then taken
out by means of a dish or bowl, the curd being gathered to one side of
the tub, and gently pressed by the hand, to allow the whey to separate
from it more easily. It is then pressed by a weight of about fifty
pounds; afterwards the curd is taken out of the tub and put into a
basket, the inside of which is covered with a coarse square
cheese-cloth. The four ends of the cloth are then folded over the curd,
a tin hoop being put around the upper edge of the cheese, and within the
sides of the vat, upon which a board is placed bearing a weight of about
one hundred pounds, varying, of course, with the size of the cheese.
This process is repeated two or three times, the curd being slightly
broken at each operation. It is next taken out of the basket for salting
or curing, and either broken down small by hand or in a curd-mill. A
certain quantity of salt is then carefully and intimately mixed with
the curd, according to the experience, taste, and custom, of the
dairymaid. It is then put into the cheese-vat in a coarse cloth, pressed
lightly at first for an hour; then taken out and turned, and the
pressure increased until the proper degree of consistence is attained.
Afterwards it is turned every twelve hours for three or four days,
remaining in the vat until the curd becomes so dry as not to moisten the
cloth. During this time skewers are passed through holes made in the
sides of the vat into the body of the cheese, the more effectually to
aid the expression of the whey, the pressure being still continued. When
they are withdrawn, the whey flows through these miniature tunnels,
which are in a few moments obliterated by the superincumbent weight.
It is the practice of some dairymaids in this county to take the cheese
to a cool salting-house, leaving it there for a week or ten days,
turning it daily, and rubbing salt on the upper surface. Others immerse
the cheese in a brine almost sufficiently strong to float it, with
occasional turning; others, again, after taking the cheese from the
press, place it in a furnace at a moderate heat, and keep it closed
therein for a night; while some run a hot iron over the whole, or over
the edges. The binder--a cloth of three or four inches in breadth--is
then passed tightly round the cheese, and secured by pins, when it is
removed to the cheese-room, and placed on a kind of grass, which in
Cheshire is called sniggle, the newest or latest-made cheese being put
in the warmest situation. Here it remains, being turned over three times
a week while it is new, and less often as it becomes matured, care being
taken to keep each one of the cheeses separate from all the others. The
room selected for a store is always that which can be best protected
from the light, and any sudden changes of temperature. The best Cheshire
cheese is seldom ripe for the market under one or two years.
The STILTON CHEESE is by far the richest of the English dairies. This
originated in a small town of that name, in Leicestershire. It possesses
“a peculiar delicacy of flavor, a delicious mellowness, and a great
aptness to acquire a species of artificial decay; without which, to the
somewhat vitiated taste of lovers of Stilton cheese, as now eaten, it is
not considered of prime account. To be in good order, according to the
present standard of taste, it must be decayed, blue, and moist.” To suit
this taste, an artificial mode is adopted, old and decayed cheese being
introduced into the new, or port wine or ale added by means of tasters,
or caulking-pins are stuck into them, and left till they rust and
produce an appearance of decay in the cheese.
“It is commonly made by putting the night’s cream to the milk of the
following morning with the rennet, great care being taken that the milk
and the cream are thoroughly mixed together, and that they both have the
proper temperature. _The rennet should also be very pure and sweet._ As
soon as the milk is curdled, the whole of it is taken out, put into a
sieve gradually to drain, and moderately pressed. It is then put into a
case or box, of the form that it is intended to be; for, on account of
its richness, it would separate and fall to pieces were not this
precaution adopted. Afterwards it is turned every day on dry boards,
cloth-binders being tied around it, which are gradually tightened as
occasion requires. After it is removed from the box or hoop, the cheese
must be closely bound with cloths and changed daily, until it becomes
sufficiently compact to support itself. When these cloths are taken
away, each cheese has to be rubbed over with a brush once every day. If
the weather is moist or damp, this is done twice a day during two or
three months. It is occasionally powdered with flour, and plunged into
hot water. This hardens the outer coat and favors the internal
fermentation, and thus produces what is called the ripening of the
cheese. Sometimes it is made in a net like a cabbage-net, which gives it
the form of an acorn.”
The maturity of Stilton cheeses is sometimes hastened by putting them in
a bucket, and covering them over with horse-dung.
GLOUCESTER CHEESE is likewise quite celebrated for its richness,
piquancy, and delicacy of flavor, and justly commands a high price in
the market. The management of the milk up to the time of curding is
similar to that of Cheshire; a cheese, often being made of one meal,
requires no additional heat to raise it to a proper temperature. After
the curd is cut into small squares, the whey is carefully drained off
through a hair strainer. The cutting is repeated every thirty minutes
till the whey is removed, when it is put into vats and covered with dry
cloths, and placed in the press. After remaining a sufficient length of
time, it is put into a curd-mill and cut or ground into small pieces,
when it is again packed in fine canvas cloth, and put in the cheese-vat.
Hot water or whey is poured over the cloth, to harden the rind and
prevent its cracking. “The curd is next turned out of the vat into the
cloth, and, the inside of the vat being washed with whey, the inverted
curd with the cloth is returned to the vat. The cloth is then folded
over, and the vat put into the press for two hours, when it is taken
out, and dry cloths applied during the course of the day. It is then
replaced in the press until salted, which operation is generally
performed about twenty-four hours after it is made. In salting the
cheese, it is rubbed with finely-powdered salt, and this is thought to
make the cheese more smooth and solid than when the salting process is
performed upon the curd. The cheese is after this returned to the vat,
and put under the press, in which several are placed, the newest at the
bottom and the oldest on the top. The salting is repeated three times,
twenty-four hours being allowed to intervene between each; and the
cheese is finally taken from the press to the cheese-room in the course
of five days. In the cheese-room it is turned over every day for a
month, when it is cleaned of all scurf, and rubbed over with a woollen
cloth dipped in a paint made of Indian red or Spanish brown and small
beer. As soon as the paint is dry, the cheese is rubbed once a week with
a cloth. The quantity of salt employed is about three and a half pounds;
and one pound of annatto is sufficient to color half a ton of cheese.”
CHEDDAR CHEESE is another variety in high repute for its richness, and
commands a high price in the market. It is made of new milk only, and
contains more fat than the egg. It is, indeed, too rich for ordinary
consumption. The milk is set with rennet while yet warm, and allowed to
stand still about two hours. The whey first taken off is heated and
poured back upon the curd, and, after turning off the remainder, that is
also heated and poured back in the same manner, where it stands about
half an hour. The curd is then put into the press, and treated very much
as the Cheshire up to the time of ripeness.
The DUNLOP CHEESE, the most celebrated of Scotland, had its origin in
Ayrshire, from which it was sent to the Glasgow market, and from which
the manufacture soon spread to Lanark, Renfrew, and other adjoining
counties. It is manufactured, according to Aiton, in the following
manner: When the cows on a farm are not so numerous as to yield milk
sufficient to make a cheese every time they are milked, the milk is
stored about six or eight inches deep in the coolers, and placed in the
milk-house until as much is collected as will form a cheese of a proper
size. When the cheese is to be made, the cream is skimmed from the milk
in the coolers, and, without being heated, is, with the milk that is
drawn from the cows at the time, passed through the sieve into the
curd-vat. The cold milk from which the cream has been taken is heated so
as to raise the temperature of the whole mass to near blood heat; and
the whole is coägulated by the means of rennet carefully mixed with the
milk. The cream is put into the curd-vat, that its oily parts may not be
melted, and the skimmed milk is heated sufficient to raise the whole to
near animal heat.
It may be said that the utmost care is always taken to keep the milk, in
all stages of the operation, free not only from every admixture or
impurity, but also from being hurt by foul air arising from acidity in
any milky substance, putrid water, the stench of the barn, dunghill, or
any other substance; and likewise to prevent the milk from becoming
sour, which, when it happens, greatly injures the cheese. Great care is
taken to prevent any of the butyraceous or oily matter in the cream from
being melted in any stage of the process. To cool the milk, and to
facilitate the separation or rising of the cream, a small quantity of
clean cold water is generally mixed with the milk in each cooler. The
coägulum is formed in from ten to fifteen minutes, and nobody would use
rennet twice that required more than twenty minutes or half an hour to
form a curd. Whenever the milk is completely coägulated the curd is
broken, in order to let the serum or whey be separated and taken off.
Some break the curd slightly at first, by making cross-scores with a
knife or a thin piece of wood, at about one or two inches distant, and
intersecting each other at right angles; and these are renewed still
more closely after some of the whey has been discharged. Others break
the whole curd more minutely at once with the hand or the skimmer.
After the curd has been broken, the whey ought to be taken off as
speedily as it can be done, and with as little further breaking or
handling the curd as possible. It is necessary, however, to turn the
curd, cut it with a knife, or break it gently with the hand.
When the curd has consolidated a little, it is cut with the
cheese-knife, slightly at first, and more minutely as it hardens, so as
to bring off the whey. When the greater part of the whey has been
extracted, the curd is taken up from the curd-boyn, and, being cut into
pieces of about two inches in thickness, it is placed in a sort of vat
or sieve with many holes. A lid is placed upon it, and a slight
pressure, say from three to four stone avoirdupois; and the curd is
turned up and cut small every ten or fifteen minutes, and occasionally
pressed with the hand so long as it continues to discharge scrum. When
no more whey can be drawn off by these means, the curd is cut as small
as possible with the knife, the proper quantity of salt minutely mixed
into it in the curd-boyn, and placed in the chessart within a shift of
thin canvas, and put under the press.
All these operations ought to be carried on and completed with the least
possible delay, and yet without precipitation. The sooner the whey is
removed after the coägulation of the milk, so much the better. But, if
the curd is soft, from being set too cold, it requires more time, and to
be more gently dealt with, as otherwise much of the curd and of the fat
would go off with the whey; and when the curd has been formed too hot,
the same caution is necessary. Precipitation, or handling the curd too
roughly, would add to its toughness, and expel still more of the oily
matter; and, as has been already mentioned, hot water or whey should be
put on the curd when it is soft and cold, and cold water when the curd
is set too hot.
Undue delay, however, in any of these operations, from the time the milk
is taken out of the coolers until the curd is under the press in the
shape of a cheese, is most improper, as the curd in all these stages is,
when neglected for even a few minutes, very apt to become ill-flavored.
If it is allowed to remain too long in the curd-vat, or in the dripper
over it, before the whey is completely extracted, the curd becomes too
cold, and acquires a pungent or acrid taste; or, it softens so much that
the cheese is not sufficiently adhesive, and does not easily part with
the serum. Whenever the curd is completely set, the whey should be taken
off without delay; and the dairymaid should never leave the curd-boyn
until the curd is ready for the dripper or cheese-vat. The salt is mixed
into the curd.
After the cheese is put into the press, it remains for the first time
about an hour, or less than two hours, until it is taken out, turned
upside down in the cheese-vat, and a new cloth put around it every four
or six hours until the cheese is completed, which is generally in the
course of a day and a half, two, or at most in three days after it was
first put under the press.
Some have shortened the process of pressing by placing the cheese--after
it has been under the press for two hours or so for the first time--into
water heated to about one hundred or one hundred and ten degrees, and
allowing the cheese to remain in the water about the space of half an
hour, and thereafter drying it with a cloth, and putting it again under
the press.
When taken from the press, generally after two or three days from the
time they were first placed under it, they are exposed for a week or so
to the warmth and heat of the farmer’s kitchen,--not to excite sweating,
but merely to dry them a little before they are placed in the store,
where a small proportion of heat is admitted. While they remain in the
kitchen they are turned over three or four times every day; and,
whenever they begin to harden a little on the outside, they are laid up
on the shelves of the store, where they are turned over once a day or
once in two days for a week or so, until they are dry, and twice every
week afterwards.
The store-houses for cheese in Scotland are in proportion to the size of
the dairy,--generally a small place adjoining the milk-house, or in the
end of the barn or other buildings, where racks are placed, with as many
shelves as can hold the cheeses made in the season. When no particular
place is prepared, the racks are placed in the barn, which is generally
empty during summer; or some lay the cheeses on the floor of a garret
over some part of their dwelling-house.
Wherever the cheeses are stored, they are not sweated or put into a warm
place, but kept cool, in a place in a medium state, between damp and
dry, without the sun being allowed to shine on them, or yet a great
current of air admitted. Too much air, or the rays of the sun, would dry
the cheeses too fast, diminish their weight, and make them crack; and
heat would make them sweat or perspire, which extracts the fat, and
tends to induce hooving. But when they are kept in a temperature nearly
similar to that of a barn, the doors of which are not much open, and but
a moderate current of air admitted, the cheeses are kept in a proper
shape,--neither so dry as to rend the skin, nor so damp as to render
them mouldy on the outside; and no partial fermentation is excited, but
the cheese is preserved sound and good.
DUTCH CHEESE--The most celebrated of the Dutch cheeses is the Edam, of
North Holland, and the Gouda. The manufacture of these and other
varieties will be described in a subsequent chapter, on Dairy Husbandry
in Holland.
The PARMESAN is an Italian cheese, made of one meal of milk, allowed to
stand sixteen hours, to which is added another which has stood eight
hours. The cream being taken from both, the skim-milk is heated an hour
over a slow fire, and constantly stirred till it reaches about
eighty-two degrees, when the rennet is put in and an hour allowed to
form the curd. The curd is thoroughly broken or cut, after which a part
of the whey is removed, and the curd is then heated nearly up to the
boiling point, when a little saffron is added to color it. It then
stands over the fire about half an hour, when it is taken off, and
nearly all the rest of the whey removed, cold water being added, till
the curd is cool enough to handle. It is then surrounded with a cloth,
and, after being partially dried, is put into a hoop and remains there
two days. It is then sprinkled with salt for thirty days in summer, or
about forty in winter. One cheese is then laid above another to allow
them to take the salt; after which they are scraped and cleansed every
day, and rubbed with linseed-oil to preserve them from the attack of
insects, and they are ready for sale at the age of six months.
AMERICAN CHEESE, as it is called in the English markets, whither large
quantities are shipped for sale, is made of almost every conceivable
variety and quality, from the richest Cheddar or Cheshire to the poorest
skim-milk cheese. The statements of some of the best dairymen have
already been given. As a further illustration of the mode pursued in
other sections of the country, the statement of C. G. Taylor, a
successful competitor for the premiums offered by the Illinois State
Agricultural Society, may be given as follows:
“As the milk is drawn from the cows, it is immediately strained into a
vat. This vat is a new patent, and is better than any I have ever seen
for cheese-making. It is double, a space being left between the two
parts. Into the upper vat the milk is strained, and cold water is
applied between it and the lower one. Thus the animal heat is soon
expelled, and the milk is prevented from souring before morning. The
morning milk is added. Under the lower vat a copper boiler is arranged.
The water in the boiler is in perfect connection with that remaining all
around the upper or milk vat, connected with three copper pipes. With a
little wood the water is warmed. Thus the temperature of the milk is
soon brought to the desired point to receive the rennet, which is about
ninety to ninety-five degrees. Sufficient rennet is applied to the milk
to cause it to curdle or coägulate in from thirty to forty minutes. Then
the curd is carefully cut, each way, into slices of about one inch
square. Soon the temperature is slowly increased. In about twenty
minutes the curd is carefully broken up with the hand,--increasing the
heat, and stirring often. When the curd is sufficiently hard, so as to
“_squeal_” when you bite it, it is scalded. By this time the temperature
is up to about one hundred and thirty or one hundred and forty.
“There are hinges placed in the legs of one end of the vat, which is
easily tipped, and through the curd-strainer and whey-gate the whey is
soon run off. The curd is then dipped into a sink, over which is placed
a coarse strainer, and allowed to drain quite dry. It is then broken up
fine, and one teacup of ground solar salt added to curd to make twenty
pounds of cheese, and well worked in. After the curd is quite cool, it
is placed in the hoop, and a light pressure is applied. In a few minutes
more power is needed. After remaining in press about six hours, it is
taken out of the hoop, wholly covered with strong muslin, finely sewed
on, and then reversed and replaced in the hoop and press. It is allowed
to remain until the next day, when it has to give place for another.
“After pressing thus twenty-four hours, the cheese is placed upon the
shelf, and allowed to stand until the cloth is dry. Then a preparation,
made from annatto and butter-oil, is applied sufficiently to fill all
the interstices of the cloth. It must be turned and thoroughly rubbed
three times a week, until ripe for use.
“I use the self-acting press. I know of none in use that is better,--the
weight of the cheese being the power.”
The statements of skilful and practical dairymen, in different parts of
the country, are sufficient to show that good cheese can be produced;
but it is believed that a more general attention to all the details of
the dairy would add many thousand dollars a year to the wealth of the
people, and enable us to compete successfully with the best dairy
countries in the world.
The composition of cheese will, of course, differ widely in nutritive
value, according to the mode of manufacture, age, etc. A specimen of
good cheese was found to contain about 31.02 per cent. of flesh-forming
substances, 25.30 per cent. of heat-producing substances, 4.90 per cent.
of mineral matter, and 38.78 per cent. of water.
The analyses of several varieties will serve as a comparison of cheese
with other kinds of food. The Cheddar was a rich cheese two years old,
the double Gloucester one year old, the Dunlop one year old, the
skim-milk one year.
--------+--------+---------+-------+-----
| | Dbl. | |Skim-
|Cheddar.|Glo’ster.|Dunlop.|milk.
+--------+---------+-------+-----
Water, | 30.04 | 35.81 | 38.46 |43.82
Caseine,| 28.98 | 37.96 | 25.87 |45.04
Fat, | 30.40 | 21.97 | 31.86 | 5.98
Ash, | 4.58 | 4.25 | 8.81 | 5.18
--------+--------+---------+-------+-----
Professor Johnston gives a table of comparison of Cheddar and skim-milk
cheese in a dried state, and milk, beef, and eggs, also in a dried
state, as follows:
---------------+-----+-------+---------+-----+-----
| |Cheddar|Skim-milk| |
| |cheese,| cheese, | |
|Milk.| dried.| dried. |Beef.|Eggs.
+-----+-------+---------+-----+-----
Caseine (curd),| 35 | 45 | 80 | 89 | 55
Fat (butter), | 24 | 48 | 11 | 7 | 40
Sugar, | 37 | - | - | - | -
Mineral matter,| 4 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 5
+-----+-------+---------+-----+-----
| 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100
---------------+-----+-------+---------+-----+-----
A full-milk cheese differs but little from pure milk, except in the
absence of sugar, which, as already seen, is held in solution, and goes
off in the whey. The difference becomes greater in proportion as the
cream is removed from the milk before curding, and the nutritive
qualities thereby diminished.
Cheese is used both as a regular article of food, for which the ordinary
kinds of full-milk cheeses are admirably fitted, and as a condiment or
digester, in connection with other articles of food; and for this
purpose the stronger varieties, such as are partially decayed and
mouldy, are best. “When the curd of milk is exposed to the air in a
moist state, for a few days, at a moderate temperature, it begins
gradually to decay, to emit a disagreeable odor, and to ferment. When
in this state, it possesses the property, in certain circumstances, of
inducing a species of chemical change and fermentation in other moist
substances with which it is mixed, or is brought into contact. It acts
after the same manner as sour leaven does when mixed with sweet dough.
Now, old and partially decayed cheese acts in a similar way when
introduced into the stomach. It causes chemical changes gradually to
commence among the particles of the food which has previously been
eaten, and thus facilitates the dissolution which necessarily precedes
digestion. It is only some kinds of cheese, however, which will effect
this purpose. Those are generally considered the best in which some kind
of cheese-mould has established itself. Hence, the mere eating of a
morsel of cheese after dinner does not necessarily promote digestion. If
too new, or of improper quality, it will only add to the quantity of
food with which the stomach is probably already overloaded, and will
have to await its turn for digestion by the ordinary processes.” This
mouldiness and tendency to decay, with its flavor and digestive quality,
are often communicated to new cheese by inoculation, or insertion of a
small portion of the old into the interior of the new by means of the
cheese-taster.
In studying attentively the practice of the most successful
cheese-makers, I think it will be observed that they are particularly
careful about the preparation of the rennet, and equally so about the
details of pressing. In my opinion, the point in which many American
cheese-makers fail of success is in hurrying the pressing. I think it
will be found that the best cheese is pressed two days, at least, and in
many cases still longer.
CHAPTER X.
THE DISEASES OF DAIRY STOCK.
Dairy stock, properly fed and managed, is liable to few diseases in this
country, notwithstanding the sudden changes to which our climate is
subject. If pure air, pure water, a dry barn or pasture, and a frequent
but gradual change of diet, when kept in the stall, are provided for
milch cows, nature will generally remedy any derangements of the system
which may occur, far better than art. Common sense is especially
requisite in the treatment of stock, and that will very rarely dictate a
resort to bleeding, boring the horns, cutting off the tail, and a
thousand other equally absurd practices, too common even within the
memory of men still living.
The diseases most to be dreaded are garget, puerperal or milk fever, and
idiopathic or common fever, commonly called “horn ail,” and often “tail
ail.”
GARGET is an inflammation of the internal substance of the udder. One or
more of the teats, or whole sections of the udder, become enlarged and
thickened, hot, tender, and painful. The milk coägulates in the bag, and
causes inflammation where it is deposited, which is accompanied by
fever. It most commonly occurs in young cows after calving, especially
when in too high condition. The secretion of milk is very much lessened,
and, in very had cases, stopped altogether. Sometimes the milk is
thick, and mixed with blood. Often, also, in severe cases, the hind
extremities, as the hip-joint, hock, or fetlock, are swollen and
inflamed to such an extent that the animal cannot rise. The simplest
remedy, in mild cases, is to put the calf to its mother several times a
day. This will remove the flow of milk, and often dispel the congestion.
Sometimes the udder is so much swollen that the cow will not permit the
calf to suck. If the fever increases, the appetite declines, and
rumination ceases. In this stage of the complaint, the advice of a
scientific veterinary practitioner is required. A dose of purging
medicine and frequent washing of the udder, in _mild_ cases, are usually
successful. The physic should consist of Epsom salts one pound, ginger
half an ounce, nitrate of potassa half an ounce; dissolved in a quart of
boiling water; then add a gill of molasses, and give to the cow
lukewarm. Diet moderate; that is, on bran, or if in summer green food.
There are various medicines for the different forms and stages of
garget, which, if the above medicine fails, can be properly prescribed
only by a skilful veterinary practitioner.
It is important that the udder should be frequently examined, as matter
may be forming, which should be immediately released. Various causes are
assigned for this disease, such as exposure to cold and wet, or the want
of proper care or attention in parturition.
An able writer, Mr. Youatt, says that hasty drying up a cow often gives
rise to inflammation and indurations of the udder, difficult of removal.
Sometimes a cow lies down upon and bruises the udder, and this is
another cause. But a very frequent source, and one for which there can
be no excuse, is the failure to milk a cow clean. The calf should be
allowed to suck often, and the cow should be milked at least twice a
day as clean as possible, while suffering from this complaint.
If the udder is hot and feverish, a wash may be used, consisting of
eight ounces of vinegar and two ounces of camphoretted spirit; the whole
well and thoroughly mixed, and applied just after milking, to be washed
off in warm water before milking again.
In very bad cases, iodine has often been found most effectual. An iodine
ointment may be prepared by taking one drachm of hydriodate of potash
and an ounce of lard, and mixing them well together. A small portion of
the mixture, from the size of a pigeon’s egg, in limited inflammations,
to twice that amount, is to be well rubbed into the swollen part,
morning and night.
When milk forms in the bag before parturition, so as to cause a swelling
of the udder, it should be milked away; and a neglect of this precaution
often leads to violent attacks of garget.
Prevention is always better than cure. The reason most commonly given
for letting the cow run dry for a month or two before calving is that
after a long period of milking her system requires rest, and that she
will give more milk and do better the coming season than if milked up to
the time of calving.
This is all true, and a reason sufficient in itself for drying off the
cow some weeks before parturition; but there is another important reason
for the practice, which is that the mixture of the old milk with the new
secretion is liable to end in an obstinate case of garget.
To prevent any ill effects from calving, the cow should not be suffered
to get too fat, which high feeding after drying off might induce.
The period of gestation is about two hundred and eighty-four or two
hundred and eighty-five days. But cows sometimes overrun their time, and
have been known to go three hundred and thirteen days, and even more;
while they now and then fall short of it, and have been known to calve
in two hundred and twenty days. If they go much over the average time,
the calf will generally be a male. But cows are sometimes liable to
slink their calves; and this usually takes place about the middle of
their pregnancy. To avoid the evil consequences, so far as possible,
they should be watched; and, if a cow is found to be uneasy and
feverish, or wandering about away from the rest of the herd, and
apparently longing for something she cannot get, she ought to be taken
away from the others.
If a cow slinks her calf while in the pasture with others, they will be
liable to be affected in the same way.
In many cases, physicking will quiet the cow’s excitement in the
condition above described, and prove of essential benefit. A dose of one
pound of Epsom or Glauber’s salts, and one ounce of ginger, mixed in a
pint of thick gruel, should be given first, to be immediately followed
by the salts, in a little thinner gruel.
When a cow once slicks her calf, there is great risk in breeding from
her. She is liable to do the same again. But when the slinking is caused
by sudden fright or over-exertion, or any offensive matter, such as
blood or the dead carcasses of animals, this result is not so much to be
feared.
But the cow, when about to calve, ought not to be disturbed by too
constant watching. The natural presentation of the fœtus is with the
head lying upon the fore legs. If in this position, nature will
generally do all. But, if the presentation is unnatural, and the labor
has been long and ineffectual, some assistance is required. The hand,
well greased, may be introduced, and the position of the calf changed;
and, when in a proper position, a cord should be tied round the fore
legs, just above the hoofs; but no effort should be made to draw out the
calf till the natural throes are repeated. If the nostril of the calf
has protruded, and the position is then found to be unnatural, the head
cannot be thrust back without destroying the life of the calf.
The false position most usually presented is that of the head first,
with the legs doubled under the belly. A cord is then fixed around the
lower jaw, when it is pushed back, to give an opportunity to adjust the
fore legs, if possible. The object must now be to save the life of the
cow.
But the cases of false presentation, though comparatively rare, are so
varied that no directions could be given which would be applicable in
all cases.
After calving the cow will require but little care, if she is in the
barn, and protected from changes of weather. A warm bran mash is usually
given, and the state of the udder examined.
PUERPERAL OR MILK FEVER.--Calving is often attended with feverish
excitement. The change of powerful action from the womb to the udder
causes much constitutional disturbance and local inflammation. A cow is
subject to nervousness in such circumstances, which sometimes extends to
the whole system, and causes puerperal fever. This complaint is called
_dropping_ after calving, because it succeeds that process. The
prominent symptom is a loss of power over the motion of the hind
extremities, and inability to stand; sometimes loss of sensibility in
these parts, so that a deep puncture with a pin, or other sharp
instrument, is unfelt.
This disease is much to be dreaded by the farmer, on account of the high
state of excitement and the local inflammation. Either from neglect or
ignorance, the malady is not discovered until the manageable symptoms
have passed, and extreme debility has appeared. The animal is often
first seen lying down, unable to rise; prostration of strength and
violent fever are brought on by inflammation of the womb. But soon a
general inflammatory action succeeds, rapid and violent, with complete
prostration of all the vital forces, bidding defiance to the
best-selected remedies.
Cows in very high condition, and cattle removed from low keeping to high
feeding, are the most liable to puerperal fever. It occurs most
frequently during the hot weather of summer, and then it is most
dangerous. When it occurs in winter, cows sometimes recover. In hot
weather they usually die.
Milk fever may be induced by the hot drinks often given after calving. A
young cow at her first calving is rarely attacked with it. Great milkers
are most commonly subject to it; but all cows have generally more or
less fever at calving. A little addition to it, by improper treatment or
neglect, will prevent the secretion of milk; and thus the milk, being
thrown back into the system, will increase the inflammation.
This disease sometimes shows itself in the short space of two or three
hours after calving, but often not under two or three days. If four or
five days have passed, the cow may generally be considered safe. The
earliest symptoms of this disease are as follows:
The animal is restless, frequently shifting her position; occasionally
pawing and heaving at the flanks. Muzzle hot and dry, the mouth open,
and tongue out at one side; countenance wild; eyes staring. She moans
often, and soon becomes very irritable. Delirium follows; she grates her
teeth, foams at the mouth, tosses her head about, and frequently injures
herself. From the first, the udder is hot, enlarged, and tender; and if
this swelling is attended by a suspension of milk, the cause is clear.
As the case is inflammatory, its treatment must be in accordance; and
it is usually subdued without much difficulty. Mr. Youatt says, “The
animal should be bled, and the quantity regulated by the impression made
upon the circulation,--from six to ten quarts often before the desired
effect is produced.” He wrote at a time when bleeding was adopted as the
universal cure, and before the general reasoning and treatment of
diseases of the human system was applied to similar diseases of animals.
The cases are very rare, indeed, where the physician of the present day
finds it necessary to bleed in diseases of the human subject; and they
are equally rare, I apprehend, where it is really necessary or judicious
to bleed for the diseases of animals. A more humane and equally
effectual course will be the following:
A pound to one and a half pounds of Epsom or Glauber’s salts, according
to the size and condition of the animal, should be given, dissolved in a
quart of boiling water; and, when dissolved, add pulv. red pepper a
quarter of an ounce, caraway do. do., ginger do. do.; mix, and add a
gill of molasses, and give lukewarm. If this medicine does not act on
the bowels, the quantity of ginger, capsicum, and caraway, must be
doubled. The insensible stomach must be roused. When purging in an early
stage is begun, the fever will more readily subside. After the operation
of the medicine, sedatives may be given, if necessary.
The digestive function first fails, when the secondary or low state of
fever comes on. The food undischarged ferments; the stomach and
intestines are inflated with gas, and swell rapidly. The nervous system
is also attacked, and the poor beast staggers. The hind extremities show
the weakness; the cow falls, and cannot rise; her head is turned on one
side, where it rests; her limbs are palsied. The treatment in this
stage must depend on the existence and degree of fever. The pulse will
be the only true guide. If it is weak, wavering, and irregular, we must
avoid depleting, purgative agents. The blood flows through the arteries,
impelled by the action of the heart, and its pulsations can be very
distinctly felt by pressing the finger upon almost any of these arteries
that is not too thickly covered by fat or the cellular tissues of the
skin, especially where it can be pressed upon some hard or bony
substance beneath it. The most convenient place is directly at the back
part of the lower jaw, where a large artery passes over the edge of the
jawbone to ramify on the face. The natural pulse of a full-grown ox will
vary from about forty-eight to fifty-five beats a minute; that of a cow
is rather quicker, especially near the time of calving; and that of a
calf is quicker than that of a cow. But a very much quicker rate than
that indicated will show a feverish state, or inflammation; and a much
slower pulsation indicates debility of some kind.
Next in importance, as we have already stated, is the physic. The bowels
must be opened, or the animal will fall a victim to the disease. All
medicines should be of an active character, and in sufficient quantity;
and stimulants should always be added to the purgative medicines, to
insure their operation. Ginger, gentian, caraway, or red pepper in
powder, may be given with each dose of physic. Some give a powerful
purgative, by means of Epsom salts one pound, flour of sulphur four
ounces, powdered ginger a quarter of an ounce, all dissolved in a quart
of cold water, and one half given twice a day till the bowels are
opened. The digestive organs are deranged in most forms of milk fever,
and the third stomach is loaded with hard, indigestible food. When the
medicine has operated, and the fever is subdued, little is required but
good nursing to restore the patient.
No powerful medicines should be used without discretion; for in the
milder forms of the disease, as the simple palsy of the hind
extremities, the treatment, though of a similar character, should be
less powerful, and every effort should be made for the comfort of the
cow, by providing a thick bed of straw, and raising the fore quarters to
assist the efforts of nature, while all filth should be promptly and
carefully removed. She may be covered with a warm cloth, and warm gruel
should be frequently offered to her, and light mashes. An attempt should
be made several times a day to bring milk from the teats. The return of
milk is an indication of speedy recovery.
Milch cows in too high condition appear to have a constitutional
tendency to this complaint, and one attack of it predisposes them to
another.
SIMPLE FEVER.--This may be considered as increased arterial action, with
or without any local affection; or it may be the consequence of the
sympathy of the system with the morbid condition of some particular
part. The first is pure or idiopathic fever; the other, symptomatic
fever. Pure fever is of frequent occurrence in cattle. Symptoms as
follows: muzzle dry; rumination slow or entirely suspended; respiration
slightly accelerated; the horn at the root hot, and its other extremity
frequently cold; pulse quick; bowels constipated; coat staring, and the
cow is usually seen separated from the rest of the herd. In slight
attacks, a cathartic of salts, sulphur, and ginger, is sufficient. But,
if the common fever is neglected, or improperly treated, it may assume,
after a time, a local determination, as pleurisy, or inflammation of the
lungs or bowels. In such cases the above remedy would be insufficient,
and a veterinary surgeon, to manage the case, would be necessary.
Symptomatic fever is more dangerous, and is commonly the result of
injury, the neighboring parts sympathizing with the injured part. Cattle
become unwell, are stinted in their feed, have a dose of physic, and in
a few days are well; still, a fever may terminate in some local
affection. But in both cases pure fever is the primary disease.
A more dangerous form of fever is that known as symptomatic. As we have
said, cattle are not only subject to fever of common intensity, but to
symptomatic fever, and thousands die annually from its effects. But the
young and the most thriving are its victims. There are few premonitory
symptoms of symptomatic fever. It often appears without any previous
indications of illness. The animal stands with her neck extended, her
eyes protruding and red, muzzle dry, nostrils expanded, breath hot, base
of the horn hot, mouth open, pulse full, breathing quick. She is often
moaning; rumination and appetite are suspended; she soon becomes more
uneasy; changes her position often. Unless these symptoms are speedily
removed, she dies in a few hours. The name of the ailment, inflammatory
or symptomatic fever, shows the treatment necessary, which must commence
with purging. Salts here, as in most inflammatory diseases, are the most
reliable. From a pound to a pound and a half, with ginger and sulphur,
is a dose, dissolved in warm water or thin gruel. If this does not
operate in twelve hours, give half the dose, and repeat once in twelve
hours, until the bowels are freed. After the operation of the medicine
the animal is relieved. Then sedative medicines may be given. Sal
ammoniac one drachm, powdered nitre two drachms, should be administered
in thin gruel, two or three times a day, if required.
Typhus fever, common in some countries, is little known here among
cattle.
TYPHOID FEVER sometimes follows intense inflammatory action, and is
considered the second stage of it. This form of fever is usually
attended with diarrhœa. It is a debilitating complaint, and is sometimes
followed by diseases known as black tongue, black leg, or quarter evil.
The cause of typhoid fever is involved in obscurity. It may be proper to
say that copious drinks of oat-meal gruel, with tincture of red pepper,
a diet of bran, warmth to the body, and pure air, are great essentials
in the treatment of this disease.
The barbarous practices of boring the horns, cutting the tail, and
others equally absurd, should at once and forever be discarded by every
farmer and dairyman. Alternate heat or coldness of the horn is only a
symptom of this and other fevers, and has nothing to do with their
cause. The horns are not diseased any further than a determination of
blood to the head causes a sympathetic heat, while an unnatural
distribution of blood, from exposure or other cause, may make them cold.
In all cases of this kind, if anything is done, it should be an effort
to assist nature to regulate the animal system, by rousing the digestive
organs to their natural action, by a light food, or, if necessary, a
mild purgative medicine, followed by light stimulants.
The principal purgative medicines in use for neat cattle are Epsom
salts, linseed-oil, and sulphur. A pound of salts will ordinarily be
sufficient to purge a full-grown cow.
A slight purgative drink is often very useful for cows soon after
calving, particularly if feverish, and in cases of over-feeding, when
the animal will often appear dull and feverish; but when the surfeiting
is attended by loss of appetite, it can generally be cured by
withholding food at first, and then feeding but slightly till the system
is renovated by dieting.
Purgative drinks will often cure cases of red water, if taken in season.
A purgative is often necessary for cows after being turned into a fresh
and luxuriant pasture, when they are apt to become bound from
over-feeding; but constipation does not so often follow a change from
dry to green food in spring, as from a poor pasture in summer to one
where they obtain much better feed.
The HOOVE or HOVEN is brought on by a derangement of the digestive
organs, occasioned by over-feeding on green and luxuriant clover, or
other luxuriant food. It is simply the distension of the first stomach
by carbonic acid gas. In later stages, after fermentation of the
contents of the stomach has commenced, hydrogen gas is also found. The
green food, being gathered very greedily after the animal has been kept
on dry and perhaps unpalatable hay, is not sent forward so rapidly as it
is received, and remains to overload and clog the stomach, till this
organ ceases or loses the power to act upon it. Here it becomes moist
and heated, begins to ferment, and produces a gas which distends the
paunch of the animal, which often swells up enormously. The cow is in
great pain, breathing with difficulty, as if nearly suffocating. Then
the body grows cold, and, unless relief is at hand, the cow dies.
Prevention is both cheaper and safer than cure; but if by neglect, or
want of proper precaution, the animal is found in this suffering
condition, relief must be afforded as soon as possible, or the result
will be fatal.
A hollow flexible tube, introduced into the gullet, will sometimes
afford a temporary relief till other means can be had, by allowing a
part of the gas to escape; but, the cause is not removed either by this
means or by puncturing the paunch, which is often dangerous.
In the early stage of the disease the gas may be neutralized by ammonia,
which is usually near at hand. Two ounces of liquid ammonia, in a quart
of distilled or rain water, given every quarter of an hour, will prove
beneficial. A little tincture of ginger, essence of anise-seed, or some
other cordial, may be added, without lessening the effect of the
ammonia.
If the case has assumed an alarming character, the flexible tube, or
probang, may be introduced, and afterwards take three drachms either of
the chloride of lime or the chloride of soda, dissolve in a pint of
water, and pour it down the throat. Lime-water, potash, and sulphuric
ether, are often used with effect.
In desperate cases it may be found necessary to make an incision through
the paunch; but the chloride of lime will, in most cases, give relief at
once, by neutralizing the gas.
CHOKING is often produced by feeding on roots, particularly round and
uncut roots, like the potato. The animal slavers at the mouth, tries to
raise the obstruction from the throat, often groans, and appears to be
in great pain. Then the belly begins to swell, from the amount of gases
in the paunch.
The obstruction, if not too large, can sometimes be thrust forward by
introducing a flexible rod, or tube, into the throat. This method, if
adopted, should be attended with great care and patience, or the tender
parts will be injured. If the obstruction is low down, and a tube is to
be inserted, a pint of olive or linseed oil first turned down will so
lubricate the parts as to aid the operation, and the power applied must
be steady. If the gullet is torn by the carelessness of the operator, or
the roughness of the instrument, a rupture generally results in serious
consequences. A hollow tube is best, and if the object is passed on into
the paunch, the tube should remain a short time, to permit the gas to
escape. In case the animal is very badly swelled, the dose of chloride
of lime, or ammonia, should be given, as for the hoove, after the
obstruction is removed.
Care should be taken, after the obstruction is removed, to allow no
solid food for some days.
FOUL IN THE FOOT.--Cows and other stock, when fed in low, wet pastures,
will often suffer from ulcers or sores, generally appearing first
between the claws. This is commonly called foul in the foot, and is
analogous to foot-rot in sheep. It is often very painful, causing severe
lameness and loss of flesh, and discharges a putrid matter, or pus.
Sometimes it first appears in the form of a swelling near the top of the
hoof, which breaks and discharges foul matter.
The rough and common practice among farmers is to fasten the foot in the
same manner as the foot of an ox is fastened in shoeing, and draw a
rough rope back and forth over the ulcerated parts, so as to produce a
clean, fresh wound, and then dress it with tar or other similar
substance.
This is often an unnecessarily cruel operation. The loose matter may
easily be removed by a knife, and then carefully wiped off with a moist
sponge. The animal should then be removed at once to a warm, dry
pasture, or kept in the barn.
If the case has been neglected till the pasterns become swollen and
tender, the sore may be thoroughly cleansed out, and dressed with an
ointment of sulphate of iron one ounce, molasses four ounces, simmered
over a slow fire till well mixed. Apply on a piece of cotton batting,
and secure upon the parts. If any morbid growth or fungus appear, use
equal parts of powdered blood-root and alum sprinkled on the sore, and
this will usually effect a cure.
Some also give a dose of flour of sulphur half an ounce, powdered
sassafras-bark one ounce, and burdock two ounces, the whole steeped in a
quart of boiling water, and strained when cool; and, if the matter still
continues to flow from the sore, wash it morning and night with chloride
of soda one ounce, or a tablespoonful of common salt dissolved in a pint
of water.
Foul in the foot causes very serious trouble, if not taken in season.
The health of cows is injured to a great extent. I have seen, during the
present season, many instances of foul in the foot in dairy stock
arising from the wetness of the pastures. No lameness in cattle should
be neglected.
RED WATER is so called from the high color of the urine. It is rather a
symptom of some derangement of the digestive organs than a disease of
itself, and the cause is most frequently to be found in the quality of
the food. It is peculiar to certain localities, and is of very rare
occurrence in New England.
In the early stage of the difficulty the bowels are loose, but soon
constipation ensues, and the appetite is affected, the milk decreases,
and the urine becomes either very red or sometimes black.
The case demands treatment, for it is apt to prey upon the health of the
cow. Purgatives are usually employed with most success. Take a pound of
Epsom salts, half an ounce of ginger, and half an ounce of carbonate of
ammonia. Pour a quart of boiling water on the salts and ginger, stir
thoroughly, and, when cold, add the ammonia. If this fails to act on the
bowels, repeat a quarter part of it every six or eight hours till it
succeeds. Then a nutritious diet should be used till the appetite is
fully restored.
If a cow is once affected in this way, the difficulty will be liable to
return, and she had better be disposed of.
HOOSE is a cold or cough to which stock are subject when exposed to wet
weather and damp pastures.
The cold may not be bad at first, or may be so slight as not to attract
attention; but it often leads to worse complaints, and ought, when
observed, to be attended to at once, by keeping the animal in a dry and
warm barn a few days, and feeding with mashes, and, if it continues,
take an ounce of sweet spirits of nitre in a pint of ginger tea; mix,
and give in a quart of thick gruel.
No prudent farmer will neglect to observe approaching symptoms of
disease in his stock. The cheapest way to keep animals healthy is to
treat them properly in time, and before disease is seated upon them.
Hoose often ends in consumption and death.
INFLAMMATION OF THE GLANDS often occurs in hoose, catarrh, etc., but
they resume their natural state when these complaints are removed. The
animal cannot swallow without pain sometimes, and soft feed should be
given. Remove the cause, and the inflammation ceases. Some make a
relaxing poultice of marsh-mallows, or similar substances; and rub the
throat with a mixture of olive or goose oil one gill, spirit of camphor
one ounce, oil of cedar one ounce, and half a gill of vinegar.
INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS.--Common catarrh or hoose sometimes leads to
inflammation of the lungs, which is indicated by dulness and sore cough.
The ears, the roots of the horns, and legs, are sometimes cold. The
breath is hot, as well as the mouth; and the animal rarely lies down,
and is reluctant to move, or change its position. Warm water and mashes,
or gruel, may be given, and the animal kept in a dry place. The cause
of the complaint should be removed, and the trouble will generally soon
cease. The treatment is much the same as for fever; but where the
surface of the body is cold, as is generally the case, give sweet
spirits of nitro two ounces, liquor acetate of ammonia four ounces, in a
pint of water, two or three times a day.
DIARRHŒA is brought on by too sudden change of food, especially from dry
to green and succulent food; sometimes by poisonous plants or bad water.
If slight, the farmer may not be anxious to check it. It may show simply
an effort of nature to throw off some injurious substances from the
body, and so it may exist when the animal is quite healthy. But, if it
continues too long, and is likely to debilitate the system, a mild
purgative may be given to assist rather than check the operation of
nature. Half a pound of Epsom salts, with a little ginger and gentian,
will do for a medium-sized animal in this case; but a purgative may be
followed in a day or two by an astringent medicine. Take prepared chalk
two ounces, powdered oak-bark one ounce, powdered catechu two drachms,
powdered opium one drachm, and four drachms powdered ginger. Mix these
together, and give in a quart of warm gruel. Sometimes a few ounces of
pulverized charcoal will arrest the diarrhœa. Common diarrhœa may be
distinguished from dysentery by a too abundant discharge of dung in too
fluid a form, or in a full, almost liquid stream, sometimes very
offensive to the smell, and now and then bloody. In dysentery, the dung
is often mixed with mucus and blood, and is not unfrequently attended by
a hard straining. The quantity of dung is less than in diarrhœa, but
more offensive.
Diarrhœa may occur at any season of the year, and sometimes leads to
dysentery, which more frequently appears in the spring and fall.
DYSENTERY, or scouring rot, is a dangerous and troublesome malady when
it becomes seated.
The cow suffers from painful efforts to pass the dung, which is thin,
slimy, olive-colored, and offensive, and after it falls rises up in
little bubbles, with a slimy substance upon it. She is restless, lying
down and soon rising again, and appears to be in great distress. The
hair seems to stand out stiff from the body, and this stage of the
malady indicates an obstinate and fatal disease.
It is often brought on by a simple cold at the time of calving, exposure
to sudden changes, and by poor keeping, which exhausts the system,
especially in winter. A dry, warm barn, and careful nursing, will do
much; and dry, sweet food, as hay, oat-meal, boiled potatoes, gruel, &c.
Some linseed-meal is also very good for cows with this complaint. A
little gum-arabic or starch may be mixed with the medicine.
The treatment is much the same as for diarrhœa.
The MANGE is commonly brought on by half starving in winter, and by
keeping the cow in a filthy, ill-ventilated place. It is contagious, and
if one cow of a herd has it, the rest will be apt to get it also. Blaine
says, “Mange has three origins,--filth, debility, and contagion.” It is
a disgrace to the farmer to suffer it to enter his herd from either of
these causes, since it shows a culpable neglect of his stock. I am sorry
to say it is too common in this country, especially in filthy barns.
The cow afflicted with the mange is hide-bound; the hair is dry and
stiff, and comes off. She is constantly rubbing, and a kind of white
scurfiness appears on the skin. It is most perceptible towards the
latter part of winter and in spring, and thus too plainly tells the
story of the winter’s neglect.
An ointment composed chiefly of sulphur has been found most effectual.
Some mercurial ointment may be added, if the cows are kept housed; but,
if let out during the day, the quantity must be very small, else
salivation is produced by their licking themselves.
The ointment may be made of flour of sulphur one pound, strong mercurial
ointment two ounces, common turpentine one half-pound, lard one and a
quarter pounds. Melt the turpentine and lard together, and stir in the
sulphur as they begin to cool off; then rub down the mercurial ointment
on some hard substance with the other ingredients. Rub the whole in with
the hand, and take care to leave no places untouched, once a day, for
three days; and after this, if any places are left uncured, rub it in
over them. There is no danger in this application, if the animal is not
exposed to severe cold. This will be pretty sure to effect a speedy
cure, if aided by cleanliness, pure air, and a nutritious diet.
Another wash for mange is the following: Pyroligneous acid four ounces,
water a pint; mix and apply.
LICE show unpardonable neglect of duty wherever they are suffered to
exist. They crawl all over the stable-floor and the stalls, on the
pastures, and a touch is sufficient to give them to other animals. They
worry and trouble the poor animal constantly; and no thriftiness can be
expected where they are found. If the mange ointment does not completely
destroy them, as it often will, take bees-wax, tallow, and lard, in
equal parts, and rub it into the hide in the most thorough manner, with
the hand or a brush, two and a half pounds for a small cow, three pounds
for a large one. The next day it may be washed off in soft soap, and the
lice will have disappeared from the animal, but not always from the
barn. Some use a wash of powdered lobelia-seeds two ounce; steeped in
boiling water, and applied with a sponge. Others hang up tobacco-leaves
over the stalls. This may do to keep them away; but, after the animal is
covered with them, they are not so easily scared.
WARBLES.--The gad-fly is very troublesome to cattle towards the end of
summer. The fly alights on the back of the cow, punctures the skin, and
lays her eggs under it. A tumor is now formed, varying in size, which
soon bursts and leaves a small hole for the grub already hatched to
breathe through. Here the insect feeds on its surroundings, and grows up
to considerable size. All this time the animal is probably suffering
more or less pain, and often tries to lick or rub the part affected, if
possible. Farmers often press them out with the finger and thumb. The
best way is to puncture the skin with a common pen-knife, and then press
out the grub. They injure the hide more than most people are aware of.
LOSS OF CUD is a consequence of indigestion, and is often brought on by
eating too greedily of food which the cow is not used to. Loss of cud
and loss of appetite are synonymous. Gentle purgatives may be given,
with such as salts, ginger, and sulphur. But when a cow is surfeited, as
already said, I should prefer to withhold food entirely, or for the most
part, till the system can regulate itself.
DISEASES OF CALVES.--The colostrum, or first milk of the cow after
calving, contains medicinal qualities peculiarly adapted to cleanse the
young calf, and free its bowels from the matter always existing in them
at birth. This should, therefore, never be denied it. Bleeding at the
navel, with which calves are sometimes seriously troubled, may generally
and safely be stopped by tying a string around the cord which hangs
suspended from it.
But DIARRHŒA, PURGING, or SCOURS, is the most dangerous complaint with
which calves are afflicted. This is caused often by neglect, or exposure
to wet and cold, or insufficiency of food at one time and over-feeding
at another. Stinting the calf in food or attention will often involve
the loss of considerable profit on the cow for the year. When purging is
once fully seated from several days’ neglect, it is often difficult to
remove it.
The acidity on the stomach which always attends it must first be
removed. A mild purgative medicine may be given. Rhubarb and magnesia is
a very convenient article, and may easily be given in ounce doses along
with the milk. Potash is also to be given in quarter-ounce doses in the
same way. Two ounces of castor-oil, or two ounces of Epsom salts, might
be given with the desired effect. After this, mild astringents may be
given. Take prepared chalk two drachms, or magnesia one ounce, powdered
opium ten grains, powdered catechu half a drachm, tincture of capsicum
two drachms, essence of peppermint five drops. Mix together, and give
twice a day in the milk or gruel.
After giving the above repeatedly without effect, which will rarely
happen, take Dover’s powders two scruples, starch or arrow-root powdered
one ounce, cinnamon powder one drachm, and powdered kino half a drachm.
Boil the starch or arrow-root in water till it thickens, and when cold
stir in the other ingredients. Give night and morning. This complaint is
often attended by inflammation of the bowels and general fever.
It is a good plan to keep a lump of chalk constantly before calves after
they are two or three weeks old. It corrects acidity on the stomach, and
is otherwise useful to them.
CONSTIPATION or COSTIVENESS sometimes attacks calves a few days old,
that have not been judiciously managed. It may be brought on by putting
a calf to a cow whose milk is too old, or from feeding a calf from the
milk of several cows mixed. It results from too heavy a mass of
coägulated milk in the fourth stomach, which becomes very much swollen
with hard curd. It is difficult to remedy. The best way is to pour down
some Epsom salts, two ounces, dissolved in two quarts of warm water, by
means of a horn or bottle, and follow this by half the dose every six
hours.
Constipation sometimes appears in calves from two to four months old,
when their food is too suddenly changed. The bowels must be opened and
the hardened mass in the stomach softened very soon, or it will lead to
fatal consequences.
Farmers are generally very careless about observing these things till it
is too late. As already said, prevention is cheaper than cure; but, if
the complaint once appears, no time should be lost to administer a purge
of salts in proportion to the size of the animal or the severity of the
attack. Many a valuable animal will be saved by it.
The HOOVE often appears among calves after being turned out to pasture.
The young animal coughs violently, and appears in pain. It should be
removed at once to a dry place, and physicked. If taken in season, it is
easily cured. If neglected, it will often prove fatal. This complaint
assumes the form of an epidemic at times, and becomes very prevalent and
troublesome.
Calves sometimes suffer from CANKER IN THE MOUTH, especially at the time
of teething. The gums swell, and fever sets in. Common alum or borax,
dissolved in water, may be applied, and a mild purgative administered,
in the shape of one or two ounce doses of Epsom salts.
The diseases and complaints mentioned above are nearly all that afflict
our dairy stock; and the list at least includes all the common diseases
and their treatment. Some of the diseases and epidemics from which the
cattle of Great Britain and other countries suffer are not known at all
here, or are of so very rare occurrence as not to have attracted
attention; and among these may be named pleuro-pneumonia, typhus fever,
cow-pox, and various epidemics which have from time to time decimated
the cattle of all Europe. To accidents of various kinds, to wounds,
trouble with the eyes, and to lameness from other causes than those
named, they are, indeed, more or less subject; but no work could
anticipate or cover the treatment best in every case, and much must be
left to the judgment of the owner.
I have tried to make this chapter, which I consider one of the most
important of any to the dairy farmer, of practical value to every one
who owns or has the care of a cow. But, lest a want of familiarity with
some of the medicines recommended for particular diseases, or the fear
of the expense of procuring and keeping them on hand, should deter some
one from providing himself with a good medicine-chest, I wish to remind
the reader that no small portion of them are always to be found in every
well-regulated household, and that the others are obtained at so little
expense that no one need be without them for a single day.
Let us see, for instance, how many of them are at hand. But few families
are destitute of a supply of ginger, camphor, red pepper, lard,
molasses, cinnamon, peppermint, starch, turpentine, tallow, bees-wax,
burdock, and caraway-seed. The farmer’s wife or daughter will generally
have a supply of ammonia or hartshorn.
Now, I wish to suggest to the farmer or dairyman who happens to live at
a distance from the apothecary to provide himself with a convenient
little medicine-chest, and put into it say four times the quantities of
the various medicines which are mentioned in the preceding pages,
carefully bottled and labelled for use. To aid in this simple plan,
which might be the means of saving an animal worth twenty times its
cost, I have obtained, from a _wholesale_ druggist, about the average
cost of the following quantities and kinds of medicines, which include
all, or nearly all, that would be likely to be needed: Five pounds of
Epsom salts, .18; one pint of castor-oil, .25; one pint of sweet spirits
of nitre, .19; one pound of powdered nitrate of potash, .20; one pound
carbonate of ammonia, .23; one half-pound sal ammoniac, .08; one pint of
tincture of red pepper (hot drops), .31; one ounce of hydriodate of
potash, .30; one pound chloride of lime, .10; one pound sulphate of
iron, .10; 2 pounds powdered sulphur, .16; one pint of tincture of
ginger, 37; one quart of essence of anise-seed, .50; one half-pound
sulphuric ether, .20; one half-pound powdered sassafras-bark, .20; one
quarter-pound magnesia, .06; one quarter-pound rhubarb, 30 (the common
will answer instead of prepared); one ounce powdered opium, .43; One
quarter-pound catechu, .06; one ounce Dover’s powders, .25; 2 ounces gum
kino, .05; one half-pound mercurial ointment, .37¹⁄₂; and one pound
aloes, .25. Then keep in the chest a good probang, which is a flexible
tube made for the purpose, and is much safer and better for introducing
into the throat or gullet of an animal than a common whip-stick, which
some use. This costs about $3.50, and can be procured at almost any
veterinary surgeon’s. This whole chest and contents will cost less than
ten dollars.
Let the farmer also become familiar with the structure and anatomy of
his animals. It will open a wide field of useful and interesting
investigation.
CHAPTER XI.
THE DAIRY HUSBANDRY OF HOLLAND.
This chapter I translate from an admirable little work in German,
“_Die Holländische Rindviehzucht und Milchwirthschaft im Königreich
Holland_,” by Ellerbrock, a distinguished veterinary surgeon,
professor of cattle pathology and cattle-breeding in the Agricultural
Institute at Zeyst, in Holland.
MILKING AND TREATMENT OF MILK.--The cows are turned to pasture early in
spring, and stay there day and night throughout the pasture-season. They
are milked daily in a particular part of the lot called the milk-yard.
This is kept in some instances permanently in the same place; in others,
it is changed about at pleasure. A shady part of the pasture is
generally selected, and it is commonly enclosed with a board fence. The
cows are driven into this yard to be milked, when not already there at
the usual time. The milking is done by male and female domestics, who
carry their pails, cans, and dishes, hung on a kind of wooden yoke, Fig.
84, neatly cut out, painted, and set with copper nails. This is swung
over the shoulders, or else the dairy utensils are carried on donkeys,
ponies, or hand-carts; or, where there is water communication, in boats,
twice a day, to the yard.
[Illustration: Fig. 84.]
In the larger dairies the utensils in common use are small wooden pails,
Fig. 85, painted in variegated colors, with bright brazen or iron hoops,
and neatly washed; a strainer, Fig. 86, made of horse-hair; a large
wooden tunnel, Fig. 87, for pouring the milk into the cans and casks;
one or more buckets, Fig. 88, usually of brass, lined with tin, large
enough to hold the milk of several cows together, or from twelve to
eighteen quarts. In many dairies they have wooden buckets, Fig. 85,
painted green or blue outside, with black stripes, and with iron or
brass handles, kept very bright. Here the buckets are coated over inside
with white oil-colors. These are borne by the yoke (Fig. 84), or in some
of the ways indicated above.
[Illustration: Fig. 85.]
[Illustration: Fig. 86.]
[Illustration: Fig. 87.]
[Illustration: Fig. 88.]
[Illustration: Fig. 89.]
In many places, instead of buckets for keeping the milk together, they
use copper or brass cans lined inside with tin, and in the form of
antique vases or large beer-jugs, Figs. 90 and 91, which are constantly
kept brightly polished. In other places, they use for holding the milk
smaller or larger barrels, Fig. 92, with broad hoops also kept
constantly polished.
[Illustration: Fig. 90.]
[Illustration: Fig. 91.]
[Illustration: Fig. 92.]
Instead of the yoke a soft cushion is also used, which the dairymaids
strap over their backs, so that they hang down and rest over the hips
and thighs. On this cushion the cans are laid, and fastened with broad
hempen straps, that they may not press too heavily upon the body. This
band is called the milk-strap. Where the milk is carried home on a
hand-cart, neatly-woven baskets are fastened upon little wagons in which
the cans are placed. If it is to be carried in casks, the same
arrangement is fixed upon a hand-cart. Two wooden floats are laid upon
the milk in the buckets, in order to protect it from slopping over. One
or more large milk-casks or tubs, in which it may cool off properly, are
also used. The size of these tubs is different, as well as the materials
of which they are made. Where the cooling is not left to the air alone,
but is sought to be effected by hanging the milk-tub into cold water,
the vessels are made of metal. The large vase-like jars are also used
for this purpose. These hold about thirty cans, or twenty-six quarts.
Wooden bowls are used, of different sizes and forms, and earthen pans,
rather deeper than broad, Figs. 93 and 94, in which the milk as it cools
is set for the cream to rise. A large pot for collecting the cream
until there is enough to churn, and wooden skimmers for taking off the
cream, are also used. The milker sits upon a common four-legged, and
sometimes one-legged milking-stool, and milks either the teats on one
side, or one hind and one front teat, the pail being held between the
knees. The cows are milked regularly at four or five o’clock in the
morning, and at five or six in the afternoon.
[Illustration: Fig. 93.]
[Illustration: Fig. 94.]
In West Friesland, North and South Holland, Utrecht, and other places,
it is customary to tie the tail to the leg of the cow, that she may not
annoy the milker. Most cows do not resist this, being accustomed to it
from the beginning. They also pass a cord around the horns and tie her
to a post stuck in the ground during the milking, as in Fig. 95. In many
provinces only the unruly cows are tied in this way.
[Illustration: Fig. 95.]
The milking takes place on the right side of the cow, so that the
milker sits on this side. In West Friesland and North Holland there is
an exception to this rule. The cows are tied in pairs in the stalls, and
one is milked on one side and the other on the other, the milker sitting
with his back to the board partition, to avoid annoyance from either
animal.
When the milking is ended the milk is poured through the hair strainer
into the bucket, or through a strainer or tunnel in the cans or casks,
whichever are used. The milk is taken to the dairy-house, without delay,
in some of the ways already mentioned. When the yoke is used, one bucket
is hung on the right side and another on the left, each with a float on
the top of the milk to keep it from slopping over. The large metallic
milk-cans, with wooden stoppers, are borne home on the cushions already
described as being held by shoulder-knots strapped round the waist. The
mode of transportation depends much on the distance from the dairy-house
and the quantity to be carried.
In winter, when the cows are in the barn, they are likewise milked twice
a day, and the milk is at once strained through the hair strainer into
casks made for the purpose. These implements differ according to the
object pursued in the dairy; yet pans and pots are mostly used for
raising the cream to be made into butter, since but few dairymen make
cheese in winter.
All utensils necessary for milking, the preservation of milk, and the
making of butter and cheese, are kept with the utmost neatness. Where a
stream of running water flows through the yard, the implements are
generally washed in that, and flowing water is preferred for the
purpose. But where the farm or dairy-house stands at a distance from a
stream, a shallow fountain, or basin, is dug out in the earth, walled
up, and so arranged that the water can be taken from it and fresh water
substituted when it gets impure. In such a basin, or in flowing water,
all new wooden dairy utensils are soaked for a long time before being
used; but those in daily use are washed, rinsed, and scoured out with
ashes, with the greatest care. None but cold, clear, fresh fountain or
flowing water is taken for cleansing dairy implements. It is to be
observed that, in large dairies, the use of water which is covered with
newly-fallen honey-dew, for washing the dairy utensils, is carefully
avoided. When the milk-vessels have been perfectly rinsed out in fresh
water, they are, in many dairies, put into a large kettle of water over
the fire, and properly scalded; after which they are again cleanly
washed with cold water, so that not the least particle of milk or
impurity is to be seen, nor the least smell of it to be observed. The
metallic milk-vessels and the metal parts of the wooden ones are
cleansed with equal care and exactness, and kept polished. Dairymaids
feel a pride in always having the brightest, most polished, and cleanest
utensils, and each strives earnestly to excel the others in this
respect.
When the milk-vessels are scoured, scalded, and rinsed perfectly clean,
they are hung on a stand of laths and poles, made for the purpose, to be
properly dried. The round wooden milk-bowls, being made of one piece,
are very easily broken or split, and must be handled with very great
care in cleaning. To avoid breaking, a peculiar table is used for
scouring them.
The Dutch dairyman knows perfectly well that his dairy can secure him
the highest profit only when the utmost cleanliness is the basis and
groundwork of his whole business; and so he keeps, with the most
extraordinary carefulness, and even with anxiety, the greatest possible
neatness in all parts of the dairy establishment.
DETERMINATION OF THE MILKING QUALITIES OF THE COWS.--The Dutch cattle
are, in general, renowned for their dairy qualities; but especially so
are the cows of North Holland, which not only give a large quantity, but
also a very good quality, so that a yield of sixteen to twenty-five
cans[2] at every milking is not rare. Next to these come the West
Friesland and South Dutch cows, from which from twenty to twenty-four
cans of milk may be calculated on. Though one could not take a certain
number and calculate surely what the yield of each cow would be, yet he
could come very near the truth if he reckoned that a cow, in three
hundred days, or as long as she is milked, gives, on an average, daily,
from six to eight cans of milk, from which the whole annual yield would
be from one thousand eight hundred to two thousand four hundred cans. Of
this the cow gives one half in the first four months, one third in the
next three, and in the remainder one sixth. These superficial results
cannot be taken, however, as the fixed rule.
[2] A Dutch can is a little less than our wine quart
Professor Wilkins, in his Handbook of Agriculture, gives the following
estimates of the yield of milk: A good West Friesland or Gröningen cow
will, after calving, give daily fourteen quarts of milk. This will,
after a while, be reduced to eight quarts. She may be milked three
hundred and twenty-three days in the year, and her product in butter and
cheese will amount to one hundred güldens.
In Prof. Kop’s Magazine it is stated that a medium-sized Friesland cow,
which had had several calves, was giving daily, on good feed, five and a
half to six buckets, or from twenty to twenty-two cans, and over. In
South Holland, also, this quantity is considered a good yield of a cow.
Of the cows of Gelderland, Overyssel, and Utrecht, the yield cannot be
reckoned higher than sixteen cans daily, and that only during the first
half of their milking season.
TREATMENT OF MILK FOR BUTTER.--To get good butter it is quite necessary
that the fresh milk be properly cooled before it is set for cream. In
the great dairies of North and South Holland, which not only possess the
best cattle, but may be given as models in dairy husbandry, they manage
as follows:
The milk, as it is brought from the pasture, is poured from the buckets,
cans, and casks, through a hair strainer, into one vessel, the
milk-kettle. These milk-kettles are not everywhere of the same size, or
of similar form, but are always riveted together with strong brass or
copper bands, and lined with tin inside. The most common milk-kettles
hold sixteen cans; yet they are found so large as to hold three barrels,
or about six hundred quarts. The peculiar kettle form is very rarely
found, but more frequently the cylindrical, or vase-shaped. They are
held either by two handles or one. The number required depends on the
number of cows and the quantity of milk expected.
[Illustration: Fig. 96. Cool-bath.]
The milk-kettles, when filled, are set into a basin with cold water,
called the cool-bath, for the purpose of cooling the milk. The cool-bath
is frequently in the kitchen, sometimes in the bauer-house, so called,
or directly before the cow-room, near the spring. The latter is the most
common and the most convenient place. The water reservoir is dug in the
ground, and an oblong four-cornered form is preferred for it; the sides
of the excavation being walled up with hard-burnt building-stones and
cement, but the bottom is laid in tiles, either red, hard-burnt, or
white glazed. Richer dairymen take finely-hewn blue stone or white
marble for it. The size of the reservoir is governed by the number of
milk-kettles to be put into it, and so is its depth by their height, so
that the rim of the kettle is on a level with the top of the cool-bath,
Fig. 96. The sides of the cool-bath in the kitchen project some feet
over the floor, yet are not so high that the setting in and taking out
the milk-kettle will be attended with great inconvenience and trouble.
Where it is desired to make the work of setting in or raising up the
milk-kettles from the cool-bath as easy as possible, a beam is fixed
along the side of the trough, and iron props are firmly fixed, which
extend out a little over the edge of the trough, half-way down from the
beam. On these the operator can support himself in lowering or raising
heavy vessels. These stays, or props, are sometimes fixed directly into
the wall, along which the cool-bath stands. Under the bottom of the
reservoir, on the other side from where the water comes in, is an
outlet, stopped with a tap or faucet, to let off the water.
The cool-baths in the kitchen are, for the most part, on the floor, and
extend up a convenient height; whilst those in the cow-barns, as a
general rule, are dug down and walled up, and their top is fastened to
the floor of the barn. They are deep enough to allow the water for
cooling the milk to come up to the rim of the milk-kettle; but, in order
to prevent men and cattle from falling in, it is covered with a strong
wooden lid to shut down, as in Fig. 97.
[Illustration: Fig. 97. Cool-bath.]
Such a cool-bath is used in the cow-room only in summer, when the heat
is so great that it is difficult to keep the milk cool in the kitchen.
The cool-bath in the cow-room is considered as only an auxiliary to that
in the kitchen, and to be used only in case of necessity. The
milk-kettles are hung by their handles, and let down by means of a
crank. When the platform is not in use it is taken away from the
cool-bath, and the cover is let down and kept closed.
The milk is allowed to remain in the cool-bath until the froth has
disappeared, and there is no difference in temperature between the water
and the milk. The milk of one milking must give place for the next, so
that it will be changed twice daily, morning and evening. A very great
importance is, everywhere in the Dutch dairies, attached to this rapid
cooling of the milk, because it is known by experience that it is thus
greatly protected from turning sour.[3]
[3] It will be perceived that the arrangement for cooling the milk
before setting in the pans, in the Dutch dairies, is very elaborate. I
have followed the original in translating the above, though the
practice in Holland differs widely from our own in this respect, and
from that recommended in the preceding pages. The point may be worthy
of careful experiment.--TRANSLATOR.
The milk, when properly cooled, is brought to the milk-cellar, where it
is immediately poured out of the milk-kettles into vessels designed to
receive it. Wooden bowls or pans, or high earthen pots, are used for
holding it. The pans and pots are set on the table, and a small ladder,
or hand-barrow, is laid on there, on which is placed the strainer, when
the milk is poured from the kettles. The wooden milk-pans are of several
forms, generally made of ash or of linden, and oval. They are, on an
average, three and a half feet long, and half a foot broad, more or
less; but their dimensions vary.
It has been found, by experience, that the flatter and shallower the
pans, the quicker and better the cream rises. The milk-pots are pretty
large, but are rather shallow than deep, glazed inside, of different
forms, and different capacities; but they are always broader on the top
than at the bottom, though they stand firmly on a round, broad
foot-piece. Milk pans and pots are rinsed with cold water before the
milk is poured into them. When properly cleaned and filled, they are
placed on shelves made for the purpose, in regular rows. These shelves
are only a few feet high above the floor of the cellar, and of suitable
width; but, if there is not space enough for the milk, the pans are
placed on the bottom of the cellar. The pots are also set along the
walls, on firm board shelves.
The milk-cellar, or rather the milk-room, Fig. 98, in the North and
South Dutch dairies, is placed on the north side of the house, next to
the kitchen, but a little lower than the latter, so that there are
usually three steps down. The longer side, facing towards the north, has
one window, whilst the gable end, with its two windows, faces towards
the west. The windows are generally kept shut, and are open only nights
in summer. The cellar is either arched or covered with strongly boarded
rafters, over which the so-called cellar-chamber is situated. The floor
of this room is laid in lime or cement, with red or blue burnt tiles, so
that nothing can pass down through into the milk-cellar. In the cellar
itself are the above-mentioned shelves and platforms for the
milk-vessels along the walls, while outside, in front of the cellar,
linden and juniper trees are planted, to prevent as much as possible the
heat of the sun from striking upon the walls. Cleanliness, the
fundamental principle of Dutch dairy husbandry, is carried to its utmost
extent in the cellar. Barrels of meat, bacon, vegetables of every
kind, and everything which could possibly create a strong odor and
infect the air, or impart a flavor to the milk, butter, or cheese, are
carefully excluded.
[Illustration: Fig. 98. Dutch dairy-room.]
The vessels in which the milk is set remain standing undisturbed in
their places, that the formation of cream may go on without
interruption. Twenty-four hours, on an average, are thought to be
necessary for the milk to stand, during which time the cream is twice
taken off, once at the end of each twelve hours. The morning’s milk is
skimmed in the evening, and the evening’s on the next morning. But the
milk always remains quite still till the dairymaid thinks it time to
skim, which she decides by the taste. Long practice enables her to judge
with great certainty by this mode of trial.
[Illustration: Fig. 98.]
When the cream is ripe it is taken off by the dairymaid with a shallow
wooden skimmer, Fig. 99, in the form of a deep plate, and carefully
placed in a particular vessel--a bucket or cream-pot. The cream-pot is
generally washed very clean, the staves very finely polished, striped
with blue or white outside, and held together by broad brass or copper
hoops, kept very bright. For closing the jar they use an ashen cover,
which is either simply laid on by a common handle, or sometimes held on
by brass or copper hinges. Both cream-pot and cover are always scoured
quite white and clean. The cream remains there till enough is got for
churning, or till it becomes of itself thick enough for butter. It is
known to be of the proper consistence for butter when a long, slender,
wooden spoon, thrust down into it, will stand erect. When in summer the
cream does not get thick enough in season, they seek to hasten it by
putting in a little butter-milk; but in winter the ripening of the
cream is hastened by warming, either by holding the cream-pot over a
coal-pan, or on a hearth-plate.
The remainder, the skim-milk from the milk bowls or pans, sour milk, or
butter-milk, is poured into a particular vessel, and made into
spice-cheese.
Besides the methods here described for keeping milk for butter, milk is
used for other purposes. Sweet milk cheese is made of the unskimmed
milk; cream is used in the house for coffee. Rennet is also added to
fresh milk, and the product is immediately sold, being greatly relished
by many. From skim-milk and butter-milk put together is made an article
called kramery by cooking the mixture, putting it into a linen bag, and
hanging it in a cool part of the milk-cellar, or elsewhere, when the
liquid drops out and leaves a mass of considerable consistence, called
Hangebast.
As soon as the milk is taken from the vessels, they are taken out of the
cellar and carefully cleansed and dried before being used again.
METHODS OF CHURNING.--Churning is the principal operation in the
manufacture of butter, for by it the fatty particles are separated from
the other constituents. There are several methods in Holland of
effecting this separation of the butter globules. The oldest and
simplest is that of putting the cream into an upright churn, in which
the cream is agitated by moving a long dasher, pierced with holes, up
and down, till the object is accomplished.
[Illustration: Fig. 100.]
There are, strictly speaking, only two forms of the churn which are used
in all parts of the country. One is broad at the bottom and narrow at
the top. This has been known from the earliest times, and is called the
old churn, Fig. 100.
This old churn is still used in many dairies, and it has the preference
over the other form, because it is thought to bring the butter quicker
and more completely.
The other form is more like a beer or brandy cask on end, being smaller
at each end than in the middle, and is called the barrel-churn. Both
kinds are made of oak-wood, and have wooden or broad metal hoops. In the
one case they are painted outside; in the other, they remain of the
natural color, but are the more frequently scoured, so that the
dark-colored oak-wood gets a whitish color. The metallic hoops are
always kept polished bright.
Both kinds are of different sizes, according as the quantity of cream is
greater or less, or as they are to be worked by hand or animal power
simply, or by machinery. In South Holland, where unquestionably the most
butter is made, the barrel-churn is at each end about two feet and two
inches in diameter, and in the centre is seven inches broader, with
two-inch staves. The old churn, on the other hand, is usually fourteen
inches at the top and twenty-five at the bottom.
In North Holland and West Friesland, also, sizes are found in which one
hundred and fifty to two hundred quarts of cream can be churned. The
churns have each a strong cover at the top, which fits into their rim
about the thickness of the hand, with a hole in the middle for the
dasher.
The churning is performed either by the hand motion of the dasher, as in
all small dairies, and in the smallest churns, or by man-power with the
help of certain mechanical contrivances. The means for effecting this
are different, and so the churns have different names. In many dairies,
for instance, they have a lever connected with the dasher; in other
places they use a flexible pole, fixed into the ceiling above, for
facilitating the motion of the dasher, or put a lever in motion with the
feet, which raises and sinks the dasher. There are also complicated
artificial butter-machines and butter-mills, which are named after the
inventor, the manufacturer, or the motive power. The most known and
widely used are the turning-mills, the wheel-mills, and the clock-work
mills; as the Hand Butter-Mill of Valk, Fürst’s churn, etc.
There are also still more elaborate machine-works for moving the dasher,
which are used in the larger dairies on account of their convenience and
economy. Dog-power and horse-power churns are frequently met with.
CHURNING IN THE COMMON CHURN.--The use of this is well known. The dasher
is moved up and down by hand, with the churn full of cream, till the
butter particles are separated and collected together. The operator
keeps his body in equilibrium, to exercise the power of moving the
dasher regularly for agitating the cream.
THE LEVER CHURN is very commonly used in South Holland, Fig. 101. The
churn itself is barrel-form, as already described, and the dasher is put
in motion by a lever. The upper end is pierced with holes, through which
runs an iron pin. In a beam of the ceiling two joists are firmly fixed,
about a foot and five inches long and four inches square, and several
inches apart. The longer arm of the lever is four feet and seven inches;
the shorter, three feet and six inches. The churn stands under the short
arm of the lever, where the dasher is fixed. By drawing the longer arm
of the lever towards him, the operator presses the dasher down through
the cream. This mode is far less wearisome than the hand-churn, because
by the lever, with less expense of power, a far greater agitation is
produced. A weight is sometimes attached to the longer arm, by which the
power required is still further reduced.
[Illustration: Fig. 101.]
CHURNING WITH AN ELASTIC ROD.--The old-fashioned churn is set in motion
by the aid of another kind of power, as seen in Fig. 102. A long, tough,
flexible stick is fastened into the cross-beam in the ceiling, so that
its larger end is held firm by two iron clasps. The elasticity of the
rod is such that, when the smaller end is drawn down by hand, which, at
the same time, moves the dasher, it rebounds, and thus saves
considerable expenditure of power.
[Illustration: Fig. 102.]
CHURNING WITH THE TREADLE LEVER.--In many places the churn is put in
motion by the feet, as in Fig. 103, where several levers are united to
produce the upward and downward motion of the dasher. The longer arm of
the lever is connected with the churn, and the shorter is set in motion
by a foot-board. The foot-board lies on a roller, with its longer part
attached to the lever; and by throwing the weight of the body upon this
part the shorter arm of the lever is drawn down, and the longer,
attached to the churn-dasher, is raised. The mode of operation is so
plainly seen in the cut as to need no explanation.
[Illustration: Fig. 103.]
Among the more ingenious contrivances used for churning in Holland
belongs the churn invented by Fürst. The body is somewhat similar to the
barrel-churn, but is smaller; and it is of uniform diameter throughout,
as in Fig. 104. It is covered with a wooden lid, furnished with a
convenient handle, and stands on a low platform, to which it is fixed,
when in use, by means of a screw, _k_. The motion is communicated to the
dasher by means of a wheel, or windlass, and an endless cord.
[Illustration: Fig. 104.]
In the interior of the cylinder is placed a kind of ventilator, Fig.
105. This consists of eight wooden wings, pierced with holes, and motion
is communicated to it by means of the wheel, _b_, connected by the cord
to the larger windlass. The wings of the machine when set in motion,
strike incessantly in the cream, and so powerfully that the whole mass
is agitated, and in this manner the separation of the butter particles
is soon effected. The motion is so rapid that it is often necessary to
turn the crank very slowly, especially just as the butter is coming.
[Illustration: Fig. 105.]
[Illustration: Fig. 106.]
VALK’S HAND BUTTER-MILL, Fig. 106, has many advantages. It is less
fatiguing to work than the old-fashioned churn, and even than Fürst’s,
because the motion of the body required is simple and less exacting. And
again, the churn takes up less room, and is easily transported, which is
an important consideration in churning, on account of the influence of
the temperature. In summer the heat may delay, or render the operation
difficult, and in winter the coldness presents obstacles. A
transportable churn can be moved into a cool place in summer, and a warm
one in winter, when it is desirable. The dasher of the churn is also
seen separate in the same figure.
[Illustration: Fig. 107.]
THE DOG-POWER CHURN, Fig. 107, economizes labor, while, at the same
time, more butter is obtained, on account of the uniformity of the
agitation produced. It is in use in all the Dutch provinces. The form
and size of the churn are comparatively indifferent; but the tread-wheel
and direction of the moving power are the important points. The diameter
of the wheel is from ten to twelve feet, and the rim or outer
circumference is made of boards two feet wide. The weight of the animal
turns the wheel and moves the dasher by means of cogs, as shown in the
figure.
Where there is a sufficient supply of moving power, a churn with two
dashers is sometimes attached, as shown in Fig. 108, in which case one
dasher moves down while the other is raised.
[Illustration: Fig. 108.]
A large and strong dog is required, and he is easily taught to keep to
his work, by beginning with short trials, and gradually lengthening
them. A steady and uniform step is necessary, and this will soon be
acquired. The dog is sometimes left free, and sometimes tied by a line.
[Illustration: Fig. 109.]
[Illustration: Fig. 110.]
CHURNING BY HORSE-POWER.--On large farms and in extensive dairies the
churning is done by horse-power, as shown in Fig. 109. The form of the
churn itself is optional in this case, also. The size of the wheel
varies, but it is seldom less than nine or ten feet in diameter,
furnished with cogs on the upper surface, which are from four to six
inches long, and play into a smaller wheel, the axle of which is
attached to the dasher of the churn. A third and smaller wheel is
sometimes introduced, as in Fig. 110. A quick and regular step is
required of the animal, and a quiet and docile horse is always
preferred. A horse adapted to this work commands a good price. Blinders
are always used on the horse while churning.
DURATION OF THE CHURNING.--In whatever way the churning is performed,
the result is always a separation of the fatty particles from the other
constituents of the milk. As soon as the churning indicates that the
butter particles increase in size and collect together, the motion of
the dasher must be hastened till the butter has come together in a large
mass. Great care should be taken to observe the appearance of this
formation. The Dutch dairymaids acquire great skill, by long practice
and experience, in judging of the proper moment when the separation of
the particles has completely taken place. Very great importance is with
justice attached to this skill, for it is undoubtedly true that one with
this knowledge can get far more and better butter from milk of the same
quality, the same quantity, and skimmed at the same time.
The cream taken from the milk of thirty-five cows, after standing
twenty-four hours, is generally churned in summer in less than an hour,
sometimes in three quarters of an hour. In very hot weather the
cream-pot is frequently set into the cool-bath of fresh water for five
or six hours before the churning begins, and it churns the easier for
it. Cold water is never poured into the churn with the cream. In
winter, as well as in cold weather in spring and fall, warm water is
sometimes poured in with the cream.
WORKING AND TREATMENT OF BUTTER.--When the churning is finished, the
dairy-woman takes out the butter with a wooden scoop, Fig. 111, and puts
it into a tub for further working. The tub, Fig. 112, is a broad,
shallow vessel, open at the top, and having an opening at the bottom
which is stopped by a bung. The scoop is pierced with holes, through
which the butter-milk drains. The butter put into the tub is now rinsed,
salted, and formed.
[Illustration: Fig. 111.]
[Illustration: Fig. 112.]
[Illustration: Fig. 113.]
The tub is put upon a low, firm table, and the butter is worked by the
hands, or by a shallow, rather wide and strong wooden ladle, until the
butter is united into one firm and entire mass. Many dairy-women are
accustomed to work the butter out from the middle towards all sides
before bringing the whole mass together in the tub. Then very clear and
pure fresh cold water is poured upon the butter, and worked through it
till all the milky particles are entirely removed. After this is done in
several workings, the bung is removed from the bottom of the tub, and
the watery matter runs down through a little strainer, as in Fig. 113.
As a general rule, butter is washed with water and worked over eleven or
twelve times; yet the operator must judge whether the butter contains
any particles of milk, and must work with water till, as it runs off, it
is no longer whitish, but perfectly clear. Butter sometimes becomes too
soft from too much working, if it is all done at once; it is then worked
over two or three times, and allowed to stand in cold water after each
working, which preserves its hardness and texture. This whole operation
is called the washing of the butter.
[Illustration: Fig. 114.]
When the washing is finished, the butter is cut with a blunt,
saw-toothed knife, Fig. 114, in every direction, in order to remove all
hairs, or fibres of any kind, which by any possibility have got into it
during the day. It is then sprinkled over with white, finely-powdered
salt, the quantity of which is regulated by the taste; and this is
perfectly worked in, so that the whole is uniformly salted. Most
dairy-women determine the quantity of salt by the eye and the taste, and
acquire such facility by continued practice that they always get the
proper quantity; but less experienced ones take the salt by weight. The
salting is not all done at once, but is continued three or four days,
twelve hours intervening between each application, until all the salt
has dissolved, and not a crystal is to be found. If the butter has a
speckled and variegated appearance, it is a sign that the salt is not
completely worked in, and the neglect must be remedied by working it
over still more in the most thorough manner. When the salt is all
dissolved, the butter is brought into single balls and got ready for the
next market-day, or the whole mass is put into a particular keg, in
order to be taken to market at some subsequent time as firkin-butter.
THE FORM OF FRESH BUTTER.--The form of the butter is made by taking a
suitable quantity and pressing it into a mould, and then taking it out
by knocking on the mould. Many different forms of butter-moulds are in
use in the different sections of Holland, such as are shown in Figs.
115, 116, and others.
[Illustration: Fig. 115.]
[Illustration: Fig. 116.]
[Illustration: Fig. 117.]
The figures impressed on the butter are given by the mould, where it is
deeply engraved; or they are made after the butter is taken out of the
mould, and for this purpose a peculiar instrument is used, Fig. 117, a
kind of flat wooden spoon, with a short, convenient handle, and long
grooves in the broad, flat surface. Each region has its own peculiar
stamp, or special figures, which are given to lump-butter, to which
particular attention is paid by the purchaser. The butter-dealer knows
exactly that in one section butter is stamped in one way, in another
section in some other way; and that the butter of one section, with its
peculiar stamp, is worth more than that of another.
The butter-moulds are generally made of linden-wood, but must always be
large enough to hold at least a certain prescribed weight of butter; for
all lump-butter brought for sale to the weekly market must be of a
prescribed weight. This weight is very different, and almost every city
has different regulations and market customs; yet, in most places, a
pound is the legal weight. Certain market-masters, or inspectors of
butter, are appointed, and watch that all the butter has its proper
weight. If too light, it is forfeited by the seller, who is also
punished for fraud. The butter brought to market is generally covered
with very clean white cloths, and several sample lumps are put for
inspection in a large butter-bowl, basket, or shallow box.
Many dairymen are accustomed in spring, when the first grass butter is
made, to send their regular customers a few little lumps of fresh May or
grass butter. These presents generally have a peculiar form, and on the
specimens most carefully prepared some animal is moulded, as a sheep
lying down, a dog, &c., with a bunch of green grass or buttercups in its
mouth. The dairy-woman herself usually presents this butter in a
beautiful milk-bowl adorned with grass and flowers, covered with
glittering white cloths.
THE PACKING OF BUTTER IN FIRKINS AND BARRELS.--If the butter packed in
firkins and barrels is to be kept a long time, experience and knowledge
are required to pack it so that it will not be injured. The form and
size of these casks are different in different sections and provinces.
Where butter-making forms a chief branch of dairy business, the
particular form and size which have been used for a long time are
adhered to, because dairymen know very well that the public recognizes
their choice butter by the form and size of the casks, and buys it the
more readily. The greatest anxiety of the Dutch butter-maker is to keep
up the old, well-earned reputation which Dutch butter has in every
foreign country, both for its intrinsic good qualities, the result of
the process of manufacture, and for its extraordinary appearance as an
article of commerce.
For the proper preservation of the good qualities of butter, it is of
the highest importance to have the casks properly made and treated; but
the mode of salting and packing the butter in them is also of special
importance, since this is examined at the sale. The old and customary
forms and sizes of butter-casks are, therefore, of great consequence to
the butter-maker, because every butter-dealer and judge of butter
recognizes at once, by the external form of the casks, from what section
the butter comes, and makes up his mind on the money value of the
article from these appearances.
It was not originally known what kinds of wood were best for
transporting butter long distances in, and preserving its highest
qualities; and butter-casks were made of several kinds of wood, as oak,
beech, willow, etc. But it was for the interest of the government that
Dutch butter should maintain its reputation for extraordinary qualities
abroad, and the most rigid laws were enacted, prescribing from what wood
the casks should be made, etc.; and now only oak is allowed to be used,
and the casks are all inspected and stamped according to
law. * * * *
Before the butter is packed the casks are properly cleaned and prepared,
for which practice and experience are requisite.
Old butter-casks that have been previously used are cleaned of every
particle of fat and dirt remaining in them, and scoured and washed out
as carefully as possible, and are placed for several days in running
water before they are used again. If no running water is at hand, quite
clean pond or spring water is taken, and all impure water is carefully
avoided. After they have lain in the water five or six days, they are
carefully scoured out with good wood-ashes and sand, and again well
rinsed. After several scourings and soakings, they are put into a kettle
over a fire and carefully scalded; and then, when cold, again scoured
and rinsed, for which the most judicious dairymen use milk instead of
water, and they are then placed to dry in the air. They are fit for use
only when everything has been done in the most careful manner.
But new butter-casks require still more particular and careful treatment
before they can be filled with butter without fear of injury. They are
got ready for packing in several different ways. Some dairymen let them
lie in pure water a whole summer and winter long, and wash them out in
lye, and then treat them just as they do those that have been used.
Others, however, who give the new casks the preference over the old, but
who cannot wait for the soaking in lye over summer and winter, treat
them in the following manner: They prepare a lye of good American
potash, which generally contains the most alkali, in a cask holding some
three hundred quarts, taking a pound of potash to twenty pounds of
water. For a cask of the size named fifteen pounds of potash are used,
which is prepared by pouring boiling water upon it and stirring
constantly, adding a little more water as the potash dissolves. With
this lye, which will be about five degrees strong by Beaumé’s aërometer,
the butter-barrels are entirely filled. The barrels stand two hours
filled with lye, and are then emptied and exposed to the air to dry,
without being scoured out with water or milk. The lye may be used again
for other new barrels, even though a part of its strength may be gone.
Potash is added, from time to time, to keep up the specified degree of
strength. A solution of fifteen pounds of coarsely-powdered alum is
prepared in about three hundred quarts of hot water, in a vessel as
large as the lye-cask. The butter-barrels are also filled full of the
solution of alum, and allowed to stand twenty-four hours. This alum
solution must also be of five degrees strength by Beaumé’s scale, and
it can be used over and over by adding more alum now and then. After
emptying out the alum and lye, they are dried a day in the sun and air,
and then rinsed out in fresh, pure water, when they can be used for
packing butter without fear. Some add a little sulphate of iron or green
copperas to the alum, when the solution is more powerful; yet the
management of the butter-barrels is then more troublesome, and requires
more experience. The effect of the copperas has also the disadvantage
that it blackens the barrels, which, though it does not injure them, is
not liked by the purchaser.
By this treatment the new butter-barrels are much more quickly and
cheaply cleansed, and got ready for packing and transporting butter,
than by the course pursued with old barrels. The barrels, treated as
above, are not only quite water-tight, but the wood is stronger and more
durable. By means of the potash-lye and the alum solution the tannin is
taken from the oak-wood used in the barrels, which, if it remained,
would give a disagreeable taste to the butter. The effect of the potash
and alum upon the wood of the barrels is quite harmless, and does not
impart the least unhealthy quality to the butter.
When the old or new barrels have been cleansed and prepared, in either
of the ways indicated, suitably for packing the butter, the bottom of
the barrel is evenly covered with salt. Then a layer of butter which has
been thoroughly washed and salted is made, and another layer of salt,
and so alternate layers of salt and butter till the barrel is full, when
a little brine of salt and water is poured on top. The butter is now
ready to be laid in the cellar, and thence to be sold and exported. When
the dairy is not sufficiently large to fill a barrel each day, the
butter of several churnings must be used, and the barrel filled from
time to time as it stands in the cellar. In that case the upper layer of
butter is left covered with salt, and the cover of the barrel is closed
down tight. In most large dairies a barrel is generally filled at one
churning, which is considered better for the quality of the butter. The
butter is always packed in so firmly that no space is left unfilled.
In doing up butter for sale at home, or at a neighboring market, the
lumps are worked into the form of half a sphere, and put into little
bright-hooped boxes, made to fit into larger casks, which can be nicely
covered and closed up, as seen in Fig. 119, where the dairy-woman holds
a box in her hand. The covered casks are also seen carefully nailed up.
[Illustration: Fig. 119.]
The buyer who wishes to try the butter uses a long iron or steel borer,
hollow inside, and furnished with a handle, as also seen in the cut.
This not only enables him to test the quality but the uniformity of the
butter in the cask.
COLORING OF BUTTER.--The practice of coloring butter is founded on the
fact that we are accustomed to form our judgment at once of the
qualities of the article from the whiteness or the yellowness of its
color. Whiter butter is less attractive generally than yellow summer or
grass-made butter. The color has come to be important to the seller, and
artificial means are found to regulate it.
The coloring is made as follows: About a pound of butter is melted, so
that the heavier parts sink to the bottom, when the light, clear fat on
the top is poured into another dish. In this fat thus poured off is put
a piece of annatto about the size of a walnut, wrapped up in a linen
cloth, and it is then again put over the fire. The coloring matter of
the annatto strains through the linen cloth, and turns the butter brown
red, when it is allowed to cool off. When the butter is to be colored,
some of this brown red is melted, salted, and mixed very carefully into
the butter after washing. The quantity of coloring matter used depends
on the color which the maker wants to impart to his butter, and a little
practice soon enables him to take the right quantity. Others pour the
coloring matter directly upon the butter to attain the same end.
In coloring artificially it is important to get a uniformity of color,
which is the result of very thorough working. Colored butter must not be
marbled.
The cream is sometimes colored before churning. The annatto is put into
a clean beech-wood lye, and as much of this colored and strained lye is
taken as is necessary to produce the desired color in the butter. It is
then churned as usual.
Turmeric is sometimes used instead of annatto for coloring butter. It
has no advantage, however, over annatto.
In many sections the butter is colored with an extract of saffron in
water, or of marigold, or with the juice of carrots, which is applied to
the cream before churning.
The coloring adds nothing to the quality or the taste. It is done for
the sake of the looks; but it gives the butter a deceptive appearance.
USE OF THE BUTTER-MILK.--The butter-milk in the churn is poured into a
great cask, which in large dairies, as a general rule, is painted blue
outside and white inside, with broad black iron hoops. It stands
generally in the kitchen covered with a wooden lid. Butter-milk is used
either in cooking, or for calves or swine, or is sold.
Dairymen in the vicinity of large cities have barrels with broad, bright
brass hoops, in which they carry their butter-milk to market. It is put
into them through a bung-hole, and when full the wooden bung is wound
with linen and driven in. In these barrels the butter-milk is carried to
Amsterdam, Rotterdam, etc., sometimes by boats on the canals, sometimes
on wagons, and by yokes, and there sold to the grocers at wholesale, to
be again sold out by them. The butter-milk thus brings an income by no
means inconsiderable to well-managed dairies.
THE MANUFACTURE OF THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF DUTCH CHEESE.--From time
immemorial, cheese, as an article of commerce, which has had a large
sale, has brought an extensive income to the cattle-breeders and
dairymen where its manufacture has been largely carried on, as
everywhere in West Friesland, North and South Holland, and along the
borders of the crooked Rhine in Utrecht.
Dairymen are not the only ones who enjoy the advantage which grows out
of the cheese-trade; but a large number of other people derive
considerable profit from it, and support themselves entirely by it. Even
the commonalty of the cities, where the weekly markets for the sale of
cheese are regularly held, derive a considerable revenue from the small
taxes for carriage and market-dues, to which every seller has to submit.
The actual difference between the different kinds of cheese made in
Holland is due in part to the form and size, and in part to the mode of
making. Every sort has also a name derived from its peculiarities, or
from the provinces or sections where it is made. The varieties of cheese
best known in the markets in South Holland are the spice cheese, the
sweet milk cheese, known also under the name of Gouda cheese, the
so-called May cheese, the Council’s cheese, the Jews’ cheese, and the
English cheese, made in many places.
Further up in North Holland, the North Dutch sweet milk cheese, as it is
commonly called in the province, known in the foreign markets as Edam
cheese, is almost exclusively made. A kind of sweet milk cheese is made
to a limited extent, called Commissions’ cheese. In West Friesland,
Utrecht, and South Holland, but few except sweet milk cheeses are made.
In making cheese, the utmost cleanliness is most carefully observed in
all the operations. Whoever is intrusted with this work is required to
display the utmost neatness in his whole person, as well as in the
dairy-room; and the vats and other utensils are daily scoured, washed
with lye, and washed out in water and rinsed. The greatest attention is
also paid to the transport of cheese to the weekly markets in the
cities; and in whatever way his load is carried, whether by wagon or in
little boats, the person intrusted with it is always dressed in the
so-called cheese-frock, a large white linen, which is used exclusively
for this purpose. At the market itself the cheese is laid on a
four-cornered bench, two feet high, and exposed to view in a glittering
white linen cloth. But, in order to keep off all dust and impurities, a
sail-cloth is raised over the whole, called the cheese-sail; or it is
covered with a sail-cloth covering, or sometimes with clean straw. But
in other places it is customary to carry the cheese on wagons, in a
white linen cloth, and covered with a woollen cover, ready packed for
sale at the markets.
CHEESE-MAKING IN SOUTH HOLLAND.--Spice cheese from skim-milk, and sweet
milk or Gouda cheese, are the only kinds made to any extent in South
Holland. Spice cheese, which derived its name from the addition of
spices, is a firm, flat cheese, of about twenty pounds weight, brought
to market generally colored red. It is three quarters of a foot thick,
and one and a half feet in diameter, and is made as follows:
[Illustration: Fig. 120.]
The skim-milk is poured from the milk-pans into large tubs, and allowed
to stand quiet till the cheesy matter has settled to the bottom, which
requires, perhaps, half a day. Then the thin liquid on top is poured off
very carefully, without stirring up the rest, through a strainer, into a
large brass kettle, till it is full; but the thicker substance at the
bottom is left, and not put into the kettle. Under this kettle a fire is
made, and the milk heated to a certain degree, regulated by the judgment
of the dairymaid, sufficient to warm other cold milk, but it must not
boil. The fire is made in the kitchen, or in the summer-house, or in
some other room called the cheese-house. When the milk in the kettle is
properly heated, it is poured into the tub of milk which has been heated
and allowed to get cold. This tub is an upright vat, open at the top, of
uniform diameter, bound with wooden hoops, and generally left of the
natural color of the wood; scoured very bright, but sometimes painted
blue and the hoops black. It is seen in Fig. 120.
When the quantity of milk is large, the dairyman puts in as much rennet
as he thinks necessary to curdle the milk completely; but before and
during the addition of the curd the whole is thoroughly stirred, and
this stirring is continued until the stick or wooden ladle used for the
purpose will stand erect in the curd. Then the dairy-woman works the
curd with her hands till no further effect of the rennet in curding the
milk is to be seen. It is called the cheese-curd.
The rennet is prepared in the following manner: The maw or fourth
stomach of a newly-killed sucking calf is taken from the other stomachs,
carefully cleaned and cut into strips two inches wide, and then hung up
in the chimney to be smoked and dried; or, in hot weather in summer, it
is hung up in the sun. Well smoked and dried strips will keep a very
long time. When these are wanted for use, they are very carefully washed
and purified, and then laid in the salt brine from the butter-barrels,
or in lukewarm salt water to soak. The liquid is put into bottles and
laid in the cellar. For curding milk as much is taken as is thought to
be necessary, which cannot be determined without considerable practice
and experience. If too little is taken, the cheese is not fat enough; if
more than the right quantity, it gives a disgusting acid taste. It is
difficult, almost impossible, to state exactly how much rennet should be
used with a certain quantity of milk, because this must be determined
by its quality and its strength. Something like the following quantity
is, however, taken: In a sixty-quart vat are placed about fifty rennets,
prepared by drying, washing, and cutting, and a clear salt brine or
butter-pickle of twenty to twenty-five degrees strength is added. In
smaller quantities the proportion of rennet is about one and a half
quarts to a rennet, or even less. This dried maw can be bought
everywhere in packages of twenty-five pieces each.
[Illustration: Fig. 121.]
One great point in cheese-making is to have a sufficient quantity of
good rennet in store; for the older it grows the more powerful and
effective it becomes, and the experienced cheese-makers, studying their
own interests, know very well how difficult, hurtful, and time-wasting,
it is to use fresh or new rennet. The assertion sometimes made that they
use muriatic acid instead of rennet for curding the milk in Holland
rests on an error, at least so far as the present methods are concerned.
In earlier times, and for the poorest kinds, as the Jews’ cheese,
muriatic acid was more or less used. At the present time, the rennet for
those cheeses is prepared from the stomachs of calves some days old.
When the curd has sufficiently come, and has all been thoroughly broken,
the dairy-woman puts a four-cornered linen cloth, called the
cheese-cloth, which is used only for this purpose, and is only loosely
woven, upon a small strong ladder laid over the edges of a low tub, and
puts upon the cloth the proper quantity of curd, then ties up the four
corners of the cloth, and presses with her whole strength, that the milk
may drain off. This work is also done by men who can apply great
strength, Fig. 121. The corners of the cheese-cloth are brought
together, and the operator presses as hard as he can, in order to remove
all the milk from the curd. But, as this is not possible with the hands
alone, the whole is placed under a plank-press, and by this means as
much of the milk as possible is pressed out. A strong cleat is nailed to
a pillar in the wall at a convenient height from the floor,--say two
feet,--so that the tub, ladder, and cheese-cloth, can be put under the
plank, when the plank is pressed down upon the cloth and curd. At the
other end of the plank the operator sits and presses down with the whole
weight of his body, as seen in Fig. 122. The whey runs into the tub, and
is generally used as food for swine. The pressure is continued till no
more runs off.
[Illustration: Fig. 122.]
After the complete removal of the whey, the curd remaining in the cloth
has the form of the palms of the hands, and is pressed so firmly that it
holds together when the cloth is removed. But it is again broken up, and
put for this purpose into the breaking-tub, a low but broad, open tub,
with wooden hoops, and made of strong staves, and is here worked over by
the bare but cleanly-washed feet of the dairyman, or hired man. This
working with the feet is continued, just as in kneading dough, till all
is brought to a stiff paste.
[Illustration: Fig. 123.]
[Illustration: Fig. 124.]
When it has come to this consistence the forming of the cheese begins.
The dairyman has for this purpose a cheese-mould standing before him,
and lays on the bottom a layer of cheese without spice, and this is
called the blind layer. The cheese tub or mould, Figs. 123 and 124, is
used only for this first moulding. It is a wooden vat, made of staves
from one to one and a half inches thick, and is nine and a half to
twelve and a half inches in diameter, and about ten inches high, bound
at the bottom and top with stout hoops. The bottom of oak-wood, put in
very carefully, is pierced with holes for letting off any moisture that
may remain in the cheese. On the top of the tub a cover is exactly
fitted, to sink down upon the cheese when the pressure is applied. This
cover is of oak, one and a half inches thick, and has a cross-piece
three and a half inches thick, which serves as a handle.
The first layer of cheese is quite firmly pressed down or trodden into
the mould with the hands or feet, and then follows a layer of curd mixed
with spices. The mixture is made best by putting as much of the pasty
curd from the vat into a tub as will form one layer in the mould. Over
this the spice is strewn, caraway and some pounded cloves, and the mass
is then worked over, when it is placed as a new layer into the mould.
Upon the second layer some coarsely-pounded cloves are generally
scattered, or they are stuck whole over the surface. After that the
second layer is pressed in like the first, and the third follows, and so
on till the mould is full. On the uppermost and firmly pressed layer is
laid the cover. The mould thus carefully filled is now brought under a
press, which, partly on account of its length, is called the
“long-press,” and sometimes the “first” or “cheese press,” because the
cheese first comes under it. This press is seen in Fig. 125. It stands
on four short legs, and consists of upright beams fixed upon a platform,
and a long beam, acting as a lever, with one end fastened by a rivet or
bolt. The other end is loaded with weights to any desirable extent, as
appears in the cut. The power of the press may also be increased or
diminished by shifting the end of the lever to the lower or upper hole.
[Illustration: Fig. 125.]
When the mould is put under the press it is set into a shallow,
four-cornered wooden box or pan on the foot-board. This pan is furnished
with grooves at the side, through which the whey can escape. The
pressure may still further be increased by putting a block on the lid of
the mould, as appears in the press. It is this powerful pressure which
gives the cheese the high quality for which it is distinguished above
others. The whey still remaining in the curd runs off through the holes
in the bottom of the mould, when the strong pressure is applied, into
the pan, and is caught in another pan which sits under the press.
[Illustration: Fig. 126.]
When the cheese has stood two hours under the press, it is taken from
the mould, surrounded by a clean linen cloth, and again brought under
the press. The change of cloth is repeated once or twice after two or
three hours’ pressing, and the cheese is left standing in the press over
night. The next morning the cheese is brought under another press, under
which it is subjected to still more powerful pressure, and receives its
peculiar form. This press is seen in Fig. 126, and consists of a frame
resting on four strong uprights, forming a kind of firm table. On the
plate of the table lie four or six rollers, whose ends at both sides
pass through holes in the standard pieces, and serve merely to assist in
taking out the cheese. The pressure is obtained by heavy weights let
down and raised by a kind of windlass fixed in two perpendicular
standards. The cheese as it comes under this press is not in the mould,
but is simply laid in a pan, as seen in Fig. 127. Before the pressure
begins, however, the stamp or mark of the manufacturer, a key, a letter,
etc., in iron, is laid upon the cheese, and upon that a square board.
The pan and weight are lowered, so that the pressure begins and the
stamp is impressed on the cheese, which becomes flatter, smoother, and
firmer than before. The cheese is left under this press till it gets its
final form, and the pressure in the pan is increased or diminished,
according to circumstances.
[Illustration: Fig. 127.]
When the cheese, after being pressed in both machines, has received its
final form, it is placed in a long trough, called the salt-trough, which
is generally in the cow-room behind the cow-stands. It has been already
said that the cow-stall is used as a cheese-room in summer, when the
cows are out to pasture. In this trough, a space deep and wide enough
for the diameter of the cheese, from four to six cheeses can be laid. In
the salt-trough the cheeses are salted as long and as thoroughly as is
necessary. Observation and experience are needed here to get the right
quantity of salt and the right time, that the cheese may receive a
suitably firm crust or rind.
When the cheese in the salt-trough is sufficiently salted, it is put
over a large tub, where it is properly washed in cold, fresh water,
trimmed with a cheese-knife, and colored. For coloring, annatto boiled
in water with some potash is used. After the coloring the cheese is
rubbed with the beistings, or first milk of a cow newly-calved. The
spice cheese gets its red color and firm, smooth rind in the coloring
and washing in the beistings; and this distinguishes it from other
sorts.
The colored cheeses are now laid upon shelves made for the purpose in
the cow-stall used as a cheese-room, and turned daily till properly
dried. When dry they are laid for sale in a cheese or store room. This
room is connected with the house, or separated from the other rooms only
by a thin board partition. This room, as well as the cow-stall, is kept
extraordinarily clean,--scoured and aired, and used for nothing but the
keeping of cheese.
[Illustration: Fig. 128.]
Fig. 128 represents the cow-stall used as a cheese-room, in which the
salt-trough is seen, and the dairyman and dairy-woman are occupied in
turning and trimming the cheese.
MANUFACTURE OF SWEET MILK CHEESE IN SOUTH HOLLAND.--The best kind of
sweet milk cheese is made in the vicinity of the city of Gouda, and on
the gray and Dutch Yssel, from which circumstance it is often known by
the name of Gouda cheese.
The making of this cheese is less difficult than that of spice cheese,
but requires more attention and care, because the rich sweet milk is
used for it. It is as follows: The milk as it comes fresh from the cow
is strained through a hair-strainer into a large wooden vat or tub, or,
in some large dairies, into a copper kettle, which stands on a peculiar
tray or bench. This tray is made of four to five inch posts, and its
size is governed by the quantity of milk of the tubs to be used; but
these tubs generally hold from one hundred to one hundred and fifty
cans. The milk is immediately set with the requisite quantity of rennet,
usually one quarter of a can to one hundred cans of milk; and if it does
not “come” in a quarter of an hour, more rennet is added.
When it has properly curdled, it is stirred in all directions with a
wooden ladle three or four times over, and somewhat broken up, when it
is allowed to stand three or four minutes at rest. It is then gently and
constantly stirred again, with the ladle or the hands, and broken. By
too active stirring one gets more whey than cheese, and very quick
stirring must be avoided. The whey is then allowed to stand some time,
by which the curdled cheese particles collect, and the whey appears on
the surface, and can be taken off and poured into a tub made for the
purpose. To the mass still remaining in the kettle, which is now almost
all cheesy matter, as much hot water is added as is sufficient to warm
it properly. The addition of hot water must be made with discretion,
however, and must not exceed a certain amount, which can be learned only
by practice. The more we add, the drier will the cheese become after a
while; and, though it may keep the better, and be better for
transportation, the taste is unquestionably injured by it. The cold-made
cheese is far more liable to injury from keeping, but is much richer and
more palatable, on which account the best is generally eaten fresh. The
quantity of hot water to be added for warming the milk must therefore he
determined somewhat by the disposition to be made of the cheese.
When the hot water has stood, say half an hour, on the curd, it is taken
off and poured into the whey. The curd is now properly brought together
by the hands or a ladle, and again thoroughly worked and broken. After
standing at rest a short time, the water and whey are turned off again,
as completely as possible, in the whey-tub. The mass of curd still
remaining in the vat, now called wrongel, is cut up into small pieces,
which are very carefully worked over, and then pressed into the wooden
cheese-mould. In order to get a very fine separation of the curd, only a
small quantity is taken at once from the vat, which is rubbed in the
hands, and then pressed into the mould till it is quite full. The
cheese-mould is in the form of a bowl, made of willow wood, with its
lower part pierced with holes, so that the whey can run off when the
pressure is applied. The cheese now formed is taken out carefully,
rubbed with the hands, and still further worked in the cheese-tub, and
again very firmly pressed into the mould with the hands.
To be able to press it into the mould with greater power, an implement
called the presser is used. It consists of a short stick, with a kind of
handle or cross-piece on the upper end. On the lower end a disc is fixed
which fits into the cheese-mould. In using the instrument, the disc is
placed on the cheese to be pressed into the mould, the handle or
cross-piece is placed against the chest or shoulders, and the operator
presses down at the same time with his hands, thrusting the disc as
deeply as possible into the cheese-mould. When pressed enough on one
side, it is turned round in the mould, bringing the other side up, and
the pressure is again applied as strongly as possible. For saving the
whey in cheese-pressing, the mould is set into a pan only a little
larger than the mould itself, which catches the whey running out from
the mould. When the cheese in the mould is properly pressed by hand, the
cover is put upon the mould, which is loaded gradually, in order to
bring down the greatest possible pressure. The weight or pressure is
greater or less according to the size of the cheese; yet during the
pressure the cheese must be frequently turned, that it may get the right
form. The gradual increase of the pressure goes on for twenty-four
hours, when the cheese is taken from the mould to be laid in a tub of
salt-brine in the cellar; the cellar must be kept cool. The cheese
remains in the brine twenty-four hours, but is turned once in that time.
It is then taken out and put upon a table, the surface of which is
inclined, the legs of one end being longer than those of the other. On
both sides of the inclined table run grooves in the direction of the
inclination of the surface, which unite at the lower end, and serve as a
way of escape for the brine or pickle into a tub below. Here the cheese
is rubbed with salt, and a handful of salt, is scattered over the top,
when it is left standing for some time “in the salt.” If one side was
rubbed in the morning, it is turned at evening; and the other side is
served in the same manner as the first. A cheese of from fifteen to
sixteen pounds remains standing thus four or five days, according to the
temperature. If the heat is great, it must stand the longer in the salt.
When sufficiently salted, it is washed off in hot water, and taken to
the cheese-room, where it is daily turned on dry, clean shelves. If it
is still greasy or dauby on the outside, it is still further washed in
water, and dried off with a coarse linen towel.
The cheese-room is generally kept closed by day to keep out the light
and sun, which are not good for cheese. It is opened in the morning and
evening to let in a little cooling air; yet a strong breeze is avoided
by opening all the doors and windows at the same time, for the cheese
will crack and break open if exposed to it.
Sweet milk cheese is fit for use at the age of four weeks. Strongly
salted cheese does not ripen up so quickly as that which is salted less;
but, if it takes longer, the loss is less, and, on that account, it is
preferred for sending off to less salted cheese, which, on the other
hand, is richer, and has a little better taste. In the daily turning of
the cheese, great care is taken to observe any little specks in it where
the mites conceal themselves. As soon as such places are discovered, a
hole is dug out with a knife as deep as they extend into the cheese. The
holes are left open till the next day, when, if no more mites appear,
they are stopped up with other cheese. But, if they still appear, some
pounded pepper is put into the holes, which destroys them. Rotten or
moist spots on the cheese are treated in the same way, but very deep
holes have to be made into the cheese, and it is best to cover them with
buckwheat-meal, when they dry up very quickly.
In very hot weather it sometimes happens that the cheese swells up and
begins to ferment. Then it is laid on the cleanly-scoured pavement of
the cheese-room, where it is cooler; or, as many do, pierced pretty
deeply with holes with a knitting-needle, which often helps it. With the
decrease of the great heat of the sun, the swelling also ceases. The
cheese is not injured except in appearance, the taste being improved.
But, if the swelling is very considerable, it makes the cheese hollow.
If the milk and cheese dishes are not very cleanly washed and rinsed
out, the cheese gets a wrinkled crust, and begins to ferment.
Sweet milk cheese, three or four months old, is turned and aired only
once a week in dry weather. Many cheese-makers also sprinkle the cheeses
daily, for a week or two after they are fourteen days old, with beer and
vinegar, or with vinegar in which saffron has been extracted, by which
it gets not only a beautiful yellow color, but is also protected from
flies.
THE USE OF THE WHEY OF SWEET MILK CHEESE.--On what remains of the milk
devoted to the making of sweet milk cheese in the manner above
described, or the whey which runs off in the pressing of the cheese,
there forms, after it has stood a few days, a fine creamy skin, which is
carefully taken off with a wooden spoon, put in a clean jar, and stirred
from time to time. This cream is collected to make butter, and it can be
done once a week. This butter-whey is healthful and good, to be sure;
but, on the whole, is not so fine and delicate flavored as good cream
butter, and on this account is cheaper.
The butter-milk which comes from the churning of the cream of whey is a
good food for swine. They greatly relish it.
Whey is also sold as a beverage, and is called “sweet whey.” When fresh
and untainted, it is quite an agreeable drink, very cooling, and good
for the health in spring, purifying the blood, though somewhat purgative
in its effect on the kidneys. Later in summer, when the heat is very
great, whey is thought to be rather injurious to the health than
otherwise. It is then used exclusively for swine.
MAY CHEESE.--In the early part of summer, when the grass is best, sweet
milk cheese is made in precisely the same way as that described, yet of
smaller size and less weight. This is called May cheese, and is designed
for immediate use or sale when ripe, as it will not keep, and easily
loses its fine flavor.
JEWS’ CHEESE.--Another kind of sweet milk cheese is the Jews’ cheese. It
differs from common sweet milk cheese in its form, which is flatter and
thinner, and partly in being less salted, and of a much looser texture.
It is but little made; but some dairies are devoted to it.
COUNCIL’S CHEESE.--This is made as the common sweet milk cheese, only in
much smaller moulds. It has also a peculiar color. It is allowed to get
rather old before it is relished, and is then mostly given away.
NEW MILK’S CHEESE.--This is made in winter, when the cows are in the
stall. It is not so good as grass cheese, which is made in summer, when
the cows are at pasture, and is less relished, and brings a lower price.
When the cows are brought to the barn late in the fall, it can be made
of very good quality for a few days; but the longer the cow remains in
the stall the more the milk loses its good quality for cheese, on which
account but few of the larger dairies make cheese at all in winter.
To make it appear to buyers more like grass-made cheese, and to be able
to sell it, it is colored with the same material, and it is then often
very difficult to distinguish it, since great pains is taken to give the
two kinds the same form, hardness of rind, etc. The dairymen have less
to do with this deception than the dealers. Hay cheese is rather better
in quality for coloring, since it gains in appearance and taste; but it
never can equal grass-made cheese in fine qualities.
CHEESE-MAKING IN NORTH HOLLAND.--In the province of North Holland sweet
milk cheese is made almost exclusively. From ancient times this
particular branch of farming has been carried to great extent; but it
has especially grown in importance since the province gained a firm soil
by artificial draining. At the present time North Holland is the
head-quarters of the cheese-trade; and it is easily explained in the
fact that no other province has more or better cattle. The manufacture
of cheese is almost the only object of keeping cattle, and the North
Dutch dairy farmer applies himself with the greatest possible zeal to
the most careful modes of cheese-making, in order to keep up the ancient
reputation of his cheeses, both in the domestic and foreign markets, and
to secure to himself all of the advantages springing from it.
The quantity of cheese which is weekly sold in the markets of Alkmaar,
Hoorn, Edam, Purmerend, Medenblik, Enkhuizen, etc., is enormous. We cite
Alkmaar alone as an example, where on the city scales there were weighed
no less than 23,859,258 Netherlandish pounds (536,834,830 pounds,
American), from 1758 to 1830. Since that time the manufacture has
increased, so that from three to four million Netherland pounds are
annually brought to the Alkmaar market. But, besides this, a large
quantity of cheese does not come into the market, but is sold at the
dairy without passing through the hands of the traders, and never comes
to the city scales.
In 1843 there were sold in the North Dutch cheese-markets 22,385,812
pounds, to say nothing of the large quantity sold directly from the
dairy. It is easy to see, therefore, how important and extensive an
interest the manufacture of cheese has become for this province. Of the
twenty-two million pounds annually exported, the value may be estimated
as at least three million Dutch guilders. The price and value of the
cheese vary, of course, with the markets.
The North Dutch cheese differs somewhat in quality and money value,
according to the section where it is made; but in general that made in
the region about Hoorn is considered the best, as is very natural, since
in that vicinity are to be found the finest meadows and pastures in the
province. The villages of Oosterblokker, Westerwoude, Hoogecarspel, and
Twisk, are distinguished above all others; and so are the pastures of
Beemster, Purmer, and Schermer, almost equally so.
The Dutch cheese-maker reckons twelve Netherland cans of milk to a
pound--two and a quarter pounds American--of cheese, according to which
a cow in three hundred days would give from eighteen hundred to two
thousand cans of milk, or usually from one hundred and fifty to one
hundred and seventy-five Netherland pounds of cheese, in a year.
THE UTENSILS USED IN CHEESE-MAKING IN NORTH HOLLAND are nearly the same
as those already described for saving the milk for butter, and those
used in the various processes of cheese-making in South Holland. They
are modified to some extent, to be sure, by the taste, the pride, the
wealth, or the caprice, of each dairyman. Many a them are painted,
wholly or in part, in oil colors, for the sake of durability as well as
cleanliness, on which the North Dutch dairyman lays great stress. They
do not require much capital.
VARIETY OF NORTH DUTCH CHEESES, AND THE TRADE IN THEM.--The North Dutch
cheese is called sweet milk cheese, and also, pretty commonly, white
cheese, where it is made; but in Germany it is called Edamer, less
because the best is made in the vicinity of this city than because the
largest trade in it is carried on there.
All sweet milk cheese has not the same weight, form, and size. Many
kinds of it come into the market under different names; as, for example,
large cheese of 20 to 24 pounds (45 to 54 pounds), Malbollen of 16
pounds (36 pounds), medium of 10 to 12 pounds (22 to 27 pounds),
Commission’s of 6 or 7 pounds (14 to 16 pounds), and little ones of 4
pounds (9 pounds), to which belong the Jews’ cheese. Besides this, the
making of English cheese is carried on. Malbollen is but little made. It
is of about twenty pounds weight. Fifty years ago large quantities of it
came into market, and were sold mostly in North Brabant and the Rhine
provinces. Of the medium cheese the manufacture is pretty extensive at
the present time, and it is sold to go to North Brabant chiefly. The
price of these sorts is more frequently fluctuating than that of the
smaller ones; but less so than that of Commission’s cheese, which is not
much made. These varieties in former years were very profitable, since
they were made with little labor, being light and spongy from slight
pressing and little salting, and were sold green.
Dairy industry is now chiefly devoted to making the varieties most known
and sought for in Germany, the Edam small sweet milk cheeses, which are
sent in enormous quantities to all parts of the world. There are two
varieties of Edam cheese in the market, one with a white, the other with
a red rind. The latter is firm, more of a yellowish color inside, and
colored outside. The coloring matter is prepared in France for this
special purpose. By this treatment the cheese is better adapted to
transportation. The early red rind cheese is the finest and best. It is
made in spring from milk fresh and warm from cows just turned to
pasture, and is exported mostly to Italy, Spain, and America. That made
later in summer is not so good, and goes to France; the red rind, made
still later in the fall, goes to England and Brabant. Cheese that is
injured, or does not keep well, is sold mostly in Hamburg and Brabant.
MAKING OF EDAM CHEESE.--The Edam is a rich sweet milk cheese, that is
made from fresh, unskimmed milk. The milk, while still warm from the
cow, is poured into a large tub or a kettle through the strainer. In
cold weather, when it has cooled off in standing in the air, it is
warmed to a proper degree by adding milk heated by the fire. The rennet
is then added. This is prepared in the following manner: The maw of the
nursing-calf, cut, into long strips, is soaked for twenty-four hours in
sweet whey, when it is made lukewarm over a slow fire, whey and all, and
three times the quantity of cheese-brine, or solution of the salt of the
cheese, added. The mass is then allowed to stand four days, when it is
fit for use. An exact determination of the quantity of rennet to be used
cannot well be given, since the quantity depends on the quality; but
usually about two hundred cans of milk to one fifth of a can of rennet
is the proportion, taking more or less, according to the strength of the
rennet.
The milk in the tub to which the rennet has been added is covered over
and allowed to stand till it is curdled, or become hard, which usually
requires a quarter of an hour. The curdled milk is then called “glib.”
It is now slowly but regularly stirred, with a shallow, long-handled
cheese-spoon, in all directions.
Some cheese-makers treat the milk in the following manner: They stir the
milk, thrusting an inverted cheese-ladle into the curdling mass every
two or three minutes after adding the rennet, by which the curdling is
much hastened. Now they move the ladle or cheese-stick three or four
times with considerable force through the thickening milk, and lay it,
inverted, on the surface of the milk, covering the vat for ten or twelve
minutes, when the mass is again set in motion, and then again allowed to
stand. By this means the cheese particles settle to the bottom, and the
whey rises to the top.
When, after these alternate stirrings and rest of the curdling milk, the
solid particles have settled, and the whey is collected on top, the
latter is turned off, as carefully as possible, into the whey-tub. In
order the better to settle the cheesy parts, and to cause the whey to
come up, the cheese-stick is loaded with weights or stones, by which the
whey is separated in the pressure upon the curd. Some minutes after, the
whey is again turned off, the whole mass is properly stirred, and the
curd is collected with the cheese-stick and worked with the hands, and
the whey is again carefully turned off. The curd, now become thick, is
taken out of the vat, piece by piece, and broken with the hands as
finely as possible, in order to fill as much into the cheese-moulds as
will just make a cheese. The moulds are set into the cheese-vat, and the
curd is worked and pressed closely in with the hand, to remove the whey
as much as possible. The cheese is then taken out of the mould, and
again very finely crumbled in the vat, and, after the whey is again
turned off through the strainer, is pressed the second time into the
mould, so that it is as full of cheese as it can possibly be. It is then
turned in the mould so that the upper side goes down, when it is again
firmly pressed in. The turning is repeated several times.
In the making of large and medium cheeses the presser is used, while
space left empty by the pressure is again filled with curd, so that the
mould is always full, and the cheese gets its requisite size. In the
smaller or four-pound cheeses, the hands alone are used for this
pressing into the mould. The mould, now pressed full, is put into a tub,
properly washed in whey, and cleansed of all remaining fat. By the
washing and smoothing the cheese must get a glossy and smooth rind.
After this is done, the cheese is again taken out of the mould, wrapped
in a clean linen cloth, put in again, and covered over and brought under
the press, that it may become harder and firmer, and that the whey may
run off.
In hot weather the cheese is left under the press five hours, from nine
in the morning till two in the afternoon; but, if it is cool, it must
stand longer. There are several different objects in view in deciding
the continuance of the pressure. Many think two or three hours
sufficient, whilst others press five hours. Cheese designed for export
is pressed longer, or twelve hours.
It takes from three to four hours, usually, from the pouring in of the
milk to the bringing of the cheese under the press; but it can be done
in two or two and a half hours without injuring the cheese.
After the first pressing is finished, the cheese is put into another
mould, rounder than the first, and with only one hole in the bottom, to
lie in the salt. In many places a long trough is used, in which several
such moulds are placed to be salted at the same time; and for this
either dry salt or pickle (brine, or salt in solution) is used. The
pickle is most commonly used, and is thought best. When one side of the
cheese has laid some hours in the brine, it is turned, and the other
side is also salted. After a while it is salted or turned in the brine
but once a day. Small four-pound cheeses remain nine days in hot
weather, and in cold ten or twelve days, in the salt; medium ones of ten
to twelve pounds must lie at least three weeks. In very hot weather they
are often salted twice a day. The moulds with the salted cheese are
placed, several together, into the cheese-vat where the brine is, or on
a salting-tray where the brine is collected in a tub beneath. After
being finally salted, they are washed perfectly clean with water or warm
whey. Many put their cheeses from the brine immediately in a kettle of
hot whey for some minutes, and wash them in it. All unevenness or
roughness got in pressing in the mould is now scraped off with a knife.
After the washing, the cheeses are again perfectly dried, and laid on
the shelves in the cheese-room, where they are daily turned, and remain
from two to four, and even five weeks. The cheese is now salable; but
before it is packed or delivered it is laid for some hours to soak in
pure, cold spring or well water, the smallest for three hours, the
medium four, and the largest five hours. The cheese is then well cleaned
with the cheese-brush, laid on the shelf in the store-room, and turned a
week or more, daily. But, in order to give them a fine yellow color, in
damp weather, especially, the poorer ones are, by many dairymen, laid a
good ways apart, and sprinkled or washed daily with new beer. When the
cheese is to be sold, it is properly washed still again in hot whey, and
rubbed with a woolen cloth a day before sending to market, with hot or
cold linseed-oil, by which the outside of the cheese gets a fine glow;
but it must be rubbed till no fat or oil is to be felt.
THE RED COLOR OF EDAM CHEESE.--After the dairyman has sold his cheese to
the merchant, it is colored by him quite red. It will not be
uninteresting to many readers to know some of the details of this
peculiar color.
Edam cheese is colored with what is called tournesol, which is extracted
from a plant (_Croton tinctorium_). This is an annual, which grows wild
in France, in great abundance, in the vicinity of Montpelier, in
Languedoc; and around Aix, in Provence, large commons are sown with it.
The seed is sown in March and April. From a white and straight tap root,
it sends up a stalk something like six inches high, which divides into
many branches. The leaves have very long stems, of a pale green color.
The flower-stalks spring up from between the branches, and bear flowers
in fan-shaped clusters. The vegetation of the plant continues four
months.
The preparation of the tournesol is as follows: The plants are collected
late in summer, the roots thrown away, and the other parts taken to a
mill, where they are ground, and the juice pressed out. Into this juice
the rags of old hempen cloth are dipped till they are soaked full, when
they are hung up to dry in the sun. When they are dry they are laid on a
tray over a tub filled with urine, in which carbonate of lime has been
dissolved, so that the edges hang over the rim of the tub on which they
rest. The vapor from the solution of lime must penetrate the rags, and
this gives them a violet color, when they are taken off and dried again,
to be replaced till they are fully colored.
The tournesol rags have become an article of commerce, for which France
receives annually from Holland from 100,000 to 200,000 guilders (from
$38,000 to $76,000).
To give the Edam cheeses the red rind, they are rubbed with these
tournesol rags, from which they got the dark violet color; and after
they are dried they are again rubbed, which gives them a glowing red.
It is an excellent peculiarity of the tournesol rags that they not only
impart the color to Edam cheese, to which people abroad are so
accustomed, but that they keep the insects from the cheese, whilst the
coloring matter does not penetrate inside, but remains on the rind.
Substitutes for it have been repeatedly sought, but not found; nor have
the attempts made to grow the plant in Holland proved successful.
USE OF THE WHEY OF THE NORTH DUTCH SWEET MILK CHEESE.--The whey obtained
in making cheese in North Holland is collected in large tubs. The sweet,
agreeable taste of the whey is soon lost when it is set to obtain the
fatty particles still remaining in it. The cream which forms on it is
daily taken off with a skimmer, put into a cream-pot, and when it is
collected in sufficient quantity it is made into whey butter.
CHAPTER XII.
LETTER TO A DAIRY-WOMAN.
In the earlier chapters of this work I have spoken to farmers and
dairymen of the selection, care, and management, of dairy stock. The
seventh, eighth, and ninth chapters relate more especially to your
department, and on your application and skill will depend chiefly the
successful result of the dairy establishment. Of what avail are costly
barns, well-selected cows, and judicious feeding, in the butter and
cheese dairy, if the products are to be depreciated in value by the
imperfect modes of preparing them for the market, where the final
judgment is passed upon them, and where it is expected the price will be
according to their value?
You have, doubtless, had a much greater practical knowledge and
experience of the details of dairy management than I have. For this
practice and experience I have the utmost respect; but I have not spoken
without a knowledge of the subject. I have made many a cheese, and many
a pound of butter, while my observations have extended over all the most
important dairy districts of the country, and have not been limited to
the practices of any one section, which, however good in themselves, may
not be the best. I trust, therefore, you will excuse me for calling your
attention to the more important points to which I have alluded; and, if
my conclusions happen to differ from your own, in any respect, that you
will not discard them as worthless, without first bringing them to the
test of careful experiment, when I trust they will be found correct.
I have not written to establish any favorite theory, but simply to
inculcate truth, and to aid in developing a most important branch of
American industry, which, either directly or indirectly, involves the
investment of a vast amount of capital, the aggregate profits of which
depend so largely on your judgment and skill.
I need not remind you that any addition, however small, to the market
value of each pound of butter or cheese, will largely increase the
annual income of your establishment. Nor need I remind you that these
articles are generally the last of either the luxuries or the
necessaries of life in which city customers are willing to economize.
They must and will have a good article, and are ready to pay for it in
proportion to its goodness; or, if they desire to economize in butter,
it will be in the quantity rather than the quality.
Poor butter is a drug in the market. Nobody wants it, and the dealer
often finds it difficult to get it off his hands, when a delicate and
finely-flavored article attracts attention and secures a ready sale.
Some say that poor butter will do for cooking. But a good steak or
mutton-chop is too expensive to allow any one to spoil it by the use of
a poor quality of butter; and good pastry-cooks will tell you that cakes
and pies cannot be made without good sweet butter, and plenty of it.
These dishes relish too well, when properly cooked with nice butter, for
any one to tolerate the use of poor butter in them.
On page 220 and elsewhere, I have dwelt on the necessity of extreme
cleanliness in all the operations of the dairy; and this is the basis
and fundamental principle of your business. I would not suppose, for a
moment, that you are lacking in this respect. The enormous quantities
of disgusting, streaky, and tallow-like butter that are daily thrust
upon the seaboard markets must be due to the carelessness and negligence
of heedless men, to exposure to sun and rain, to bad packing, and to
delays in transportation. Many of these evils you may not be able to
remove, since you cannot follow the article to the market, and see that
it arrives safely and untainted. But you can take greater pains,
perhaps, in some of the preliminary processes of making, and produce an
article that will not be so liable to injure from keeping and
transportation; and then, if fault is to be found, it does not rest with
you.
I will not suggest the possibility that your ideas of cleanliness and
neatness may be at fault; and that what may seem an excess of nicety and
scrubbing to you may appear to be almost slovenliness to some others,
whose butter receives the highest price in the market, and always finds
the readiest sale. Permit me, however, to refer you to pages 300, 324,
and 325, where a detailed account is given of the washings in water and
washings in alkali; of the scrubbings, and the scourings, and the
scaldings, and the rinsings, which the neat and tidy Dutch dairy-women
give all the utensils of the dairy, from the pails to the firkins and
the casks, and also to their extreme carefulness that no infectious odor
rises from the surroundings. I think you will see that it is a physical
impossibility that any taint can affect the atmosphere or the utensils
of such a dairy, and that many of the details of their practice may be
worthy of imitation in our American dairies.
And here allow me to suggest that, though we may not approve of the
general management in any particular section, or any particular dairy,
it is rare that there is not something in the practice of that section
that is really valuable and worthy of imitation.
On pages 231 and 234 I have called your attention to the use of the
sponge and clean cloth for absorbing and removing the butter-milk in the
most thorough manner; this I regard as of great importance.
I have stated on page 234 that, under ordinarily favorable
circumstances, from twelve to eighteen hours will be sufficient to raise
the cream; and that I do not believe it should stand over twenty-four
hours under any circumstances. This, I am aware, is very different from
the general practice over the country. But, if you will make the
experiment in the most careful manner, setting the pans in a good, airy
place, and not upon the cellar bottom, I think you will soon agree with
me that all you get, after twelve or eighteen hours, under the best
circumstances, or at most after twenty-four hours, will detract from the
quality and injure the fine and delicate aroma and agreeable taste of
the butter to a greater extent than you are aware of. The cream which
rises from milk set on the cellar bottom acquires an acrid taste, and
can neither produce butter of so fine a quality or so agreeable to the
palate as that which rises from milk set on shelves from six to eight
feet high, around which there is a full and free circulation of pure
air. The latter is sweeter, and appears in much larger quantities in the
same time than the former.
If, therefore, you devote your attention to the making of butter to sell
fresh in the market, and desire to obtain a reputation which shall aid
and secure the quickest sale and the highest price, you will use cream
that rises first, and that does not stand too long on the milk. You will
churn it properly and patiently, and not with too great haste. You will
work it so thoroughly and completely with the butter-worker, and the
sponge and cloth, as to remove every particle of butter-milk, never
allowing your own or any other hands to touch it. You will keep it at a
proper temperature when making, and after it is made, by the judicious
use of ice, and avoid exposing it to the bad odors of a musty cellar.
You will discard the use of artificial coloring or flavoring matter, and
take the utmost care in every process of making. You will stamp your
butter tastefully with some mould which can be recognized in the market
as yours; as, for instance, your initials, or some form or figure which
will most please the eye and the taste of the customer. You will send it
in boxes so perfectly prepared and cleansed as to impart no taste of
wood to the butter. If all these things receive due attention, my word
for it, the initials or form which you adopt will be inquired after, and
you will always find a ready and a willing purchaser at the highest
market price.
But, if you are differently situated, and it becomes necessary to pack
and sell as firkin-butter, let me suggest the necessity of an equal
degree of nicety and care in preparation, and that you insist, as one of
your rights, that the article be packed in the best of oak-wood firkins,
thoroughly prepared after the manner of the Dutch, as stated on page
325. A greater attention to these points would make the butter thus
packed worth several cents a pound more when it arrives in the market
than it ordinarily is. Indeed, the manner in which it not infrequently
comes to market is a disgrace to those who packed it; and it cannot be
that such specimens were ever put up by the hands of a dairy-woman. I
have often seen what was bought for butter open so marbled, streaked,
and rancid, that it was scarcely fit to use on the wheels of a carriage.
If you adopt the course which I have recommended in regard to skimming,
you will have a large quantity of sweet skimmed milk, far better than it
would be if allowed to stand thirty-six or forty-eight hours, as is the
custom with many. This is too valuable to waste, and it is my opinion
that you can use it to far greater profit than to allow it to be fed to
swine. There can be no question, I think, that cheese-making should be
carried on at the same time with the making of butter, in small and
medium-sized dairies. You have seen, in Chapter XI., that some of the
best cheese of Holland is made of sweet skim-milk. The reputation of
Parmesan--a skim-milk cheese of Italy, page 266--is world-wide, and it
commands a high price and ready sale. The mode of making these varieties
has been described in detail in the ninth and eleventh chapters; and you
can imitate them, or, perhaps, improve upon them, and thus turn the
skim-milk to a very profitable account, if it is sweet and good. You
will find, if you adopt this system, that your butter will be improved,
and that, without any great amount of extra labor, you will make a large
quantity of very good cheese, and thus add largely to the profit of your
establishment, and to the comfort and prosperity of your family.
But, if you devote all your attention to the making of cheese, whether
it is to be sold green, or as soon as ripe, or packed for exportation, I
need not say that the same neatness is required as in the making of
butter. You will find many suggestions in the preceding pages on the
mode of preparation and packing, which I trust will prove to be valuable
and applicable to your circumstances. There is a general complaint among
the dealers in cheese that it is difficult to get a superior article.
This state of things ought not to exist. I hope the time is not far
distant when a more general attention will be paid to the details of
manufacture, and let me remind you that those who take the first steps
in improvement will reap the greatest advantages.
CHAPTER XIII.
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.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Milch Cows and Dairy Farming - Comprising the Breeds, Breeding, and Management, in Health - and Disease, of Dairy and Other Stock, The Selection Of - Milch Cows, With A Full Explanation Of Guenon's Method; - The Culture Of Forage Plants" ***
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