Pratt's Practical Pointers on the Care of Livestock and Poultry Part 3

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[Ill.u.s.tration: Care of Cows]

~CATTLE~

Cows will bring large or small profits in proportion to the care they receive. If properly housed, properly fed, properly bred, and properly protected against disease they will fully repay the little extra attention required. Strive intelligently to secure the greatest possible regular production. Keep a sharp lookout for unfavorable symptoms and be prompt in finding a cause for poor condition and remedying it. Cows kept in perfect health are the least expense, least trouble, and the greatest profit-earners.

You do not need to be a veterinarian to know that the health of a cow depends on a good healthy appet.i.te with complete digestion and perfect a.s.similation of the daily ration.

That is just plain common sense. No cow which is not a big eater can be profitable. But appet.i.te is not of itself sufficient to make a cow a money maker. There must be sound digestion.

Once establish and maintain good digestion, food performs its natural functions. Bodily waste is repaired. Strength and growth are noticed and the cow gives the utmost possible amount of milk. See then, that your cows have hearty, healthy appet.i.tes and good digestion. Good digestion does not always follow a large appet.i.te. A cow giving only a few quarts of milk a day will often eat as much as one giving gallons. She requires the same amount of care and attention.

The trouble is that she does not have good digestion to convert food into milk. Of course there are cows which will always be small milkers, but there are many many more cows which can be made to give substantial, paying increase of milk production if proper attention is given them.

Perhaps there are such cows in your herd. Without your even realizing it, they are out of condition. A little help and they would give enough more milk to pay you a satisfactory profit.

This "help" can easily be given. Your own dealer has it. We mean Pratts Cow Remedy, for cows only.

We all know how, when we are well, the sight or smell of pleasant tasting food, "makes the mouth water." This is literally true because the digestive glands of the mouth and stomach pour out their secretions and are ready to begin digesting the food.

When, however, the nerves fail to send their messages to the glands or the glands fail to respond, we have a diseased condition and we take medicine to a.s.sist in recovery.

Thus the sensation known as appet.i.te is really at the basis of sound health. Without it, it is doubtful if animals would eat enough to supply their bodily needs.

The mere forcing of food into the stomach would avail little. There must be desire for food, and restoring the appet.i.te is the first step in bringing the health back. In other words an appetizer is often required to induce us to eat. Then thorough digestion builds up bodily strength.

Pratts Cow Remedy does all this for the cow, a.s.sisting Nature in bringing up the appet.i.te, stimulating digestion, restoring and maintaining health.

Cattle is generally divided into dairy, beef and dual purpose breeds.

The names signify the advantages claimed for them. In the dairy breeds, the Holstein, Jersey, Guernseys, French Canadian and Ayrshire are leaders.

Shorthorns, Herefords, Polled Durhams are the best-known beef breeds.

While among the dual purpose breeds, Milking Shorthorns, Red Polls, Brown Swiss and Devons have many admirers.

The indications when selecting dairy females, and important in the order given, are: (1) Much length or depth in the barrel or coupling, indicating a large possible consumption and utilization of food. (2) Refinement of form, as evidenced more particularly in the head, neck, withers, thighs, and limbs. (3) Good development of udder and milk veins. (4) Const.i.tution, as indicated by a capacious chest, much width through the heart, a broad loin, a full, clear eye, and an active carriage. (5) Downward and yet outward spring and open-s.p.a.ced ribs, covered with a soft, pliable and elastic skin.

The essential indications of correct form in beef cattle are: (1) A compact form wide and deep throughout, and but moderately long in the coupling. (2) A good back, wide from neck to tail, well fleshed, and straight. (3) A good front quarter, wide, deep, and full. (4) A good hind quarter, long, wide, and deep. (5) Good handling qualities, as indicated in elastic flesh and pliant skin.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ~GUERNSEY COW~]

The important indications of good form in dual females are: (1) Medium to large size for the breed or grade. (2) Good length and depth in the coupling. (3) Good development of udder and milk veins. (4) Good const.i.tution, as indicated by good width through the heart. (5) Head and neck inclining to long and fine. (6) Ribs of medium spring, open s.p.a.ced, and covered with a good handling skin. The dual types have an absence of extreme development in the direction of either the dairy or the beef form.

In males selected for breeding, the evidences of masculinity should be markedly present. These include increased strength as shown in the head, neck, breast, shoulders, back and limbs.

The advantage of having pure blood stock over "scrubs" is apparent. For those, however, who want something better than scrubstock and cannot pay the high price which pure blood commands, the ownership of grade cattle offers a satisfactory solution of the problem.

Grading consists in mating thoroughbred sires with common females and with the female progeny for a number of generations. Where the work is wisely done by the use of good sires, accompanied by the rejection of all inferior animals for future breeding, the progeny of beef sires may be brought up to the level of the pure breed for beef making from which the sires have been selected in four generations. To bring milking qualities up to the level may call for one or two more generations of such breeding. Not only do these grade animals answer almost equally well, with pure breeds, but they may be bought for much less.

If cows are to produce a maximum return in milk, they must be kept in comfort. In winter they are usually tied in the stall. The light should be ample and the ventilation thorough. Lack of proper ventilation causes the spread of tuberculosis in cattle.

Cows must be allowed exercise, even in winter.

They should be allowed to go out daily for an hour or more into a sheltered yard, save on days when the weather is extreme; or, better still, be given the liberty of a closed and well-ventilated shed during a portion of the day. It should be supplied with a fodder rack.

In summer, cows in milk must be protected from storms, from excessive sunshine, and from flies, as far as this may be practicable. Pratts Fly Chaser is unequalled as a fly repellant. It is perfectly safe to use, does not injure or gum the hair, and is economical. A light spray is both lasting and effective.

Cows in milk should be driven gently. The pasture should not be too distant from the stable, and driving during the heat of the day should be avoided.

The quality of milk is easily injured by coming in direct contact with foreign substances or by imbibing odors. The milk must be drawn from clean udders, with clean hands, into clean pails, and amid clean surroundings. The stables must have attention. The udder and teats should be wiped off by using a damp cloth. Milking should be done with dry hands into metal pails, kept clean by scalding. Milking before feeding prevents dust particles from getting into the milk. Noxious odors are kept down by the prompt removal of droppings and by strewing sand, plaster, rock phosphate, or dry earth in the manure gutters.

_Elderton, Pa.

"I have used Pratts Cow Remedy with best results. I fully believe it cannot be surpa.s.sed for increasing the flow of milk."

JAS. YOUNG._

Unless milking is done at stated times, and by the same person, there will be a loss in the production. When milking is delayed, a decreased flow is noticeable the following morning. When a change of milkers is made, some cows resent it by withholding a part of the milk.

It is not easy to dry some dairy cows prior to the birth of the next calf, and yet, as a rule, it ought to be done. When they are to be dried the process should begin by milking them once a day and putting them on dry food. The food may also be reduced somewhat in quant.i.ty. Later the milk is taken out at intervals which constantly increase in length until the cow is dry. The udder should be carefully watched during the later stages of the drying process.

Where suitable pasture may be obtained, it is usually a cheaper source of food for cows than soiling food or cured fodders, as the element of labor in giving the food is largely eliminated. The best pastures, viewed from the standpoint of production, are those grown on lands that may be irrigated during the season of growth. These consist of clover and certain gra.s.ses. Permanent pastures which are grown on moist land, and which contain a number of gra.s.ses, are usually satisfactory, but the nature of the pasture must, of course, be largely determined by the attendant conditions. Blue gra.s.s pastures are excellent while succulent and abundant, but in midsummer they lose their succulence for weeks in succession. Brouer gra.s.s is a favorite pasture in northwestern areas, and Bermuda gra.s.s in the South. In the Eastern and Central States, the most suitable pastures are made up of blue gra.s.s, timothy, and orchard gra.s.s, and of the common red, white and alsike clovers.

There is more or less of hazard to cows when grazing on alfalfa--liability to bloating, which may result fatally. Likewise second growth sorghum or the second growth of the non-saccharine sorghums is full of hazard, especially in dry seasons when it has become stunted in growth. Nor should rape and rye be grazed, save for a short time after the cows have been milked, lest they give a taint to the milk.

The change from winter rations to grazing should never be suddenly made, or purging caused by the fresh gra.s.s will lead to loss in weight and loss of milk, though at first there will probably be an advance in the same. The change may be made in outline as follows:

(1) The cows will not be turned out until after the food given in the morning has been sufficiently consumed.

(2) They will be kept out an hour, or two the first day, and the time increased.

(3) The time called for to effect the change should never be less than one week or more than three.

(4) As soon as the change begins, the reduction in succulent food, ensilage, and field roots should also begin.

(5) The dry fodder should be continued morning and evening as long as the cows will take it.