Keeping one cow: Being the experience of a number of practical writers, in a clear and condensed form, upon the management of a single milch cowVarious
Science
Keeping one cow: Being the experience of a number of practical writers, in a clear and condensed form, upon the management of a single milch cow
Various
Cows; Dairying
We have a way of our own for keeping our roots in the absence of a
vegetable cellar, or when we do not want them in the house cellar. We
take any old barrels and set them in the ground, the chiner just coming
to the top of the ground (we do not want a head in either end of the
barrels). Into these headless barrels we put our beets, turnips, cabbage,
etc. As the weather grows cold we cover the barrels with some loose
boards. Whenever it is cold enough to freeze hard, we throw over them
enough hay or straw to keep out the wet. By this method we can, with
very little trouble at any time, get out a barrel or part of a barrel of
roots. In this way the roots keep in fine condition. Late in the spring,
turnips and beets will be as brittle and good as when pulled in the fall.
Our subject is “keeping one cow,” but any one that feels disposed to try
it, will find the above a very fine way to keep turnips, beets, cabbage,
or celery, for family use.
We prefer to have our cow calve about the first of April, as we then have
time to make veal of the calf before we begin to make grass butter. There
is generally, in any place, a better demand for milk through the winter,
and better prices, hence if one wishes to sell milk and buy butter, it
would perhaps be better to have her calve in the fall.
We hardly feel competent to advise, if help is needed in calving. As her
time of calving draws nigh, we give our cow extra care and attention. If
the bowels are kept in a healthy condition, we apprehend there is rarely
trouble, from the fact that our cows have always calved without the need
of help.
If there is ready sale for milk at paying prices, we would dispose of the
calf in some way, when it is a few days old, but if milk is not salable
at good prices, it is better to let the calf have the milk until from
four to six weeks old, and then if the butcher will not give us a fair
price for it, we get some one to dress it for us, and sell it among our
neighbors, who are generally glad to buy it. In that way we get from
eight to twelve dollars for our calf. We think it as well for the cow to
keep the calf for that length of time. It seems to satisfy a necessity of
her nature to have her baby suck and draw its nourishment from her. We
know of no better picture of contentment than to see an old cow suckling
her calf after being away from it all day.
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