iMMM 4) '^-'^^ijA^'^'^^ M^;^'^ ^i%^A LIBRARY O F CONG RESS. Chap.5l.\pyright No SliellilxS-- UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ^M \g0Xmmm^ m > ? ' - )rv^ s^,i-^ M^i ^'M^'-nM '■^y.'^Mv :'n\ii,)m .■A sr: A v^ w ^f^^i^ff: » ■X vfe/Vi^;- i^i\\y\^ m Dairy Fortunes .BY.... LANDY LARKIN PUBLISHED BY SPECIALTY PUBLISHING CO. 113 EAST SIXTH STREET, CINCINNATI, O COPYRIGHTED BY SPECIALTY PUBLISHING COMPANY, CINCINNATI, OHIO. JUN 2 9; ) ■yvCv ^^ ^^

■< i( " 211 " " " 28 " " " " 320 59 40 07 74 41 oS 75 42 09 76 Ten cents a gallon at wholesale is a low price, and twenty-eight cents at retail is a fair price, and yields $220 76 for each cow. Ninety-eight per cent, of all the milk sold in cities, large and small, will not test as high as four and one-half percent. — nearly all of it tests about three and one-half per cent. Milk that tests four and one-half per cent, is about twenty-nine per cent, richer than three and one-half per cent, milk, and twelve and one-half per cent, richer than four percent, milk. All milk should be sold by the per cent. Crops on Fifty Acres. — What can be raised on fifty acres of good land? Pasture can not be relied upon dur- ing the dry season — it flourishes in the spring and some- times during the fall, but grass after frost comes is not worth much. 6 acres of corn for ensilage (at least) .... 72 tons. 8 acres of corn to mature \ corn 400 bushels. } stover 10 tons. 10 acres of oats to be thrashed \ oats 400 bushels. I straw 7 tons. 6. acres of oats for hay 15 tons. 6u DAIRY FORTUNES. 3 acres of rye, for fall and spring pasture, to May 25. i^ acres of wheat, fed green, from May 25 to June 20. i^ acres of oats and peas, fed green from June 20 to July 10. 2 acres of sorghum, to be fed from July 10 to Dec. 31. ^ acre of mangels Soo bushels. 8 acres of millet hay 16 tons. 4 acres of buckwheat. 3 acres of peas and barley for fall feed. About 14 acres for pasture. The rye ground can be planted in corn after rye is pastured or cut for green feed. The wheat ground can be used for sorghum or bar- ley and peas. The oats ground can be used for rriillet, buckwheat, etc. The oat and pea ground can be resowed. The corn can be ground cob and all. The oats should be ground. The stover, sorghum, etc., can be fed until Dec. i to Jan. I, before ensilage is opened. There will be an abundance of ensilage for winter, and to fill in during summer; ensilage ground can be used for rye and wheat- One or two acres can be used for trucking and can be made to produce several hundreds of dollars. There will be two or three crops of sorghum. These are simply pointers and can be varied to suit the section of country, and the whims of the dairyman. The mangels will be of great value, if properly stored and fed — the cows will relish them and the milk flow will be increased. The quantity of feed that can be DAIRY FORTUNES. 6i raised on thirty to forty acres of good ground is enor- mous, every acre will support a cow in good shape. There is money in dairying, and a little capital, brains, enterprise and the proper information are all that are necessary to a greater degree of success than can be at- tained in most other industries. Elevate your ideas and then work up to them. Good cows, good business sense and cleanliness, and success is certain to be with you. Thoroughbred Figures. — The preceding dairy ex- amples apply to the common, every-day dairyman. The thoroughbred dairyman can do many times as much. If he lives within fifty miles of a large city, has a few thou- sand dollars and is a first-class business man, he can own almost all the land around him, when he has been in business ten to twenty years. If he lives where he has to depend upon butter making altogether he can accumu- late a large fortune in less than a score of years. Tens of thousands of farmers in the United States have farms of 400 acres and more. A400-acre farm will support, in good style, 200 cows besides horses, calves, etc., raised and used on the farm — one and one-half acres, with the present advancement in farming, will keep a cow better than nine-tenths of them are kept. I shall start with the 300-poimd cow, the pride of nearly all dairymen. The average price of Elgin butter, for sev- eral years, has been about eighteen cents a pound. I shall be liberal in this case and place the price at sev- enteen cents. Butter properly made and handled will sell several cents above Elgin prices. As I have said, on another page, I have been oflFered thirty-five cents a pound at wholesale for all the butter I would make, in the proper way. I can do better, besides I have about quit work, except for other persons. 62 DAIRY FORTUNES. RECEIPTS. 60,000 pounds of butter at 17 cts. a pound $10,200 About 180 calves at $7 each 1,260 About 960,000 pounds skim milk, 15c. a 100 lbs., 1,440 Receipts $12,900 EXPENSES. Foreman $ 600 Twelve helpers 2,800 Extra feed i ,000 Tubs, shipping, etc 400 Commission 400 Losses, fuel, etc 600 Expenses $5,800 Receipts, $12,900 — expenses, $5,800, equals $7,100 for the farmer, out of which taxes and insurance are to be paid, although house rent, fruit, garden truck, etc., would more than pay for them. The $7,100 would rep- resent the farmer's brain work, and the interest on about $25,000 invested, or nearly twenty-five per cent, net, on the money invested, and a salary to the farmer of $1,000. Fifteen cents a hundred pounds is a low price for skim milk, fed, and the extra for feed can be dispensed with — by proper management of the farm, ice can be stored by the farm help. A first-class dairyman and bus- iness man can increase this profit considerably. The price of calves is $1 to $3 each too low, because many of them can be converted into cows. Where is the four- hundred-acre farm that makes half as much? If this DAIRY FORTUNES. 63 butter maker lives within one hundred miles of a large city his profits will be larger, as the shipping and other expenses will be less. If our dairyman lives within 60 miles of a large city and sells milk and cream in the city, his profits will be two to three times as large. By retailing 4.4% milk at six cents a quart and 20% cream at ten cents a pint, the following will be the result : 300 cows, giving 6,000 pounds of milk each, equals 1,300,000 pounds; allowing 20,600 pounds for loss, reduced price, for unsold milk, etc., there will remain 1. 180,000 pounds ; by using iSo,ooo pounds for cream, it would make 37,268 pints ; the re- maining 1,000,000 pounds of milk would equal 465,111 quarts. RECEIPTS. 37,268 pints of cream, at ten cents a pint $ 3726 465,111 quarts of milk at six cents a quart 27,906 180 calves at $7 each 1,360 Receipts $32,893 EXPENSES. Foreman $ 600 Twelve helpers • 3,800 Extra feed 900 Eight deliverers 4.000 Horses and wagons coo Shipping 800 Losses, feed, etc i 000 Expenses $10,600 64 DAIRY FORTUNES. Receipts, $32,892 — expenses, $10,600, equals $22,292, or about 90% on the investment, after paying the farmer a fair salary. If you want to do so, you can drop a few thousand dollars on this estimate, and then have a hand- some income. Six cents a quart for milk handled as it should be is a low price ; seven, eight, nine and ten cents can be gotten for it. All you have to do is to keep your dairy as I have described under the head of " Clean Dairy." " Great Caesar !" exclaimed a prominent dairy- man when I read this estimate to him ; "That would make a man a fortune in a year or two." As much can be done, and more, if the proper man undertakes it. Why do not more dairymen make these large profits? Because they are not first-class business men, or do not desire to assume large responsibilities. I have consider- able money invested in the dairy business, and it is yield- ing me from twenty to forty per cent, interest, and nearly all of the management is in the hands of very ordinary business men. Do you know that most men do not ex- pect success beyond an income of a few hundred or a few thousand dollars a year? If you explain to them how they can make Sio,ooo to $20,000 a year, they will exclaim: "I don't want to make that much. All I want is a good living, and if I don't have much left when I am gone, my children will have to hustle for themselves." There is no reason why there should not be as many millionaires among farmers as among any other class of persons. DAIRY FORTUNES. 65 Butter Hungry. Butter Substitutes, Etc. About 1,000,000,000 pounds of butter are made, in a year, in the United States, or about fourteen pounds to each person. The product of most of the cows, is con- sumed by the families that own them. Several millions of our population do not eat an ounce of butter, each, in a year — they cannot afford it. It is safe to assert that 10,000,000 persons, in the United States, do not con- sume 10,000,000 pounds of butter in a year — they have to spend their money for something to keep the babies from starving. The poorest, axle grease butter, will cost ten cents a pound, and ten cents will buy ten pounds of wheat, containing five times as much nutriment as one pound of butter. Not one tenth of the persons get one half the butter they want, and they could not get it if they had the money to pay for it, because the product is not large enough to supply more than one-fourth of our population. Is it strange that butter substitutes are made ? They will be made, and the product will continue to in- crease ; temporarily, the industry may be crippled by law, but necessity will revive it. We should be fair, and not permit our selfishness to warp our judgments. Poverty and lack of products 66 DAIRY FORTUNES. demand butter substitutes. Paid experts declare that butter substitutes are not wholesome, and other paid experts declare that they are more wholesome than butter. The uninterested, unprejudiced scientific investigator says they are in no way injurious. The $ is the basis of nearly all objection to the substitutes. Hundreds of thousands of pounds of cheap, rotten butter are taken from the cities every year, into the country, worked over, and sold to unsophisticated city people as fine, fresh, country butter. Butter substitutes must be made, or about half of our population do without any kind of butter. Good butter substitutes are much more palatable, cleaner and more wholesome than most of the butter made. There is not, and cannot be any objection to first class butter substitutes, from a hygienic stand-point. If nothing but pure, clean fat is used, and manufactured in a clean manner, it is as clean as any butter can be made, and will cost almost as much as first-class butter. I am willing to admit that butter substitutes made from dirty, filthy material, and in a dirty, filthy manner, are not fit to eat — neither is most of the butter made, fit to eat. I cannot understand why a benevolent, kindly-dis- posed, intelligent person should oppose first-class butter substitutes, and I believe no other person living has in- vestigated this subject more carefully than I have. Poor butter substitutes are not wholesome, neither is poor butter. I am not ready to admit that the price of butter is lower on account of butter substitutes. If it is, ten persons are benefited by low prices where one is in- jured. Poor, rotten, musty butter is the principal cause of butter being low in price. Probably the average price paid for all the country butter in the United States by DAIRY FORTUNES. 67 grocerymen and general storekeepers will not exceed eight cents a pound, cash. There are substitutes for almost every article of food. At least two-thirds of all the honey, maple sugar and maple syrup are not genuine. The bees do not make the honey, and but little of the maple sugar and sj'rup has any of the real juice in it. It is almost impossible to get pure buckwheat flour. There is not as large a pro- portion of the genuine article in these products as there is of milk product in oleomargarine. Most of the tea sold is a tea substitute. Your coffee is manufactured, and soaked in a weak solution of copperas ; rosin is in all beer; strychinne in whiskey, and millions of pounds of butter mixed with oleomargerine by the most radical, away up dairymen who bribe the poor food commission- ers. The position of health officer in a city of 200,000 inhabitants and above, is generally worth from $25,000 to $50,000 a year. Why? Any man who has investi- gated knows why. Nearly all dairymen who live within the jurisdiction of the health officer pays the monthly bribe necessary for a clean dairy report. He pays it whether his dairy is clean or dirty. He gets it back by fooling his customers. He has paid the blackmail price, and is as guilty as the blackmailer, consequently cannot squeal. I could fill a book larger than this one, upon this subject, including all branches of business, from the Presidency of the United States to the position of road supervisor. In the face of the thousands of facts that can be adduced to show that adulteration and trickery are common as leaves in autumn, butter substitutes that are demanded by poverty do not cut much of a figure. How many creameries are engaged in buying axle grease butter, working it over, and passing it as the genuine 68 DAIRY FORTUNES. article? It is either sold to strangers at the full price, or a reduction of one cent a pound is made, because it is a little "off." If all butter made were good the price would be 33^% higher than it is. Let us begin at home, and after we have been engaged a few years in reforming our own methods, it will be time to seek new fields. There are greater evils in dairydom than butter substi- tutes, which should be sold for just what they are, and for nothing else. Strict laws should be enacted to pre- vent the sale of butter substitutes for butter, I know of nothing better than to prohibit the coloring of butter substitutes : let them be sold upon their merits. Our Foreign Market. — It is both amusing and dis- gusting to hear our dairy friends talk about our foreign trade and how to develop it. We do not have any use for a foreign trade, as we do not make one-fourth enough butter to supply our home population. Give our own people all the butter they want, and we shall be com- pelled to produce many times the quantity we do, or im- port butter. When we become slightly civilized, we shall dispense with poverty, which is not as much the result of the poor themselves as it is of the rich. When we become a little more civilized we shall realize that it is just as much our duty to assist the poor, and needy, and helpless as it is to pay a note for borrowed money. Every other human being is a partner in our prosperity. He helped us make what we have. Substitute ''duty" for the fraud charity and all will be rich, and much happier. Substitute hiunanity for dishonesty, and there will be a market that cannot be supplied. DAIRY FORTUNES. 69 Milk and Cream Testing. It is foolish to buy a cow without testing her care- fully. It is foolish to keep cows unless you know that they pay. Test them carefully and find out which pay and which do not. There is nothing difficult about test- ing. A testing outfit consists of the following articles : A centrifugal machine. Milk, creatn and skim milk bottles. Pipet. Acid measure. Acid. Milk testing outfits are cheap— they can be bought as low as %i. A good, four bottle machine can be had for $4 ; an eight to twelve bottle machine for $6. To test successfully the bottles should be whirled 700 to 1,000 revolutions a minute. Within ten minutes any dairyman can attach a treadle to these machines, and by using his foot the speed can be increased and the labor reduced to pleasure. yo DAIRY FORTUNES. Test Bottles. — The accompanying test bottles are necessary, to successful and simple testing : / \ n.6tx. \ Pipet I MSet -Z Milk. Cream. Skim Milk. Acid Measure* The milk bottle is scaled from one to ten per cent. The cream bottle is scaled from one to thirty per cent. The skim milk bottle is scaled from one-tenth to six- tenths per cent. The Sample. — To get a good sample of milk for testing, it is necessary to have the milk from which you DAIRY FORTUNES. 71 take the sample thoroughly mixed. The best time to get the sample is when the milk is fresh — just from the cow. The milk should be poured from one vessel to another, two or three times. Then put the end of pipet in your mouth, and draw it nearly full of milk; place your finger over the upper end, quickly, and by admiting a little air, let the milk run down, gently, until the A mark is reached; empty the milk in pipet into milk bottle; blow in the pipet to expel all the milk adhering to the sides. Sulphuric acid should be used. Many dairymen use the commercial acid ; I prefer the refined acid. It should not be too strong nor too weak; its specific gravity should be 1.S3 to 1.S3. Fill acid measure to the mark at B and empty into milk bottle in which you have put the pipet of milk. In pouring acid into milk bottle, incline bottle to an angle of about forty-five degrees, to prevent acid trom falling directly into milk in bottle. It should run down the side of the neck of the bottle. If acid falls directly into milk it is liable to scorch it. If any milk adheres to neck of milk bottle, turn the bottle gently while the acid is being poured in, and the neck of bottle will be washed clean. Neat Milk Test riachine. Opened and closed. Shows inclination of bottles when in motion. They incline I0 prevent milk from be- ing thrown out when in motion. 72 DAIRY FORTUNES. Shake the bottle thoroughly, giving it a rotary mo- tion, until the milk and acid are well mixed. Do not shake " up and down," or you are liable to get your fin- gers burnt. Do not be afraid of shaking too much. If you have several bottles to fill they should be ready for the machine as quickly as possible. Place the bottles in the machine and turn rapidly, (at least 700 revolutions a minute), four or five minutes, when each bottle should be filled to the neck with boil- ing water; this can be done by use of pipet, by sucking the boiling water into pipet and emptying into bottles. For reasons that are too hot for explanation, do not suck the water into your mouth. Turn the machine again about a minute ; fill the bottles with boiling water to the seven or eight per cent, mark, and turn again a minute or more and you will be ready to read the measure of fat on neck of bottles. If the test is a good one, the acid will be a bright golden color. If the fat in the neck of bottles is a little stiff, set bottles in boiling water a few minutes. Color of Butter Fat.— If butter fat in neck of bot- tles is dark or mixed with scales, the acid is too strong; if it is a pale yellow color, the acid is too weak. When acid is too strong, use a little less of it; reducing the temperature of the milk to forty- five to fifty degrees will assist you. It is claimed that diluting acid spoils it, but some of the best tests I ever made were made with di- luted acid. I poured the acid measure about one-fifth full of water and then filled with acid. When acid is too weak, warming milk to 100 degrees will help some- what. Cream Testing is done the same as milk testing, except that it is necessary to use just a little more cream DAIRY FORTUNES. 73 than milk. A pipet holding 18 c c should be used; the milk pipet can be used by filling with cream to a point about three-fourths of an inch above the 17.6CC mark. The principal reason for using more cream than milk, is because the cream, being thicker than milk, does not enter the small opening in the pipet as freely as milk, consequently in drawing the pipet full of cream, too large a proportion of the skim milk, in the cream, enters the pipet. When the cream is measured without using pipet, 17.6c c of cream seem to be about right. Skim Milk is tested same as milk and cream, except two pipet measures of skim milk and two measures of acid are used. Temperature of milk and cream for testing should be about sixty-five degrees ; a few degrees higher or lower will not afTect the test perceptibly. Wily Some Tests Disagree. — Samples taken from fresh milk and cream nearly always test somewhat higher than samples taken from milk and cream several hours old ; because it is almost impossible to mix them thoroughly after the cream and skim milk have separated, and because the cream becomes stiff and will not enter pipet in its proper proportion. The cus- tomer in the city or at the creamery frequently gets the long end of the butter fat bargain on account of this test condition of milk and cream. By heating to 90 to 100 degrees and stirring thoroughly, a good sample can be procured. Composite Test. — The composite test is very con- venient. Instead of testing every day, samples of milk can be taken every day for ten days to two weeks, and all tested at one time. Potassium Bichromate will pre- serve milk and cream a long time — a month or longer. 74 DAIRY FORTUNES. without spoiling; corrosive sublimate can be used, but it is much more poisonous and more dangerous. A small fruit jar or large neck bottle can be used for each cow. Place in each jar a small quantity of potassium bichro- mate — one-half ot what will lie on a five cent piece, and put in a sample of milk each day, or at each milk- ing; one to two ounces will be sufficient for a sample. Shake the jar and mix contents well before putting in a new sample. Keep in a cool place. There should be enough of the preservative to keep the milk in a per- fectly liquid state. It will make the milk slightly yellow. You can test when convenient — the samples will keep a month or longer. Be sure to keep samples in a cool place, and use enough preservative to prevent souring. When ready to test, mix contents of each jar thoroughly and test in the usual way. Beware of poison! Some Frauds are to be found among the tests used by many dairymen. Quantity of cream is not a meas- ure of quality ; the height of a column of cream is very changeable. It is customary for customers to fill a glass tube about ten inches long with milk or cream and guess at the quality by the comparative height of the cream column in the tube. Scores of tests have demon- strated that this is not a fair test, and that frequent!}' four per cent, milk will show more cream than six per cent, milk, and fifteen per cent, cream less skim milk than twenty per cent, cream. My first experience was with milk set in deep cans, equal in height and in diameter, and an equal quantity of mi)k in each can. Milk in cans was not equal in quality : DAIRY FORTUNES. 75 Cream in can No. i measured 4 in. in depth and tested 24% 2 3 4 5 6 7 S 9 10 4i 3^ 4f 3i 3J 4 3 2 3i' 32 36 " 23? 3li" 24i" 22 " 25^" Here are some queer results ; No. i, four inches deep showed twenty-four per cent, cream, while No. 7, three and one-half inches in depth showed twenty-four and one-fourth per cent, cream. In No. 9, four inches in depth showed twenty-two per cent, cream. Five cans of milk, thoroughly mixed before put in cans, so that milk in all the cans would be equally rich, equal in temperature, equal in quantity, and set at the same time showed the following results : Cream in can No. i measured 4^ inches, and tested 24 % 44 a " -> " yl 1 " " "-7^8 " ^ 44 245 •' 3 " 4| - " " 23i " " " " 4 " 4^ " " « 26A" 5 44 225 The variation in this case is considerable. Different systems of raising cream produce different results. Twenty per cent, separator cream frequently shows more skim milk and less cream in the glass tubes than fifteen per cent, gravity cream. One day twenty per cent, separator cream will show more skim milk than 76 DAIRY FORTUNES. it will another day, although the quality of the cream is the same, the length of time after separation equal, and all the other conditions the same, as nearly as it is possi- ble to have them. The quality of cream that rises on milk or on cream will vary ten to twenty-five per cent. Testing Butter. — Fill three-fourths full, glass tube, ten inches high and three-fourths of an inch in diameter, with butter, joacking it in with a round piece of wood nearly the size of the hollow in the tube ; put the tube in hot water about ten minutes, letting the water reach as high as butter in tube; do not use boiling water. Pour in about twenty-five drops of sulphuric acid, and place in hot water again imtil the fat and brine are sep- arated. Measure exactly the length of the column of fat and also the length of the column of brine. As the brine contains the acid which is about one-fifteenth part of the brine column, subtract one-fifteenth from the length of brine column to get the exact length of brine. Multiplv the length of fat column by .3, and the length of the brine column by .4. Divide the product of the fat column multiplied by .3, by the product of the brine column multiplied by .4 and subtract the quotient from 100, and you will get the per cent, of fat in the butter. Example. — Suppose fat column is 6 inches and brine column i:^ inches ; subtract tV from 1^ and the remainder is I30 inches, the length of brine column. Fat column, 6 inches by .3 equals 1.8 inches. Brine column, lio by .4 equals .5733 inches. •5733 divided by 1.8 equals .318. 100 minus .318 equals .682 per cent, fat in butter. DAIRY FORTUNES. 77 Watered Milk. — If you have six per cent, milk and guarantee to sell your customers four per cent, milk, it matters not whether you put in two per cent, clean water or two per cent, skim milk to reduce it to four per cent. In most of the states there are laws regulating the sale of milk. A certain per cent of fat is necessary — generally not less than three percent. Milk, testing less is condemned, and the seller liable to prosecution, whether the milk is watered or naturally is below the standard. The price of milk should be governed by the quantity of fat it contains. Do not worry about water as long as the milk tests high enough. Cheese Testing. — Get a fair sample by cutting a slice from center to circumference ; cut it fine, and put about five grains in milk test bottle and add about three- fourths of a pipet of hot water, and shake freque-ntly, until cheese is soft and liquid; keep it warm or it will not dissolve properly. Let the contents of bottle cool to about sixty-tive degrees ; add acid, same as in milk test- ing ; shake until cheese is dissolved, and complete test same as with milk. Multiply per cent, of fat shown by test bottle by eighteen, and divide the product by the number of grains of cheese used, and you will have per cent of fat in cheese. 78 DAIRY FORTUNES. Feed for Cows. Rations, Ensilage, Etc. The proper way to feed cows and the kind and qual- ity of feed, are very important to the dairyman. Much has been learned by experiment, and rapid strides have been made in the right direction, but the subject of feed- ing is a difficult one to handle, and it will be a longtime before anything like perfection will be attained — chemi- cal analysis and scientific experiments have aided in solv- ing the feed problem. The jump from the fogy methods, to the best that are known, seems to be a little too much of a leap for the ordinary dairyman to attempt, without much fear and trembling. There is a right and a wrong way to do nearly every- thing, and a majority of dairymen are disposed to the wrong way. The most difficult thing to overcome is prejudice; every person should endeavor to improve upon what his ancestors thought and did. The man who is content with simply equaling his father in intelligence and morals, is not a good citizen. A certain quantity of feed is necessary to sustain life properly, and if that is all a cow gets, she can not be expected to furnish any milk. DAIRY FORTUNES. 79 Rations. — It has been demonstrated that a cow will not produce the best results unless she is fed all she will eat, greedily of such feed as will supply all the constitu- ents, in proper proportion, necessary to sustain life and to produce the largest quantity of milk. You can not build much of a house out of brick, iron, stone, mortar, wood or glass, but by using all of them in proper propor- tions, a good house can be built. You can not produce good milk results by feeding a cow corn, bran or hay, but by a proper combination of these articles she will yield a large quantity of milk if she is a good cow. A wagon may have three strong wheels, but if the fourth wheel is puny and weak, the wagon will be almost worthless. A properly balanced ration is strong in all its parts. Balanced Rations. — The first analysis of feed is into ush, water and organic matter. If an article of feed is thoroughly heated and dried, all of the water will be ex- peled. If the remaining dry matter is burned, a small quantity of ash will remain. The organic matter is what is left after the water and the ash have been subtracted from the whole feed, and contains all the nutrients found in the feed, while the water and the ash are partly or wholly utilized by the animal organism, it hardly can be claimed that they are necessary nutrients. The organic matter can be subdivided into protein, carbohydrates and fat. Protein is that part of the organic matter necessary to form the lean meat, hair, horns, skin, blood, muscles, ligaments, nerves, and especially the casein and albumen of milk. It comjjrises the nitrogenous elements of food. Carbohydrates are the fuel for running the animal ma- chinery and comprise the sugar, starch and gums of feeds. 8o DAIRY FORTUNES. Fat is simply what its name implies, and evidently supplies the fat of the milk and assists in furnishing steam to run the animal machinery. The relation be- tween Fat and Protein, in the production of milk, is not as clearly understood as some experts claim. The rela- tion seems to be very close. They seem to sympathize with each other. Fat is more powerful in supplying an- imal heat than carbohydrates — it is about two and one- fifth times as powerful. It is impossible for the animal organism to utilize all of the protein, carbohydrates and fat in the organic mat- ter — part of these articles is not digested — consequently the totals of protein, carbrohydrates and fat in a ration are not equal in weight to the organic matter in the ration. A ration simply contains the digestible nutri- ents of the organic matter. The Nutritive Ratio, as it is termed by some dairy writers, is obtained by dividing the amount of the carbohydrates and fat by the protein. The fat must first be multiplied by two and one-fifth to reduce it to the equivalent of carbohydrates. This nutri- tive ratio is of no importance to the dairyman, and is en- tirely superflous dairy information. The standard ration tells you how much organic matter, protein, carbohy- drates and fat necessary, and without these harmonious proportions a ration is not good. Hundreds of times have I been asked this question : " If all the nutrients of the food are contained in the protein, carbohydrates and fat, what difference does it make whether or not any attention is given to the num- ber of pounds of organic matter in a ration ? " A cow must have quantity as well as quality of feed. It is very important to her whether she must eat twent or sixty pounds of organic matter to get the required supply of DAIRY FORTUNES. 8i digestible nutrietits. Experiments show that there is a close relation between the quantity of organic matter and digestible nutrierts. Careful Experiments have demonstrated that a thousand-pound cow, not in milk, and kept where she can not get any exercise, will neither gain nor lose in flesh, if fed a daily ration of about seventeen and one- half pounds of organic matter containing about seven- tenths pounds of digestible protein, eight pounds of digestible carbohydrates and fifteen hundredths pounds of digestible fat. A larger cow requires more — a smaller cow less. This is what is called a maintenance ration. If the cow is in full flow of milk she will require about twenty-five pounds of organic matter, containing digestible nutrients about as follows : Two and one-half pounds of protein, thirteen pounds of carbohydrates and seven-tenths pounds of fat. If the cow is larger and gives a very large quantity of milk, this ration must be increased to suit the circumstances. If she is smaller, or gives but little milk, less feed will be necessary. A cow that gives rich milk requires a larger portion of jDrotein and fat than the cow that produces poor milk, and the dairyman must exercise good judgment in feed- ing, or he will not be successful, A cow giving twelve pounds of three per cent, milk a day could get along very well on a ration of digestible nutrients about as follows : 1 .8 pounds protein. n " carbohydrates. • 5 " fat. 83 DAIRY FORTUNES. A cow giving iifty pounds of six per cent, milk a day would require at least : 3 pounds protein. 14 " carbohydrates. .8 " fat. The nutritive ratio would be about one to five and one-fourth. Standards for Rations for i,ooo=Pound Cows. — The following table generally has been accepted as rep- resenting good dairy intelligence. They differ consider- ably and all can not be correct, and all are simply ap- proximately correct. Great men will differ and experts never agree. oS Dig^estible Nutrients. Protein. Carbo- hydiates. Fat. lbs lbs. lbs. ' 1 8 •15 2.5 12.5 •4 2-5 12.5 •6^ 2.2 13-3 •7 lbs. Maintenance 17.5 Wolff 24. Woons & Phelps 25. Woll 24.5 All agree very nearly on the organic matter. Woll is too low in protein and Wolff is entirely too low in fat. Long and careful experimenting induces me to be- lieve that the best results can only be obtained by a ration rich in protein and fat. A fluctuation of one or two pounds in organic matter and carbohydrates, is not always greatly important, but a drop in protein and fat is disastrous to the milk flow. DAIRY FORTUNES. 83 Woll's ration is about right in fat, but the protein should not fall below 2,5 pounds for cows in full flow of milk. A one-thousand-pound cow, giving forty pounds of five per cent, milk, should have at least 2.6 pounds of protein and 2.8 pounds if she gives fifty pounds of five per cent. milk. For one-thousand-pound cows, giving forty pounds of five per cent, milk, I prefer the following ration : Organic matter 25 pounds. Protein 2.6 " Carbohydrates 13 " Fat 7 " A twelve-hundred-pound cow, giving six per cent, milk, should have a larger ration — about as follows: Organic matter 27 pounds. Protein 2.8 " Carbohydrates 14 " Fat 7.5 *' Poor, bony cows will utilize a larger quantity of protein and fat than cows that fatten more readily. Variety. — There are many important things besides balanced rations to be considered in feeding. The cow loves variety, and her feed should be changed often. She must relish her feed, and she will not do well if she does not like the feed she gets. Jucy, succulent feed in the winter, although it may not contain much nutriment, if fed in connection with rich feed, will produce grand re- sults — it assists digestion and assimilation, cools the sys- tem and stimulates the nervous forces. 84 DAIRY FORTUNES. Quantity is necessary — a cow must not feel empty, consequently she must have a large quantity of light feed — too much concentrated feed and a scarcity of fodder will make her nervous and fretful. Bugbear.— The construction of ration tables is a bugbear that frightens the ordinary dairyman. To him there is an awful mystery about it, which causes him to believe that none but superior minds can grasp it. This is all a mistake — any person with ordinary intelligence can unravel the ration mystery and formulate his own rations. Ration Table. The following table shows, approximately, the per cent, of organic matter and digestible nutrients in eacli article given: OS *J ./ Disrcstible Nutrients. oH Protein. Carbo- hydrates. Fat. Clover silage . . . Corn silage Sorghum silage. . . Corn fodder Corn Stover Alfalfa hay Blue grass hay . . . Marsh hay Millet hay Mixed grasses hay Pea hay er cent. per cent, pe r cent. per cent. •254 .010 135 .010 220 .012 140 .007 .228 .006 149 .002 620 .003 380 .012 565 .020 334 .006 842 .076 378 .013 802 .058 384 .016 869 035 447 .017 863 ■045 464 .010 794 .036 427 .Sio 785 .o76 400 015 DAIRY FORTUNES. 85 n I Digestible Nutrients. Protein. Carbo- hydiates. Prairie hay Red clover hay Red top hay Timothy hay Timothy and clover. . Oat hay Sheaf oats Oat straws Rye straw Wheat straw Carrots Mangels Potatoes Red beets Rutabagas Sugar beets Sweet potatoes Turnips . Barley Brewers' grains, dry . Brewers' grains, wet. . . Malt sprouts Buckwheat Buckwheat bran Buckwheat middlings. Corn Corn and cob meal.. . . Corn bran Germ meal per cent. per cent. per cent, per cent. .813 •035 418 .014 •785 .06^ •349 .016 867 .066 .488 .013 .824 .030 •439 .012 .804 .047 •394 .014 .849 043 464 .015 • 715 .040 .360 .017 .857 .016 414 .007 .897 .008 .427 .004 .862 .008 ■379 .005 . 104 .010 071 .003 .080 .010 048 .002 . 201 .014 161 .oor 105 .009 076 .001 102 .009 071 .002 . 126 .01 1 093 .001 279 .009 222 .003 087 006 055 .002 867 .09 c; 661 .012 887 .162 355 053 233 •039 095 .013 845 .198 362 .017 8^4 .077 492 .018 865 .074 304 .019 822 .220 334 •054 876 • 063 648 .050 834 .065 563 .029 896 •095 598 .046 860 .090 612 .062 86 DAIRY FORTUNES. Digestible Nutrients. Protein. Carbo- hyd:ates. F:it. Gluten meal Gluten feed Cotton seed Cotton seed hulls. . Cotton seed meal . . . Flax seed , O. P. oil meal N. P. oil meal Cleveland oil meal. Oats Peas' Rye Rye bran Sunflower seeds . . . Wheat Wheat bran ..:.... Wheat middlings. . , Wheat shorts Sorghum Wheat hay Oat and pea hay . . . , Rye hay cent. per cent. pe r cent. per cent. 005 ■295 396 .128 908 .186 483 .III 796 .098 279 . 169 873 .OiO 262 .018 846 •369 181 ^23 872 .185 260 .274 851 .283 328 .071 841 .272 329 .027 846 .321 251 .026 860 .091 447 .041 869 . 180 560 .01 I 865 .083 655 .013 848 .097 4S0 .019 843 .138 246 .1S6 877 ■ 093 558 .018 824 . 126 441 .029 845 . 123 473 .030 836 .116 454 .033 580 .024 380 .012 810 .032 430 Oil 820 .060 440 015 800 .030 430 .014 To find the oganic matter and digestible nutrients, multiply the number of pounds of feed by the per cent, after each article of feed in the table and point oft' the decimals and you will have the pounds and fractions of a pound. DAIRY FORTUNES. 87 By the aid of the Ration Table any dairyman can prepare his own ration formula. Suppose a dairyman has bran, cotton seed meal, corn and cob meal, clover hay and corn stover, how will he construct a balanced ration from these ingredients? The most expert ration artist will be compelled to experiment a little before he can produce a well balanced ration. He may have to make two or three rations before he gets the best one. Example : Suppose you want to feed twelve pounds of clover hay, you multiply as follows : 13 lbs. by .7S5 — 9.43 lbs.. Organic matter. 13 " " .065 — .78 " Protein. 12 " " .349 — 4. 1 8 " Carbohydrates. 13 " " .016 — .19 " Fat. The ciphers can be omitted as they are of no value, except to enable you to place your point. For practical purposes the third decimal figure can be dropped. For Convenience of Dairymen I have prepared a table showing the number of pounds of organic matter ^ portein, carbohydrates and fat in a given number of pounds of feed. This table will save multiplications in constructing rations. 88 13AIRY FORTUNES. II 1 Dig^estible Nutrients. Carbo- hydrates. Fat. 20 lbs. Ensilage 25 " 35 " 40 " " 10 lbs. Corn fodder. 12 " " " J [> U (( u 20 " " " 32 " " " 10 lbs. Corn stover 5^5 12 15 18 20 22 25 8 lbs. Alfalfa hay, 6.73 10 12 ^5 18 20 lbs. 1 bs. lbs. lbs. 4.40 24 2.80 H 5 50 30 3 50 18 6.60 36 4.20 21 7.70 42 4.90 25 8.80 48 5.60 28 6. 20 30 3.80 12 7-4+ 36 4 56 H 9 30 45 5 70 18 12 40 60 7 60 24 13.64 66 8.36 26 565 20 3-34 06 6.78 24 4.01 07 8.47 3« 5 01 09 11.17 36 6.01 II 1 1 . 30 40 6.68 12 12.43 44 7-35 13 14. 12 50 8.35 15 6.73 61 3.02 10 8.42 76 3.78 . 13 10. 10 91 4-54 16 1 2 . 63 I H 567 20 15 13 I- 37 6.80 23 16 .84 I . 52 756 26 DAIRY FORTUNES. .89 Dijrestible Nutrients. Carbo- hydrates. Fat. lbs. 8 lbs. Millet hay 6.90 " S.63 •' " 10.36 " " 12 .95 ' 1553 " " 17.36 10 13 '( 15 t( 18 i« 20 8 lbs. Mixed grass hay, 6.3^ 10 " " " " 7.49 j2 " '• " " c).53 15 "• " " " II. 91 18 " " " " 14.29 30 " " " " 15.88 8 lbs. Pea hay 6.38 10 " '• " 7.85 12 " " " 9.43 15 " " " 1 1. 78 18 " " " 14,13 20 " " " 15 70 8 lbs. Prairie hay 6.50 10 13 15 18 20 23 25 " 8.13 " 976 " 12.31 " H.63 " 16.26 " ^789 " ■■■■■■ 20.35 lbs. 36 45 54 68 81 90 29 36 43 54 65 73 61 76 91 H 37 52 38 35 53 53 63 70 77 88 lbs. 71 64 57 96 35 28 42 37 13 4i 69 54 3.30 4.00 4.80 6.00 7.20 8.00 3 34 4.18 501 6.37 752 8.36 9. 30 10.45 lbs. .08 . 10 . 13 •15 .18 .20 .08 . 10 . 13 •15 .18 .30 . 13 •15 .18 ■23 .27 ■30 . II •H •17 .31 •25 .38 • 31 •35 90 DAIRY FORTUNES. oS Disrestible Nutrients. Protein. Carbo- hydrates. 6 lbs. CI over hay 8 lO 12 15 i8 20 8 lbs. Timothy hay. lo " 15 18 20 4/1 6. 38 7. 85 9.43 1 1 . 78 1413 1 5 • 70 6.59 8.24 9.89 1 2 36 16.48 8 lbs. Timothy and clover, 6 . 43 10 " " " " 8.04 12 " " " " 9.65 18 " " " " 1447 2U " " " 06 47 16.08 6 lbs. Oat hay 5.09 6.79 S.49 10. 19 12,74 15.28 16,98 8 10 15 18 20 39 2 . c •52 -> 1- •65 3-^ •7^^ 4^ .9S 5.- •17 6. •30 6.( .24 3-^ ■30 4- •36 5- •45 6. •=54 7- .60 8. •3S 3 •47 3^ ..56 4^ ■71 5^ •S5 7- •94 7- .26 2 . •34 3- •43 4- •52 5- ■65 6. •77 7- .86 9- lbs. 09 79 49 19 24 28 98 46 32 18 48 78 64 15 94 73 91 29 98 7S 71 64 57 96 15 28 DAIRY FORTUNES. 91 DijjL-stible Nutrients. Carbo- 6B I Protein. hydrates. lbs. lbs, lbs. bs. 6 lbs. Oat straw • 5 14 . 10 2.48 04 8 " u (( • 6.85 13 331 06 10 " u li • S.57 .16 4.14 07 12 " u li .. 10.28 ■'9 4-97 08 15 " u u . 13.86 •24 6.21 I I 6 lbs. Wheat straw . . •• 5-17 ■05 2 .26 03 8 " u (< 6 . 90 .06 3 03 04 10 " (( u . . 8 62 .08 3 79 05 13 " a u •• 10 -34 . 10 4 55 06 15 " u (< •• 12.93 . 12 5 69 08 6 lbs. Rye straw .- 538 •05 2 56 02 8 " a u •■ 7-^7 .06 3.42 03 10 " u u .. 8.97 .08 4.27 04 12 " a u . . 10.76 . 10 512 05 15 " a (( . . 13.41 . 12 6.41 06 8 lbs. Oat and pea hay, 6. 56 .48 352 12 10 " li U I 8. 30 .60 4.40 15 12 " a U (( 9.84 .73 5.28 iS i5*'" a <( (t 1.2.30 .90 6 60 23 18 '■ '• U >( 14.76 1.08 7.92 27 20 '• (. " •' 16.40 1 . 20 8.80 30 8 lbs. Wheat hay 6.48 •25 3-44 09 10 " " 8. 10 •32 430 1 1 13 " " • 972 •38 5.16 13 15 - " 13.15 .48 6.45 17 18 " " H.58 •58 7-74 30 20 " u 16. 20 .64 8.60 22 92 DAIRY FORTUNES. Organic matter. Digest ble Nutrients Protein. Carbo- hydiates. Fat. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. 8 lbs. Sorghum hay . . . 4.64 •19 304 . 10 lO " • 5 So .24 3.80 . 12 12 " . 6.96 .29 4.56 •H 15 " . 8.70 ■36 5-7° .18 i8 " • 10 44 •43 6.84 .22 20 " . 11 . 60 .48 7.60 .24 6 lbs. C arrots. . . .62 .06 •43 .02 8 " • 83 .08 •57 .02 lO " . 10 . 10 •71 - •03 12 " • 1-25 . 12 •85 •03 15 " . 1.56 •15 1 .07 .04 i8 " • 1-87 .18 1.28 •05 20 " . 2.08 .20 1 .42 .06 8 lbs. ^I angels. . . • .64 .08 .38 .02 lO '' ii .80 . 10 .48 .02 12 '■ a • 96 . 12 •58 .02 15 <' il 1 . 20 •15 .72 •03 20 " a 1 .60 .20 .96 .0^ 8 lbs. Potatoes . . 1.61' . 11 1 .29 .00 lO " u 2 ,01 •H i.6i .01 12 " li . 2.41 •17 1-93 .01 15 » <( • 3 02 .21 2 .42 .02 8 lbs. Turnips.. . , .70 •05 •44 .02 lO " a • .87 .06 •55 .02 12 " n 1 04 .07 .66 .02 15 " u • I 31 .09 •83 •03 20 " li • 1-74 . 12 1 . 10 .04 DAIRY FORTUNES. 93 . I DigeE tible Nutrients. s Protein. ^"^°: Fat.- hydrates. lbs. lbs. lbs. b^. I lb. B arley . . •S; . 10 .66 01 3 " u I 73 2 . 60 19 29 38 1.33 1.98 2.64 02 3 " 4 " u 04 05 (( 3 47 5 " 6 " (( 4 34 5 20 2.47 3 30 4. 12 4-94 5-'^7 6.59 7.42 8.24 ^1-77 48 57 38 50 3 31 3-97 1.32 1.76 2.21 06 (( 07 3 lbs. 4 " 5 " 6 '• B ran. . . . 09 12 u u 63 74 88 15 u 2 .65 3 09 3 52 3-97 4-4- •71 17 7 " 8 " (( 20 a I 01 23 9 " lO " (. I 13 26 26 u I 29 I I 2 lbs B rewers grains .dr3 32 3 " u a u 2.66 49 1.07 16 4 " a a u 3-55 65 1 .42 2 I =; " u <( u 4-44 81 1. 78 27 6 '■ (( li (( 5 32 97 2.13 32 7 " u n u 6. 21 I 13 2.49 37 8 " U u 1( 7 . 10 I 30 3 ,84 42 6 lbs. B rewers' grains wet J .40 23 ■57 01 7 " (( u u 1.63 27 .68 01 8 " u (( ■ i 1. 86 31 .76 02 9 " a " a 2 . 10 35 .86 02 lO " a (( (( 2 33 39 •95 02 II " li u u 2.56 43 I 05 02 12 " (( (( (( 2.80 47 1. 14 03 94 DAIRY FORTUNES. 1 Digestible Nutrients. Protein. hydiates. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. 13 lbs. Brewers' grains, wet 3.03 •51 1.24 •03 14 " (( (( (( 3 26 •55 1-33 •03 15 " u u u 3 • 50 •59 1-43 03 2 lbs. Buckwheat 1. 71 •15 .98 .04 3 " (( 2 . 56 •23 1.48 05 4 " (( 342 •31 1.97 07 5 " a 4.27 •39 2.46 .09 6 " (C 5.12 .46 ^•95 I I 3 lbs Buckwheat bran, 2 .60 .22 .91 06 4 '' a a 3 46 30 1 .22 08 5 " a u 4-33 37 152 10 6 " a U 5 19 44 1.82 I I 7 " (( a 6.06 52 2.13 13 8 " li a 6. 92 S9 2-43 15 9 " u u 7-79 70 2.74 17 lO " U (( 8.65 74 304 19 2 lbs. Buckw't middl'gs, 1 .64 •44 .67 II 3 " 2 47 .66 1 .00 16 4 " 3 29 .88 1-34 22 5 " 4 1 1 1 . 10 1.77 27 6 " 4 93 I 33 2 .00 32 7 " 5 75 1-54 2 34 38 8 ^f 6 58 1 .76 2.67 43 9 " 7 40 1.98 3.00 49 10 " 8 22 2 20 3 34 54 DAIRY FORTUNES. 95 Digestible Nutrients. Protein. Carbo- hydrates. lbs. Corn lbs. 1-75 2.63 3-40 4-38 5.26 6.13 7.01 3 lbs. Corn bran 2 . 69 " 3-5S " 448 " 5-38 " 6.27 " 717 2 lbs. Corn and cob meal, 3 " 4 " 5 " 6 " 9 " ' 10 " ' 2 lbs. Peas. 3 " " • 4 " " . 5 " " • 1 .67 2.50 3-34 4.17 5.00 5.84 8.34 1-73 2 .61 3 48 4-35 lbs. 13 19 25 32 38 44 50 16 21 27 32 38 43 13 20 26 32 39 46 52 59 65 36 54 72 90 lbs. 1.30 1.94 2-59 3 24 389 4-54 5.18 1.79 2-39 2.99 3 59 4.19 4.78 1 13 1 .69 2.25 2 .72 3 38 3-94 450 5 07 5 63 1 . 12 1.68 2 .24 2.80 Fat. lbs. 10 15 20 25 30 35 ,40 H 18 23 28 32 37 06 09 12 15 17 20 23 26 29 02 03 04 .06 96 DAIRY FORTUNES. oS Digestible Nutrients Protein. Carbo- hydiates. Fat. 6 lbs. Peas 7 8 u li u 11 lbs, Rye u a (( u u (( u (( (( u (( il lbs. Rye bran u i( a u (( u u (( u 1( u u u (( (( 11 a u lbs. 5-21 6.o8 6-95 1-73 2 .60 3 46 4 33 5 19 6.06 6.92 1 .70 2 .64 3 39 4.24 5 09 5-94 6.78 lbs. Sunflower seed 1 .69 " .. 2.53 a 3 37 " " " . . 4.22 '• " " .. 5.06 lbs. Wheat i .75 " " 2.63 3-51 " " 4-39 " •' 5 . 26 lbs. 08 26 44 17 25 33 41 50 58 66 19 29 39 49 5S 68 78 28 41 55 69 83 19 28 37 47 5^ lbs. 336 392 4.48 1-31 1.97 2.62 3.28 3 93 4 59 5.24 .96 1.44 1 .92 2 .40 2.88 3 36 384 •49 •74 ■98 1 . 23 1.48 1 . 12 1.67 2.23 2.79 335 lbs. .07 .08 .09 .02 .04 •05 .06 .07 .08 . 10 03 ■05 .06 ,08 10 II 13 37 56 74 •93 12 .04 •05 .07 .09 II DAIRY FORTUNES. 97 •N i_ Digestible Nutrients Q S 1 Protein. Carbo- hydiates. Fat. lbs. bs. lbs. lbs. 2 lbs. Wheat middlings, 1.69 .24 •94 .06 3 " (C u ^ 54 •37 1 .42 .09 4 '^ 3 38 49 1.89 . 12 4 23 I 61 2.36 •15 6 " 07 I 73 2.83 ..iS 2 lbs Malt sprouts. . ... I 69 •39 .73 •03 3 " a u •y 54 •59 1 .09 ■05 4 " (. u 3 38 79 1-45 .07 5 " U C( 4 23 •99 1. 81 .09 6 " u u 5 07 I 19 2 . 17 . 10 7 " u u 5 92 I 39 ^•53 . 12 2 lbs. Gluten meal . . I 81 59 •79 .26 3 " (( u 'y 72 89 1. 19 •38 4 " u u 3 62 I 18 I 58 •51 5 " u u 4 53 I 48 1.98 .64 6 " a u 5 43 I 77 2.38 •77 2 lbs. Gluten feed. . I 82 37 ■97 .22 3 " u u -1 72 56 1-45 •33 4 " (( (( 3- 63 74 1-93 •44 ti i( 4 54 93 2 .42 •56 6 " u a 5- 45 I- 12 2 .90 •67 I lb. Cotton seed. . 80 10 .28 •17 2 '' a u I 59 20 .56 •34 3 " a a 3 39 29 .84 •51 4 " (( .1 3- 18 38 1 . 12 .68 5 " a u 3- 98 49 1 .40 •85 98 DAIRY FORTUNES. 5! <-> oa Dififestible Nutrients. Protein. Carbo- hyd:ates. 1 lb. Cotton seed meal, li lbs. 2 ' 2^ 3 ' 3i' I lb. Oil meal, O. P. H" (( 2 " (( 21" (( 3 " u 34" (( 4 " u I lb. Flax seed 2 lbs. u u 3 " (( a 4 " u (( 2 lbs. Oats ... 1 .72 3 4 5 6 7 lbs. lbs. bs. 1 bs. ■85 37 18 12 1.27 55 27 18 1.69 74 39 25 2. II 92 45 31 2.54 I II 54 37 2 99 I 29 63 43 3.38 1 48 72 49 .85 . 28 33 07 1.28 42 49 II I .70 57 66 14 2.13 71 82 14 2-55 85 98 18 2.98 99 I 15 25 3.40 I 13 I 31 28 ■87 19 26 27 I 74 37 52 55 2.62 56 78 82 3-49 74 I 04 I 10 1.72 18 89 08 2.58 27 I 34 12 3 44 36 I 79 16 4.30 46 2 24 21 5.16 55 2 68 25 6 02 64 3 13 29 6.88 73 3 58 33 DAIRY FORTUNES. 99 Wherever the fractions were -| they have been counted 1. From this table the dairyman can construct any ration required. "Add together" enough of such kinds of feed as will make the most convenient ration, which should be as nearly as possible, like the standard balanced ration, which is : 24. ^ Formula No. 14. OE Dig^estible Nutrients. Protein. CftfV'o- hydtates. Fat. 18 lbs. clover hay 5 " corn and cob meal 8 " bran 14. 13 I . 17 6 28 . .29 4.17 0.32 2.82 .15 6.59 I. 01 3.53 .23 Tota Is 24.89 2.50 1 3 . 63 Formula No. 15. 20 lbs. prairie hay .... 8 " bran 2 " cotton seed meal, Totals Formula No. 16. 30 lbs. ensilage 10 " oat hay 8 " bran 2 *' oil meal 2 " corn and cob meal Totals 25.05 2.50 HH 6.60 •36 4. 20 S.49 •43 4.64 6-59 1 .01 3-53 1 .70 •57 0.65 1 .67 •13 1 , 12 Formula No. 17. 10 lbs. pea hay 10 " clover and timothy hay 8 " bran 4 '* corn and cob meal 7-85 76 4.00 8. 04 .47 3.94 6 59 i-oi 3 53 3 33 .26 2.25 Totals 25.81 2.50 13.72 .67 16.27 6-59 1 .69 .70 1 .01 •73 8.36 3 53 0.36 .28 23 •24 24-54 2.44 12 . 25 •75 2r 15 23 14 05 78 15 II 63 I04 DAIRY FORTUNES. Formula No. i8. || i8 lbs. corn stover lo. 17 8 " oat hay ^79 7 " bran 5.76 3 " gluten meal 2.41 Totals 25 . 13 Formula No. 19. 35 lbs. ensilage ^ -^^ 10 " oat straw 8.57 8 " bran 6. 59 3 " oil meal ^-55 Totals 25 .41 Formula No. 20. 20 lbs. clover hay ^ 5 • 7° 5 " barley 4.33 5 " bran 4- 14 1 " oil meal .85 Totals 25.02 Formula No. 21. 30 lbs. ensilage 6.60 15 " corn stover 8. 48 4 " bran 3 • 29 4 " malt sprouts 3 3^ 2 " gluten meal i 81 Totals : 23 . 56 Dig^estible Nutrients, Protein. Carbo- hydiates. Fat. •36 6.01 . 10 ■34 3 71 . 12 .88 309 .20 .88 1. 18 •38 36 30 50 79 59 2.46 13.99 2-45 13 -55 2 . 68 1 2 . 80 54 20 01 76 44 79 .80 • 42 4.90 .24 .16 4.14 .07 I .01 3-53 •23 .86 .98 .21 75 1.30 6.98 •32 •47 3 ■ 30 .06 •63 2 . 20 15 .28 0.32 .07 ,60 21 09 II 06 25 72 DAIRY FORTUNES 105 Formula No. 22. - u \ Digestible Nutrient a a 1 z Protein. Carbo- hydrates. Fat. 15 lbs. corn stover ^47 10 " clover hay 7 Sc; 8 " bran 6. 59 2 " oil meal i 70 Totals 24.61 Formula No. 23. 10 lbs. corn stover 5 65 12 " millet hay 10 35 9 " bran 7 41 2 ' cotton seed meal. 1.70 Totals 25 . II Formula No. 24. 25 lbs. corn stover 14. 12 8 " bran 6. 59 2 " cotton seed meal. 1.69 3 " corn cob meal. .. . 2.50 Totals ... 24. 90 Formula No. 25. 15 lbs. clover hay ^ i 77 10 " corn stover 5^5 5 " peas 4.34 5 " oats 4 • 30 Totals 26 . 06 30 65 I 01 .56 5 01 3-49 3-53 65 2.52 12.68 43 13-93 .09 16 23 •H . 20 3 34 .06 •54 556 . 12 I 13 3 96 .26 •56 •65 •H 2 43 13 51 ■58 •50 8.35 •15 1 .01 3^53 •23 •73 .36 ,24 .19 I S'j .09 .09 .98 523 .24 .20 3-43 .06 .90 2.80 .06 ■45 ' 2.23 .21 2.53 13.60 ■57 io6 DAIRY FORTUNES. Formula No. 26 t" I O E 35 lbs. ensilage 7 • 7^ 10 " millet hay 8.63 10 " bran 8.24 1 •• cotton seed meal .84 Totals 25 .41 Formula No. 27. 40 lbs. enslilage 8.80 9 " oat straw 7 -71 9 " bran 7 4^ 2 " cotton seed meal. 1.69 Totals 25 .61 Formula No. 28. 14 lbs. millet hay 12.08 10 " corn stover 5-^5 5 " peas 4.34 4 " gluten feed.. .. 3 62 Totals 25.69 Formula No. 29. 10 lbs. clover hay 7-^5 12 " millet hay 10 -35 8 " dry brewers' grains 7 . 09 10 " mangels .80 Totals 26.09 Dirrestible Nutrients. Carbo- hydratcG. Fat. .42 4.90 .24 ■45 4.64 . 10 I 26 4.41 .29 ■37 ,18 . 12 2,47 2.50 14.13 2.48 13.65 ^4-56 75 .48 5.60 .28 H 372 .06 I 13 3-97 .26 ■73 •36 •24 .84 ■63 6.49 •H .20 3 34 .06 .90 2.80 .06 74 I 93 •44 70 ■65 3 49 .16 •54 5^56 . 12 1 .30 2.84 .42 . 10 .48 .02 2.59 12.37 DAIRY FORTUNES. 107 Formula No. ^o. 5 \ Dig:estible Nutrients. oH Protein. Carbo- hydiQtce. Fat. 15 lbs. COW pea hay ^ ^ • 77 12 " miHet hay iC)-35 3 " gluten meal 2.71 I . 14 6.00 ■54 556 .88 I. 18 Totals 24. 83 Formula No. 31, 20 lbs. red top hay 17-34 9 " bran 7-4i 1.33 I 13 Totals 20. 75 Formula No. 32. 20 lbs. pea hay ^5 ■ 7^ 15 " clover hay ^'''■77 Totals 27.47 No grain used in this ration. Formula No. 33. 20 lbs. timothy hay ^^ 44 6 " buckwheat midd'gs 4 93 4 " bran 3 29 Totals 24.66 Formula No. 34. 20 lbs. oat hay 16.98 5 " buckwheat midd'gs 3 11 5 " bran 413 2.56 12.74 9.76 3 97 24 -45 13-73 2.43 12.54 Totals 34.21 2.59 13-15 23 .12 •38 •73 .26 .26 52 1-52 .98 8.00 5-23 30 • 24 2.50 13-23 •54 .60 8.78 .24 1.32 2.00 32 •50 1 .76 . II 67 .86 9.28 •30 1 . 10 1.67 .27 .63 2 20 •H 71 io8 DAIRY FORTUNES. Formula No. s'i- If I o s 15 lbs. pea hay ^ i 77 10 '• timothy hay 8.24 4 " gluten feed 3 62 - 2 " peas I 73 Totals 25 . 36 Formula No. 36. ID lbs. oats 8.60 10 " bran 8 . 24 25 " Potatoes 5<^3 Totals 21.87 No fodder used in this ration Formula No. 37. 22 lbs. tim. and clover hay 17.69 7 " bran S-7^ i^ " cotton seed meal. 1.27 Totals 24. 72 Formula No. 38. 18 lbs. pea hay 1413 12 " oats lO- 32 Totals 24.45 Formula No. 39. 10 lbs. red top hay 8.67 15 " millet hay 12.96 3 " cotton seed meal . 2 . 54 Totals 24. 17 Diirestible Nutrients. Protein. Carbo- hydiates. Fat. 1. 14 6.00 .22 • 30 4-39 . 12 •74 1-93 •44 ■36 1 . 12 .02 1-37 1 .09 2-54 13-44 50 12.91 2 . 46 I 2 . 03 7.20 536 2.46 12.56 80 • .91 4-47 •41 1 . 26 4.41 •29 •33 4-03 .02 .72 1.03 8.67 •30 .88 3-09 .20 • 55 .27 .18 .68 ,27 ■49 76 .66 4.88 •13 .68 6.96 •15 I . II •54 •37 2.45 12.38 .65 DAIRY FORTUNES. 109 Formula No. 40. ta I Pg 1 5 lbs. oat hay i ^ 74 10 " bran "'8. 34 2 " peas I 74 20 " mangels 2.00 Totals 24. 73 Digestible Nutrients. Protein. Carbo- hydrates. 65 6.96 23 1 . 26 4.41 .39 •36 I . 13 03 ■ 25 I . 20 ■05 2.53 13.69 60 I Believe in Strong Rations. The reader will observe that I believe in strong rations, especially \n protein and fat. A ration as low as two pounds in protein is all right for a stripper, or a cow that gives about a gallon of milk a day. I am aware that thousands of dairymen are satisfied with one and three-fourths, two, and two and one-half pounds of pro- tein, but they are satisfied with poor success. I believe in the same success in dairying as in other lines of busi- ness. Can not expect much from the dairy as long as dairymen are satisfied with 300 and 350 pound butter cows. To balance a ration it is very important to have some highly nitrogenous feed. It is as important to have the right kind of feed as to have the right kind of cows, ^ran, cotton seed meal, oil meal, gluten meal and feed, clover hay and all the choice milk feeds should not be fed to dry cows, bulls, calves and other stock not in flush of milk; stripping cows do not demand much of these feeds. no DAIRY FORTUNES. Oil Meal (Linseed Meal.) While oil meal is an excellent milk feed, generally, it should not be fed except as a bowel regulator and to keep a cow in proper condition when she comes fresh. Nine times in ten cotton seed meal is cheaper by the ton, and is worth at least twenty-five per cent, more as a milk producer. When cost and results are considered, cotton seed meal is worth thirty-three and one-third per cent, more than oil meal. I have used oil meal in some of the rations constructed, but I did it to cover the field more thoroughly. I would not be without oil meal as a system regulator. It saves, physic. Permit me to suggest that cows do not produce the best results when the bowels are too lax; when a cow slightly tends to costiveness she gives best results. This is true of the entire animal world. A laxative condition tends to impoverish secre- tions and weaken nervous energy. Rich milkers must have an abundance of rich feed. From the rations I have constructed the dairyman can find one or more that will suit his case — at least by a little alteration. Any dairyman can construct his own rations by the aid of the ration table and a little good sense. Wheat Bran. For all purposes, coarse wheat bran can not be ex- celled for milk cows — it is an all around feed. It pos- sesses quantity as well as quality, and is rich in protein, the part of a ration that is lacking in nearly all feed. A cow must have bulk as well as quality ; her stomach must be filled or she is not satisfied. Coarse bran is. the best ; it is richer, and the cow relishes it more than she DAIRY FORTUNES. iii does fine bran. The cow likes it, there is nothing about it to injure flavor, it keeps the cow healthy, and is cheap. It can be purchased almost any place, and greatly assists in balancing a ration. Cotton Seed Meal. As a milk producer, cotton seed meal excels all other kinds of feed, as far as we know. In protein it is the highest, and as all fodder, hay, etc., are low in pro- tein, cotton seed meal is the best article to build up the protein column. Dairymen know how quickly the flow of milk can be increased by cotton seed meal, and how readily it decreases when they cease to feed it. As it is very fine and solid, it must be mixed with coarse feed. About four parts of coarse bran to one part of cotton seed meal makes a good mixture. It will pack in the stomach, if fed by itself, and will not be properly di- gested. It is a good idea to mix it with cut hay or fodder of some kind. It can not be fed in large quantities for several reasons ; but few cows relish it, and feed must be eaten greedily to produce the best results. Too much of it will injure the flavor of milk and butter, and will make the butter so hard that it will be difficult to work and handle it. Too much of it tends to give butter a rank or old flavor. It is a splendid article for making hard, solid butter in summer. Churning can be done at a higher temperature when cotton seed meal is fed. Two to three pounds a day can be fed without any danger of any kind ; that is about all cows will relish. I have fed four and five pounds without producing any serious re- sults. It will pay any dairyman to feed it, if not more than one pound a day. It possesses a magic power for 112 DAIRY FORTUNES. opening the milk fountains. It has a tendency to age butter sooner than other articles of feed. Cotton seed meal should have a bright, golden color ; if dark, it is not good. It tends to constipation, and should be fed with some laxative feed. Gluten Feed and Meal. Gluten meal is bolted and the feed has the bran in it, and the difference between them is about the same as be- tween coarse bran and middlings. They are rich in pro- tein and fat, and are splendid articles to feed to poor, bony cows. If a cow fattens readily, gluten should be fed sparingly. It can be fed in large quantities and is slightly laxative and tends to make soft butter. It is a splendid article to balance a ration, cows eat it greedily- I prefer the gluten feed to meal, as it is coarse and more easily handled by the stomach. For cows that are thin and poor, gluten is an excellent feed. It does not affect flavor of milk and butter. Cotton 3eed Hulls. Cotton seed hulls are low in protein and fat — a poor feed — difficult to digest, and I know of no other feed that is as nearly the opposite of cotton seed meal as cot- ton seed hulls. If you want to dry a cow, cotton seed hulls will assist you. I have experimented with this feed until I am satisfied that it does not belong in a well reg- ulated dairy. Corn, and Corn and Cob Meal. Corn is a universal feed in the United States. It is fed to almost all farm animals, and most cow owners believe it to be the ideal cow feed for milk and butter. DAIRY FORTUNES. 113 As a rule it is fed whole, and the cow is permitted to use her jaws and stomach to the best of her ahility. If she can not crush it, she swallows it whole, and she not only feeds herself but two or three hogs. There is one ad- vantage in feeding whole corn in wnnter; it gives her exercise, and keeps her from freezing. When the ther- mometer registers zero it is not unusual to see a cow steaming with heat from the effort necessary to crush her whole corn feed. Cows may be able to eat "nubbins'' or ears cut in several pieces and get along fairly well and give a quart of milk twice a day, but it is economy to have a hog accompany them. Whole corn is not fit for cows. Ground corn is about thirty per cent, better for fattening than whole ears. For milk, ground corn is too fattening, and fat cows are only good for the butcher. Poor, bony cows can utilize corn much better than any other kind. It should not be fed to milk cows in large quantities — three to four pounds a day will be sufficient. There is a great diflference between corn meal and corn and cob meal. The fattening tendency of corn and cob meal is less than corn meal. As a milk producer a pound of corn and cob meal is a much better feed than a pound of corn meal. A bushel of corn meal weighs fifty-six pounds, while a bushel of corn and cob meal weighs seventy pounds ; consequently the corn and cob meal is worth fully twenty-five per cent, more as a milk pro- ducer than corn meal. There is almost no nutriment in cobs, but the assistance they afford the digestive appa- ratus in disposing of the corn is considerable. Five to eight pounds of corn and cob meal can be fed to advant- age. The ground cob stimulates the flow of gastric juice, prevents packing in the stomach, and greatly assists in the assimilation of the food. When a foot-ball, weigh- 114 DAIRY FORTUNES. ing one pound is thrown at you it is not difficult to catch, but to catch an iron ball weighing a pound is not an easy matter. Rather than feed large quantities of corn to cows, it is better to exchange some of it for bran. Oats. Ground oats can be fed to cows successfully when not worth more than twenty-two cents a bushel. Sixty- two and one-half bushels of oats make a ton; at twenty two cents a bushel equals $13.75. -^ ^^^ ^^ ground oats is worth a little more than a ton of good bran — eight to ten per cent. more. The reader can readily determine when it is cheaper to feed oats. Generally oats are fifteen to forty per cent, higher than bran, while the feeding difference does not exceed ten per cent. Rye and Rye Bran. Rye and rye bran, in some respects, are preferable to oats — not quite as fattening. Rye should be ground and fed with some coaiser feed. It takes about thirty- six bushels to make a ton, and generally a ton of it costs about as much as oats. When not more than thirty-five cents a bushel, it can be fed to cows profitably. Wheat Middlings. Wheat middlings are no better than bran for cows, and nearly always cost more. On account of greater solidity, they tend to fatten more than bran. For poor, bony cows they are good — their fattening properties ex- ceed corn, and when fed in connection with corn, the greatest fattening results can be obtained. DAIRY FORTUNES. 115 Buckwheat. Buckwheat makes a good winter feed, on account of its heating properties, but as a milk producer it is from twenty-five to thirty per cent, inferior to wheat bran. Buckwheat middlings are rich in protein and fat, and are an excellent feed and a milk producer. Gener- ally buckwheat is much costli,er than bran, and can not be fed with economy. It is better to feed it with coarser feed. Its tendency is to make hard, crumbly butter. Buckwheat straw is worthless as cow feed. Buckwheat does not produce sores and scabs, as claimed by some persons. Barley. Barley is about equal to rye as a cow feed, and in feeding it the price must be considered. By comparing it with wheat bran the reader can determine its feeding qualities. Malt Sprouts. Malt sprouts make an excellent cow feed, and gen- erally are cheap. There is not much danger about ''off flavor." When it is convenient, it will pay to feed malt sprouts. Brewers' Grains. Dry brewers' grains are fully as good as malt sprouts, but can not be recommended for flavor when fed in large quantity. The dry feed is beet every way, especially as to flavor. When convenient, and the highest quality or milk and butter is not expected, it is economical to feed brewers' grains. ii6 DAIRY FORTUNES. Peas. Peas are rich in protein, and are milk producers. They can be raised in large quantities, and when ground and mixed with bran and coarser feed, they make excel- lent milk producers. They are low in fat, but high in protein, and assist greatly in balancing a ration. Potatoes, Turnips and Cabbage. Potatoes and turnips, when cooked, are relished by cows in winter, and the effect upon the milk flow is per- ceptible. The flavor from turnips is not best, and they should be fed sparingly. Cabbage is "away off" as to flavor, and should not be fed to milkers. Mangels. I am a believer in mangels as a winter dessert for cows. They are not very nutritious, but are succulent, and are relished by cows, when properly fed. They have a similar effect to that of apples, but in less degree, and dairymen who have fed cows apples in winter know how they are relished and how readily they will increase the flow of milk. Mangels should not be fed until they have been buried or stored in the cellar six weeks to two month. They retain their succulent properties better when buried. 2000 to 2500 bushels can be raised on an acre of first-class soil. The mammoth red mangel is the best. I have raised some that would weigh twenty to twenty-five pounds. Do not cook them ; cut in small pieces and feed ten to twenty-five pounds a day. Rich soil is necessary to produce a large yield. DAIRY FORTUNES. Ensilage. "7 Probably no other cow feed has been talked about more than ensilage — it has many friends and some ene- mies — it has been "cussed" and discussed, and doubtless will be as long as ignorance and cranks continue to exist. You can not convince a dairyman, who has used ensil- age, that it is not a splendid feed. The dairyman who uses ensilage has at least thirty per cent, advantage over the dairyman who does not use it. By comparing an acre of ensilage with an acre of corn, allowing fifteen tons of ensilage to the acre, and fifty bushels of corn and 2,500 pounds of stover. .H c ( Digest! n u 1 ; "a < hie Nutrients. 15 tons of ensilage 30,000 pounds . . 50 bushels corn and cob meal 3,500 lbs. 3,000 lbs. stover. . . Excess of ensilage over corn and stover, 6150. 2919. 1695 • 4614. 1536. 2S: Carbo- hydiates. 63S. 360. 3600. 210. 227. 1970. lOI, 60. 1002. iS. 2972. 119. This estimate is about an average and shows the per cent, of feeding matter in ensilage over corn and stover to be about as follows : ii8 DAIRY FORTUNES. Excess of organic matter about 33 per cent. " " protein 25 " " " carbohydrates 21 " ' fat 76 There is another advantage gained by the use of en- silage — its succulent quality makes the difference much greater than indicated by the foregoing per cents. Gen- erally there is some waste in ensilage, but the juicy, suc- culent quality of the feed greatly overbalances that. When a cow has been fed first-class ensilage- during the winter and you cease to feed it, a decrease in the flow of milk is the result, and it is almost impossible to prevent her from drying rapidly. The change is similai to the change from rich, juicy grass to dry feed, but not as great. Cows eat it greedily, and the effect upon the system is cooling and healthful. It keeps the bowels in excellent condition, and enables the cow to handle a large ration to the best advantage. It is not in the least injurious to flavor, if fresh; moldy ensdage is like any other moldy articles, it is not fit to be fed to milk cows. It furnishes green feed when all other feed is dry, and the space that it occupies is only about one-fifteenth of that of any other fodder, and is much cheaper. The Silo. — Ensilage must be kept in a bin or silo that is " air tight," to keep it from molding and spoiling. Height is an important factor in building a silo, as it is necessary to take a little ensilage from the entire top sur- face ot the silo every day — not less than one and one. half inches in depth. The object of this is to prevent molding — the hot, steaming ensilage will mold if exposed to the atmosphere more than a day — it is better to remove DAIRY FORTUNES. 119 it twice a day. The size of the silo should be made to suit the stock that is to be fed from it. About seven square feet of ensilage, one and one-half inches deep will make about thirty-five pounds of ensilage, or enough for one cow each day. A silo twelve feet square would have a top surface of I44squarefeet, and feeding one and one-half inches in depth each day would be enough for about twenty cows. If the silo were twenty-four feet deep and twelve feet square, how long would it last twenty cows? Twenty-four feet equals 28S inches in depth ; 2S8 divided by i^ equals 192 days. This silo would hold about seventy-five tons, and would require about five acres of good corn to fill it, and would last twenty cows 192 days, or about six and one-half months. It is bet- ter to have more than one silo, and each one small enough to enable you to feed three to four inches in aepth each day. For ten cows a silo should be about ten feet square and twenty four feet deep — it would be large enough to feed the cows and such other stock as it is necessary to keep. It would hold about forty-eight tons, and would require two and one-half to three and one- half acres to fill it. How to Build a Silo. — In shape, silos generally are three kinds — square^ round and octagonal. The round silo is the best, because there is less surface and no corners and angles, which are favorable mold centers. It is difficult to prevent mold at the corners. The octagonal is better than the square silo, as it has no right angles. As the square silo i^ the easiest to build, and the one gen- erally in use, I shall speak of it first. Decide where you want to build the silo. If the barn is large enough build it in one coner of the barn. I20 DAIRY FORTUNES. Cut a hole in the floor a little larger than the silo to give you room to put in the joists without being cramped. You can start on top of the ground or can make an ex- cavation as deep as desired. I prefer to have the bottom of silo about five feet below the barn floor, as the height above floor will be less. If you build a silo twenty-four feet above floor much more power will be necessary to carry the cut corn over the top than if five feet of the silo are below floor and only nineteen feet above. When you have the excavation the desired depth, begin with the frame work. For a silo for twenty cows I would use hard wood joists 2 x 6 x 14 feet long, which would make silo about twelve feet nine inches square when completed. If soft wood joists are used and you are a " heavy weight," 2x8 inches by 14 feet may be used — that would make the silo about twelve feet five inches square inside. I am satisfied that soft wood 2x6 inches will be strong enough, but to prevent worry and bad dreams, you can use the larger joists. The 2 X 6 X 14 feet hard wood joists should be spiked at the corners with twenty-penny wire nails and clinched, five nails should be used at each corner. DATRY FORTUNES. 121 t Place at the bottom of excavation a layer of joists — no foundation is necessary, except probably a small flat stone under each corner, and one under the middle of each joist. Put in your second layer of joists (nailed like the first), about two and one-half feet above first layer, and so on until you get the frame as high as you want it. The frame can be held in its place by boards placed on end at the corners and nailed to each layer of joists. When frame is up, get boards one inch thick and twelve inches wide — for a silo twenty-four feet high, I should use boards sixteen feet long and saw in the middle when necessary. If matched boards are used it is only neces- sary to use them for the first coat of weatherboarding. Begin at the corner of your silo on the inside and stand your boards on end, pressing them down on the ground at the bottom — put on a sixteen foot board and an eight foot board on top of that, making the twenty-four feet in height. Now put on at the bottom an eight footboard and on top of it a sixteen foot and so on, all around in- inside of silo. The joists must be so arranged that the end of the boards will lap half way over the edge of the joist. After the first coat cf boards is on, line with heavy tar paper — which is cheap — about $3.00 worth will line the silo. The paper is in rolls and a yard wide. Cut paper long enough to reach the depth of silo — twenty-four feet. Use large carpet tacks. Put the first strip " up and down " at the corner, so that one-half extends on one side of silo and the other half on the other side, and the edges will reach to the middle of the second board from the corner — let the paper lap about an inch — never have the edges of two strips of paper meet where the boards do, so the air will get through. After the second strip of paper is put on 122 DAIRY FORTUNES. begin with the second coat of boards — if you paper the entire side before putting on boards it will be difficult to hit the joist with nails used in boards. It is important that all board nails should be driven into joists, to pre- vent making air holes. Never keep more than two widths of paper ahead of weatherboarding. Begin in a corner with second coat of boards — begin with a board six inches wide, so as to "break joint" with first coat of boards. You also want to "break joint" at ends of boards also. Use no knotty boards. It will be impossi- ble to prevent a little mold in the corners. This can be remedied by putting in extra joists about two and one- half feet long, at the corners, as represented by accom- panying engraving : Use as many of these corner pieces as there are sets of joists, and then line as before, being careful to have pa- per extend onto the side walls several inches, to prevent air from getting in at the intersection of corner pieces and sides of silo. In the beginning this frame can be made octagonal shape if 3'ou prefer it. It is a good idea to fill the triangular spaces with chaff' or saw dust to bet- ter keep out the air. In building silo, two or three doors should be put in the side where ensilage is to go in and DAIRY FORTUNES. 123 be taken out. These doors can be made perfectly air tight by being careful and by lining well with tar paper. Dish center of bottom of silo a little and cement, letting cement extend well up at the edges to exclude all air bank up on outside of silo and it will be completed. If silo is built outside of barn, outside weatherboardingand a roof will be necessary. The octagonal silo can be built about as easily as the square one. The cost of a square silo, such as described, will be about as follows : 48 joists — 640 feet, equals $10.50 2,700 feet boards 44 . 00 Tar paper 2 . 50 Nails I 00 Cement j qq Total $59.00 Any farmer can put it up in less than a week, and as nearly all farmeis waste at least one-third of their time during the year, there will be no extra expense for labor. A very ordinary farm hand put up my silo in less than a week. Any farmer ought to be able to put up all his farm buildings. Silo Pressure — Much has been written about the strength of silo timbers and the immense pressure against the walls of a silo. The square silo I have described could be filled with water without any danger from lat- eral pressure. When the square silo I have described twenty-four feet high, is full of ensilage, the greatest lat- eral pressure at any point will not exceed five pounds to the square foot. 2x4 timbers would be strong enough for a silo less than fourteen feet square. 124 DAIRY FORTUNES. Round Silo. — The round silo is best, because there are no angles and corners for mold centers. The round silo can be made by using two inch staves and hoop with iron rods I to f inch in diameter, with proper tightening nuts on the ends of the rods. Hoops should be about two and one-half feet apart. Staves should be four to eight feet long and four to eight inches wide. Doors can be put in where needed. The round silo is not costly. White lead can be Ube<] at the end of staves to make the joint air tight, or ends of staves can be groved and narrow strips of iron used. Such a silo, if properly- cared for will last twenty years, and will more than pay for itself the first year. Ensilage Machinery. — A good ensilage cutter is essential for preparing corn or other products for ensil- age. There are a great many ensilage cutters made and you can get any size you want. All manufacturers over estimate the capacity of their cutters about fifty per cent. When they claim their machine will cut five to six tons an hour — divide the capacity by about 2, and you will have it. Be sure to get a cutter large enough — a DAIRY FORTUNES. 125 capacity of fifteen to twenty tons a day, without strain- ing the machine is a good size — you can buy such a one, to cut one-half inch or longer, for about $30. Power is an important factor — a small engine is best. You can get a four horse power gasoline engine at a moderate price, and it can be used for so many things about a farm and will be so safe that you would not do without one after using it a few months. Before purchas- ing one figure on having to use about three times as much gasoline as the manufacturer claims it is necessary to use in a day. Sweep power is good, but your horses nearly always are in use when you want them. If you have a special grudge agninst your horses, cows or bulls, gener- ally used for such purposes, get a tread power — if you want a two horse one as good as new, costing about $80, I know where you can get it for $10. It will not be many years until the making of tread powers, as they are made now, will be prohibited. Humane societies are discussing the matter already. It is surprising that dairymen who make such slJuss about the abuse of cows, do not have something to say about tread powers. But there is no accounting for tastes — the kindest dairyman to his cows, 126 DAIRY FORTUNES. that I have ever known is the meanest and most cruel to his horses and family. I am aware that a storm of rage will be hurled at this article, but the rage will spring from the almighty dollar and not from a human heart. If you have a large size cutter, a thrashing engine can be used to good advantage. You want plenty of power — if the manufacturer says two or three horse power, " figure on " about eight. If possible get a cutter that will run at a high rate of speed and not injure it — i,oooto I.300 revolutions a minute is much more satisfactory than 400 to 500. For silo work you will need an extra piece of carrier to be attached, when silo is nearly full. Corn for Ensilage should be the largest and best field corn that grows best in your neighborhood — it should be drilled in rows, nearly twice as much in a row as when you plant it to be husked — plant as early as pos- sible. When it is too hard for roasting ears or to be eaten (as many persons use green field corn on their tables), cut it. It is best to cut it while in the dented stage, before glazing. Some persons cut it earlier and others later ; if earlier, it will be less nutritious ; if later, it will be more liable to spoil and will have to be watered in the silo to make it pack solid. Do not fail to have it juicy enough to be heavy, in order to pack well. I would prefer cutting a little earlier than later. When ready for cutting, cut low, so you will get all the fodder. A farm wagon can be used — couple it as long as the coupling pole will permit, then by using two scantlings you can make a drop body that will be very convenient. You can make it in less than an hour. This will be sufficient for almost a ton of green fod- der. It will be best to have two of these wagons — they will be enough to haul in twenty to thirty tons a day. DAIRY FORTUNES. 127 Time of Filling Silo. — It is not particulartv neces- sary that a silo should be filled quickly, as there is no danger to the ensilage ; you can fill it in two or three days, or in two weeks, if no ensilage is put in for two or three days no damage will be done, provided you sprinkle the ensilage in the silo thoroughly before you begin to fill it again. Generally it is better to fill it as soon as pos- sible, so that your corn will not get too dry. Unless the corn is very green, I think it is best to sprinkle the ensil- age as it starts up the elevator. This can be done by hav- ing a barrel or large milk can of water placed above the lower end of the carrier, so that a small pipe or rubber hose can be used to convey the water just where you want it — a sprinkler can be attached to the end of your pipe or hose. The sprinkler of an ordinary sprinkling can is a splendid thing. You can get one fine or coarse to suit — the dryer the corn the more water needed. Do not be afraid of wetting too much. When you begin filling the silo in the morning sprinkle the silage in the silo thoroughly. If you have a large silo and a cutter large enough to put in twenty to forty tons a day, it is better to have a man in the silo nearly all the tiine you are cut- ting, to scatter the silage and to tramp around the edges and corners thoroughly — no matter how much wetting your corn gets in the elevator ; if j^ou use a hose or large sprinkling can to wet the ensilage thoroughly at the cor- ners and along the edges, you will have no moldy and spoiled ensilage. I have a square silo, without the corner protection and have not lost 500 pounds of spoiled silage in any one season. It is best to cut corn fine, one-haff inch is a good length, but one-fourth inch is much better — it not only keeps better when cut fine, but the cows eat it more greedily. When your silo is full, if you have 128 DAIRY FORTUNES. been a week in filling it, there will be no room for much settling, if it has been properly watered and tramped. A silo twenty-four feet deep will not settle six inches. After your silo is full, run a lot of straw through the cut- ter and cover the top of the ensilage from four to eight inches — thickest in the corners and at the edges — chaff is better, and then water it until it is soaking wet and tramp until it is solid. When you get ready to begin feeding, remove the chaff or straw and begin to feed. You may find your ensilage moldy to a depth of an inch or two, and that will not be fit for use. Quantity of Silage to the Acre. — If your corn is large and planted as it should be you will have from fourteen to twenty-five tons to the acre. The corn in Ohio and Indiana is larger than most of the corn in other States. I cut three and one-fourth acres of corn that filled an eighty-ton silo, the average height was nearly twelve feet. If you have plenty of silage left when grass comes and you wish to stop feeding it, cover it two or three inches with chaff, straw or whatever is most con- venient, and sprinkle thoroughly. In feeding ensilage in warm weather, it is necessary to feed two and one- half to three inches from the silo each day to prevent spoiling, it molds more rapidly in warm than in cold weather. How Much to Feed ? — Twenty-five to forty pounds of ensilage can be fed each day to a cow. For a one-thou- sand-pound cow, thirty pounds will be enough. Red Clover makes good silage, but it is too expen- sive when corn can be raised. Crimson clover is good, but it is an uncertain crop. Sorghum can be used, but it is not as good as corn. Almost any green fodder can be used, but corn is the best and cheapest. DAIRY FORTUNES. 139 Red Clover. Red clover, green or cured, is a good cow feed. Clover pasture is a milk producer, and while cows get it in abundance, the milk flow will not decrease much. If cows are watered before they are turned into the pasture, and not left cut too long, there is no danger of bloating. Clover hay is, at least, twice as valuable for cow feed as timothy hay. It should be cut before too ripe — better cut it a little green and see that no dew or rain touches it when partly cured. All hay for cows should be cut a little green, to preserve, as much as possible, its succulent qualities. Clover hay is much dearer than iensilage, as an acre of good corn will produce $40 to $50 worth of feed as ensilage, while the hay from an acre of clover is not worth more than half as much. riixed Hay. As it is difficult to prevent clover from freezing and burning out, I prefer to sow clover and timothy together — it makes a good hay and the yield is larger, while the liability to freeze or burn out is greatly lessened. Cut it when the clover is ripe, and although the timothy will be a little green, it will not be particularly objectionable as cow feed. Oat Straw. A little oat straw is relished by cows, and while not much of a milk producer, it is an agreeable change for a COW and assists in keeping up the milk flow. 130 DAIRY FORTUNES. Oat Hay. Oat hay is a good cow feed, and as a milk producer, is only about t\venty per cent, below good clover hay, and much above timothy hay and better than mixed clo- ver and timothy hay. Two to four tons can be raised on an acre and nearly alwavs it is a sure crop. It should be cut just before it begins to turn yellow, and should be thoroughly salted. Pea Hay. Pea hay is a better milk producer than clover hay, and a much larger quantity of it can be raised on an acre. It is rich in protein and cows relish it. Cow peas should be sowed and plowed under about two inches, or put in with a wheat drill two to two and one-half bushels to the acre. Oat and Pea Hay. Oat and pea hay is not quite as good feed as pea hay, but fully as good as clover hay. The oats assist in hold- ing up the peas and keeps them free from dirt. Sow in equal parts, about one and one-half bushels of each. Drill the peas or plow under and sow oats in the usual way. Better sow peas a week before you sow the oats. Cut while peas are in the milk state and cure well. The yield will be large. Sorghum. Sorghum is the best all around dry weather crop of which I have any knowledge. One hundred to two hun- dred tons can be raised on an acre — two to three crops; the second and third crops make better feed than the DAIRY FORTUNES. 131 "first crop. All talk about being dangerous feed for cows, is without foundation. The cows relish it and it is a good milk producer, better than green corn fodder. Prepare ground early by plowing, harrowing and working until in good condition. Sow one to one and a half bushels to the acre and harrow. The first crop will be about five feet high by July loth to 15th — mow as needed and feed, A second crop will start within a few days. When frost comes cut and shock, same as corn and feed when dry. It can be drilled thickly in rows two feet apart_ Feed the cows all they will eat, after two or three days, light feeding. Millet. Millet hay is worth about iifteen per cent, less than clover hay as a cow feed, and at least twenty per cent, more can be raised on an acre. It can be sowed after the oat crop i^ harvested, and with a favorable year a large quantity can be raised. The objection to millet hay by some persons has but little weight. Alfalfa Hay. Alfalfa hay is a good cow feed and fully as good as. clover hay. Large quantities of it can be raised on an acre, as it grows luxuriantly. It should be run through the feed cutter before fed, and should be harvested before it gets quite ripe. Corn Stover. Corn stover is the fodder after the corn has been husked. Before the corn is hu.'^ked, it is corn fodder. It is folly to feed corn fodder or stover unless run through the feed cutter first. In fact, it is not good pol- 132 DAIRY FORTUNES. icy to feed corn fodder at any time as so much of the corn is wasted when not ground. Corn stover, cut fine (one-half to one-fourth inch), is a good, rough feed, and cows will eat all of it, if fed properly Salt. Cows should have all the salt they want. Should give them salt three to four times a week. They will not eat more than is good for them unless you mix it with their feed and compel them to eat it. Wet and Dry Feed. Many dairymen believe that the feed must be wet to get the largest milk flow. They are mistaken. Dry feed is better than wet feed, provided, of course, that the cow gets all the water she wants. Dry feed is more thoroughly masticated — is not eaten so quickly, and the cow has more time to enjoy her feed — the saliva and gastric juices are stimulated more. Too much slop in the stomach de- creases the flow of gastric juices. A cow's teeth are made to use, and will decay and drop out if not used. How riuch Feed ? If cows are in full flow of milk, give them all they will eat and relish. " Oh, my ! " exclaims the narrow gauge dairyman, " I have a cow that would eat twenty- five cents' worth of feed a day." What of it? If a cow yields four pounds of butter a day, or $1.50 worth of cream, will it not pay to give her twenty-five cents' worth of feed? Better give her twenty-five cents' worth of feed and get $1.00 for her milk than to feed ten cents' worth of feed and get fifteen to twenty cents' for her DAIRY FORTUNES. 133 milk. It does not pay to feed most cows twenty-five cents' worth of feed a day, because their product is not worth that much. Do not keep that kind of cows — keep I he kind I have described and you will have no occasion to complain about feeding them all they will eat. How to Cure Corn Fodder. If you nave no silo and must depend upon fodder or stover, make your shocks from sixteen to twenty hills square, cut one-third of each shock, let it stand a day or two to cure a little ; cut another third and air again and complete the shock. Tie in two places, the second tie being above the usual tie, this will assist in keeping rain out. Husk early and house stover at once. Cut corn early to preserve as much of the succulent properties as possible. Does Rich Feed Make Rich Milk? Probably nine-tenths of our dairymen will say "Yes." Educated men, like doctors, nearly all believe that rich feed makes rich milk. They simply are mistaken. Whether cows are fed straw or the richest nitrogenous grain feed, there will be no perceptible difference in per cent, of fat in their milk. The quantity can be increased by feed, but not the quality. If a cow gives three per cent, milk she will give that quality, rich feed or poor feed. Hundreds of experiments have demonstrated this fact. The per cent, of fat in a cow's milk will vary, but the variations are due to other causes than feed. Con- tinuous care for years -doubtless may improve quality slightly, but the improvement during any generation will not be marked. It requires thousands of years of care and breeding to produce thoroughbreds. 134 DAIRY FORTUNES. Cold and Feed. All successful cUiiryu^en f:;!!)- realize the importance of protecting cows from cold. The old way is to let cows run out in the snow and storm and freeze. The fogy seems to be impressed with the idea that good sense is not applicable to successful dairying. This class of would-be dairymen never subscribe for a dairy paper, nor read any kind of dairy literature. They never suc- ceed in dairying, consequently are opposed to the " new fangled notions " of good cows, protection from cold, balanced rations, etc. The cows they keep produce about seventy-five pounds of butter a year and are a bill of expense to the owner. Hogs and " bosses " are their specialty, and they never keep anything but scrubs in that line. Frequently you will see cows browsing around among dry corn stocks, left standing in the field, while the January winds play a "tattoo" on their scrawny and withered forms. Better keep the cows in the barn, and feed them warm water. No dairy cow that is in iniik should be permitted to remain out in any kind of disa- greeable weather — cold, rainy, chilly weather cuts ofl' the milk flow, and one day of such weather will decrease the flow of milk from ten to twenty-five per cent. Under no circumstances would I permit cows to remain out during any kind of chilly or disagreeable weather. The cool, chilly days and nights of September, April and May are very frequent, and unless cows are housed in a good warm place the flow of milk will be seriously affected. I believe it is much better to keep cows housed in win- ter all the time, not even turning them out to water. No quantity or quality of feed will overcome the eflPects of exposure to cold. DAIRY FORTUNES. 135 I have experimented until I am thoroughly con- vinced. Ten cows that were giving about two hundred pounds of milk a day, (sometimes they would run five to six pounds over two hundred, and other d.iys five or six pounds under), were turned out in the barn yard from one p. m. until 4 p. m., five days in succession, when the temperature ranged from twenty to thirty- five degrees above zero. Their feed was increased about twenty per cent, and the results were as follows : 1st evening after being out. ... 89 lbs. 2nd day 175 " 3rd " 170 " 4th " 167 " 5th " 164 " Then they ivere kept in as before. 6th day 171 lbs. 7th " ■ 176 " 8th '• 183 " 9th '• 184 " loth " 188 " nth " 189 " I2th •' 191 " 13th " 190 " 14th " 193 " 15th " 194 " i6th '• 193 " 17th " 191 " i8th " 194 " 19th " 196 " 20th " 195 " 173 178 179 i8o 180 136 DAIRY FORTUNES. The extra twenty per cent, of feed was kept up un- til the seventh day, two days after we ceased to turn them out. About a month afterward they were averaging about one hundred and eighty-two pounds a day. We turned them out from 9 a. m. until i p. m., one day and when the thermometer ranged from twenty to thirty degrees, with the following results, with the same feed ist evening 81 lbs. 2nd day 168 '' 3rd " 4th " 5th " 6th " 7th " In both instances there was no particular difference between the number of pounds of milk evening and morning. So you see in the first instance the loss the first evening was about ten pounds and about nine pounds the second instance. The second days in both instances dropped off — twenty-five pounds in the first and fourteen pounds in the second. If we had turned them out every day for six weeks, I think the milk would have dropped to one hundred pounds a day, while as you will see, six weeks after the first experiment, they were giving over one hundred and eighty pounds. When these ten cows were giving about two hun- dred and twenty-five pounds of milk a day, we experi- mented a little move. We had been watering them in the barn and giving them water that was warmed to about seventy degrees — we gave them cold water as it came from the cistern — it being about forty degrees. This was continued five days, with the following result : DAIRY FORTUNES. 137 1st da}' 217 lbs. 2nd •' 216 •■ 3rd '' 214 '' 4th *' 212 '• 5th •' 209 " Returned to zvariii zvater 6th day 21=; lbs. 7th " 217 " Sth •' 217 " 9th " 319 '•'■ loth •• 223 " The following five days they were turned out in the barn yard to water, heated to seventy degrees — the tern perature was about twenty-eight degrees above zero, and they were let out twice a day, about twenty-five minutes each time, and watched to see that they drank ail the water. They seemed to drink fully as inuch as when in the barn. The result was as follows : 1st day 2!.S lbs. 2nd " 2 17 '* yd " 215 '•'• \\\\ ' 2 14 '■ Sth '• 211 •' Within three days afterward they were up to two hundred and twenty pounds. I could give you many more instances and facts to verify the necessity for warmth and comfort for cows, but the case is so nearly self-evident that I think enough has been said. 138 DAIRY FORTUNES. It is claimed by some that cows get tired of standing' and require exercise, but the most careful experiments proved that much exercise is not favorable to a large milk flow. If stables are kept clean and cows properly bedded, they will get along all right without any more exercise than they get from eating, drinking, getting down and up, etc. It would probably be better to have a large enclosure as warm as the stable, in which cows could be permitted to walk about a little, an hour or two during the day. A cow is a machine, and any particular exercise beyond eating, drinking, getting up and down, decreases milk flow. Milking is a peculiar exercise and if properly attended to, is a pleasure to the cow, and. especially equalizing to the nervous forces. . I have found, it a paying investment to groom each cow at least once a day — using a gentle curry comb and brush — it keeps the cow in better condition, gives her exercise, equalizes nervous forces and increases the appetite, consequently the flow of milk. '' Oh, well," says the fogy, "I can't afl'ord to fool around my cows as though they were a lot of babies- — I have something else to do." What you say is true of every man who has made a failure in life. A man may be worth tens of thousands of dollars and yet be a failure. Why? Because he could have been worth ten times as much had he pursued the best way instead of a poor one. Any man is a failure who does not do about all that it is possible for him to do. Value of Feed Combinations. From two to five times as much milk can be pro- duced from a properly balanced ration as from feed of equal value, but improperly fed. For example : DAIRY FORTUNES. 139 FOKATULA A. t'^ I G S 15 lbs. Corn stover 8 47 13 " Timothy hay 9^9 9 " Corn 7.SS Totals 26 2 \ Dir'estible Nutrients. Carbo- hydrates. -.'. 16 02 .^0 5 ^^i 09 • 36 S.(S ^4 57 5 S3 45 .68 Foi{i\iuiw\ '^■. Diftslililp Nutrient.s. "2 ] p, Carbo !• vdrate; 15 lbs. Corn stover 8 47 12 " Clover hay. 9-42 6^ ' Bran c; 36 2 " Cotton seed men] . j 6 V 3^> 7^ 74 1 '9 - S7 3^> Totals 24 94 2 . 64 1 2 4 :5 09 ^9 ^9 The cost of tl;iese two rfitions is abou^ equal, if any difference, X cos^ts tl-.e most. Almost anywhere timothy hay costs from ten to twenty per cent, more than clover hay, and corn costs from fifteen to thirty per cent, more than bran — this will more than balance the extra cost of cotton seed meal. Formula X contains one-half lb. more grain feed than formula Y. As milk producing feed. Y IS worth at least twice as much as X. which is too defi- cient in protein to produce much milk.. Xo ration containing only i 23 pounds of protem will produce milk in paying quantities. Here is another • 140 DAIRY FORTUNES Formula A. Difrestihle Nutrients. Cftrbo- bydrates. Fat. 25 lbs. Corn stover., 10 " Corn Tot.'ils. 14 12 so 8.35 •15 8,76 •^'3 6. 48 50 !2.S8 14 83 65 Formula B. I.^isiestiljle Nutrient? Protein. Carbo- h fdiates. 20 lbs. Tim'y& clover iKiy 16. oS .94 8 " Bran 6.59 i .01 2 " Gluten meal 1.81 . c;9 7.89 3 53 ■79 Totals 24.48 54 .28 .29 .26 83 The cost of each of these rations is about the same — the difference is not worth considering, while the milk feeding value of formula B is, at least, three times as great as that of A, which is so low in protein, it can not be of much value as a milk producer. J^ is a balanced ration, while A is so weak in one of its legs, (protein), it would n-'ake the milk pail sick. 1 hope the reader has discovered that the value of feed for milk depends upon the proportions and combinations. Cow Stables. Cow stables should be roomy, airy and light — the more sunshine the better. All manure, solid and liquid, should be removed from the stable, several rod.s — the field IS the best place for it. The stable floor should be water tight, and gently slope toward one end, or from the cen- DAIRY FORTUNES. 141 ter each way, if the stable is very long, I do not believe in the ditch usually behind the cows. The floor on which the cows stand should be raised about five inches above the floor back of them. Back of this five-inch rise, about fourteen inches, place a 3x3 scantling — nail it to the floor securely, placing a layer of oakum or some other packing under it, to make the trench water tight. Make the platform on which the cows stand, five feet wide at one end and four and one-half feet at the other end, and place the longest cows at the widest end, and the next in length, and so on — the shortest cow being at the nar- row end. Place a 2x3 scantling in front of the cows' hind feet, about one foot from the back end of the platform. Put this scantling down so that the water will not pass under it. When the cow lies down she will get in front of this scantling, away from all filth. She will not lie on the scantling. The deep sink back of the cows is dangerous. The stable should be thoroughly lighted and all the windows screened in warm weather to keep out flies. The manure should be wheeled or hauled out of the sta- ble. Unless the cows are too numerous, a sheet iron wheel barrow will suffice. The urine should be drained into a cistern several rods from the stable. The stable should be whitewashed often, at least once in two months The ceiling should be dust and dirt tight. Stanchions, Ties, Etc. — Ties are more comfortable for the cows than stanchions, but with them it is more difficult to keep the cow out ot her filth. The rigid stanchion, if properly made, is not very objectionable. The best tie, for my use, I invented in about twenty sec- onds, the accompaning cut represents it : 143 DAIRY FORTUNES. The opening should be about ten inches. One of the rods can be drawn back at top to enable cow to enter. The rods can be made of iron pipe. Cow Stanchion. The opening into manger is ten inches wide and boarded up nine inches from the platform on which the cow stands. This tie gives the cow freedom of the head and neck, and is roomy and comfortable when she is lying. The uprights on each side of her neck should be one and one-fourth inch iron rods, and the iron rings around them should be about two and one-half inches in diameter, to enable them to be moved upward and down- ward freely, to accommodate the cow. The tie should be a heavy strap so as not to rub the cow's neck. She can not get backward far enough to pull her head out of DAIRY FORTUNES. 143 the stanchion, and there is not room enough for her to go forward beyond her shoulders. The manger on each side of the iron rods should be boarded, to prevent dust and filth from manger from working into (he stable. Temperature in the stable in winter should be about fifty-live degrees, not lower than forty degrees, nor higher than sixty-live degrees. If the stable is properly constructed— almost air tight — there will be no trouble in keeping it warm during the coldest weather. Cracks and broken windows are not the proper avenues for ven- tilation. Plave the stable arranged so you will have per- fect control of the ventilation. Fresh air is a good thing, but more animals are killed by an over dose than from a lack of it. To keep a stable clean and warm in winter and properly ventilated, it should not open into the barn as it generally does. There should be a feeding alley in front of the coavs, not more than eight to ten feet wide, and it should be separate from the other parts of the barn and dirt and dust proof. The feed should not be kept in this room, at least any of it possessing any disa- greeable odors. I believe in a separate milk room, where the greatest cleanliness can he observed while the milk- ing is being done. Horses and other stock should not be kept in the building — disagreeable odors from horse ma- nure are the most objectionable to which milk can be ex- posed. Frec^uently cows are permitted to eat the straw and other bedding mixed with horse manure, and the milk stinks as though it were rotten after it has stood for a few hours, and the butter from such milk is nausea- ting. Cleanliness everywhere should be the pass word in dairying. 144 DAIRY FORTUNES. Milk Preservatives. Milk preservatives, such as salicylic and boracic acids, will prevent milk from spoiling a certain length of time, but they are adulterations and in most States there is a penalty for using them. But very little of either can be used without being perceptible to the taste. From a hygienic point of view, all these preservatives are to be condemned, and the dairyman who uses them is liable to get into trouble. They can not be recommended, and the safest way is to let them alone. Nothing but ice and cleanliness have been found to increase the keeping qual- ities of milk, without injuring it. Pasteurization and steri- iization destroys flavor in a greater or less degree, while chemical preservatives are poisonous. Under no circum- vitances should babies and sma 1 children be fed milk con- taining salicylic and boracic acids. Ice is the best pre- servative. Bacteria. Bacteria may be divided into two classes for practi- cal discussion : PatJiogcnic — disease producing. Non-pathogenic— v\oxv-d\?,Q2i'a^ producing. The word bacteria is a great bugbear to most per- sons — it suggests disease, horror and death. While the pathogenic bacteria are disease producing, they are small in number compared to the harmless ones, many of which are necessary to health, and are indispensable to fermentation. With milk, the object is to keep under con- trol the putrefying and disease producing bacteria. This part of the subject is discussed under sterilization, Pas- teurization, cleanliness, etc. Reproduction of bacteria DAIRY FORTUNES 145 is so rapid that a single bacterium under favorable condi- tions will multiply into thousands of billions in twenty- four hours. Bacteria are so small that it requires more than 35,000 billions to equal a cubic inch. Bacteria are of vegetable origin and are to be found almost every- where and in all diseased organism, animal or vegetable. It is generally believed that animal organism of all kinds is swarming with bacteria — such is not the case, as healthy animal and vegetable organisms are entirely free from bacteria. Milk from a healthy cow is sterile, and if it could be drawn without becoming impregnated with bacteria and kept in an air tight, sterilized vessel, it would keep several years, pure and sweet Frequently bacteria col- lect in the feats and work their way into the udder and contaminate more or less of the milk — generally they are all expelled when a few ounces of milk is drawn. It is impossible to draw the miik free from bacteria — they are in the air, on the hands ot the milker, in the milk pail, on the cows, in fact everywhere. Lactic Acid Bacteria are the ones necessary to the ripening of cream and impart to butter the delicate flavor. As I have shown in another cnapter these bacteria can be cultivated in the preparation of your starter, oy ripen- ing the starter in the light, which is uniavorable to the pathogenic bacteria, When any special kind of bacteria largely predominates others are driven out, or prevented from multiplymg. Light is not favorable to the development of most bacteria, and bright sunlight kills nearly all ot them. Darkness is the nursery, and dark milk rooms and foul air are most favorable to rapid production 146 DAIRY FORTUNES. Temperature. — They are all killed at a temperature of 240 to 250 degrees, and most of them at a lower tem- perature. It requires a temperature of more than 100 degiees below zero to kill some of them. They live in ice, but generally do not reproduce at such a low temperature. The ordinary water filter does not remove them Cultures — for milk and beer fermentations the proper bacteria liave been cultivated and will produce the kind of ferments desired — uniform m sti ength, quality, flavor, etc. .Milk cultures can be purchased from any dairy supply house, and will keep for months. The spores or eggs will endure a very high tempera- ture; much higher than the bacteria, consequently inter- mittent sterilization is necessary to destroy them, unless you heat the milk to a very high temperature — 270 to 280 degrees. By heating until all the bacteria are killed, then cooling to about 100 degrees, letting the milk re- main at that temperature thirty or forty minutes, or long enough for the spores to develop into bacteria, and re- heating will destroy the spores, without heating to such a high temperature. The heating and cooling process may be repeated several times. The bitter taste in milk and cream seems to be caused by the buytric acid bacte- ria, and the nasty, rotten color to bume of the putrefactive bacteria. Cleanliness, sunlight and a low temperature are the principal enemies of bacteria. The gastric juice kills many of the bacteria that go into the stomach. The danger of inhaling them is much greater than from tak- ing them into the stomach. DAIRY FORTUXES i47 Pasteurization. There are two objects in Pasteurizing milk--to pre- serve it longer and to free it from some of the bacteria that are in it. Most of the pathogenic or disease pro(!ucing bacteria, are killed or rendered inactive at a low temper- ature. A temperature of 190 degrees will kill nearly all of them in milk. The spores or eggs endure a much higher temperature. Many of the cholera bacteria and typhoid bacilli are killed at a temperature of 170 to 180 degrees, but the spores in these bacteria are not killed. Nearly all of the lactic acid or fermenting bacteria are killed at a temperature of 160 degrees. As lactic acid fermentation generally precedes all other bacterial fer. mentation, the milk will keep several hours longer if none hut the lactic acid bacteria are killed. To kill the spores of lactic acid bacteria it is necessary to heat to about 160 degrees — let it remain at that temperature about twenty minutes — then cool quickly to about 100 degiees, to give the spores an opportunity to hatch. At the expiration of about half an hour reheat to 160 degrees where it should remain about twenty minutes, then cool quickly to about 40 degiees, where it should be kept until it is to be used. It is better to heat and cool two or three times, as more spores will be developed and killed. By this heating process most of the lactic acid bac- teria will be killed and many of the disease producing and putrefactive bacteria, while nearly all others will be stupefied to such a degree as to check fermentation and putrefaction many hours. Further than preserving the milk twelve to twenty-four hours longer, I can see no real benefit to be deiived from Pasteurization, as it never J4S DAIRY FORTUNES. kills all the injurious bacteria, nor all the spores. Pas- teurized milk is not as easily digested as fresh milk, not- withstanding the opinions of some experts, As soon as the Pasteurized milk is warmed and taken into the stom- ach, the stupefied bacteria immediately become active again. Pasteurization at a temperature of 175 to i So degrees is more effective, but imparts to the milk more ot the disagreeable, burnt taste, and renders it more difficult to digest and unfit for babies, as the casein is partly cooked. Pasteurization for butter frequently is practiced and adds much to its keeping qualities. It is much better to Pasteurize the cream than the milk as the cooked taste is much less noticeable. The more quickly milk and cream are cooled, after being heated, the less will be the cooked taste. Family milk can be Pasteurized readily by the use of the ordinary glass fruit jar. Put the milk in the glass jar and set it in a vessel containing warm water and heat the water to whatever temperature desired — remove the vessel trom the fire and let the milk remain in it for twenty minutes, when the glass jar can be cooled quickly and kept until used. It can be cooled to 100 degrees, and heated several times if desirable. Al- ways the milk should be stirred while being heated. For persons older than two years, milk heated to the boiling point can be digested readily, but for babies it is not good. The best precaution in the world is ice, and when milk IS kept at a temperature of 40 degrees from the time it is drciwn until it is used, there is nothing gained by Pasteurizing. DAIRY FORTUNES. 149 Sterilization. Sterile milk is free from micro-organisms. Milk from a healthly cow is perfectly sterile unless bacteria have entered the milk basin through the opening in the teats, which is a common occurence. They may all be expelled after a few drops of milk have been drawn, and then it may be necesary that half or more of the milk may be drawn at a milking to free it of all of them. If milk is perfectly sterile when drawn, almost instantly it "will be infected with bacteria, and in a few minutes it may contain millions of them. Sterile milk will keep for all time without souring or decomposing. Sterilization of milk consists in heat ing it to a temperature necessarv to kill all the bacteria and the spores. Generally this can be accomplished at a temperature of 240 to 250 degrees. Killing some of the most tenacious spores requires a temperature of 280 degrees, dry heat. Milk has been sterilized at a temper- ature as low as 220 degrees, but this is an exceptional case. Intermittent sterilization at 240 degrees generally will kill all bacteria and spores. Milk heated to this tem- perature has a burnt taste and the casine is cooked, which makes it difficult to be digested. The milk prop- erties are changed and the flavor ruined. Extra and special machinery is necessary for sterilization, and to make the best of it, the result is very unsatisfactory. It is not jit for babies and small children. The delicious flavor and the delicate properties of th.e milk, so neces- egfy for babies, are destroyed, while it is too difficult for them to digest. I can see no advantages to be gained by sterilization as the milk is deprived of the flavor and qualities that make it a luxury. 150 DAIRY FORTUNES. Most of the bacteriologists disagree about the tem- perature necessary to sterilize milk, because very few if any of the milk samples contain the same kind of bac- teria. The heat that will sterilize one sample of milk may not sterilize another. Condensed Milk. It has been thoroughly demonstrated that there never will be a general demand for condensed milk, be- cause the condensing process alters and destroys all of the delicate properties of the milk. A better name would be "milk syrup." It is partly a substitute for- milk, and the demand for it will be confined, principally, to milkless regions. The heating, evaporating and ster- ilizing necessary to condense and preserve it, cooks the casein and makes it more difficult to digest than fresh milk. For babies it certainly is an unsafe article of diet, and should not be used. The burnt taste is not palatable to most persons — the delicate milk flavor is gone. Babies demand milk possessing the delicate and soothing prop- erties it contains when pure and fresh — they can not suc- cessfully digest and assimilate cooked food of any kind. For invalids, condensed milk is inferior to fresh milk, and should not be used only as a substitute for milk, when the latter can not be obtained. Of course doctors and chemists can be found who will certify that it is as good as fresh milk, provided they are well paid for their opinions. Just as many experts can be found to give testimony on one side of any subject as on the other side, provided it is to their interest to do so. Condensed milk is all right in its place — simply as a substitute for milk in milkless districts. In the manufacture of condensed DAIRY FORTUNES. 151 milk about three-fourths of the water is removed from the milk by evaporation, the product is bottled and steri- lized. Some manufacturers add sugar, but it is better to permit the consumer to sweeten it to suit the taste. Thousands of unsophisticated persons buy condensed milk, believing it is some kind of a mysterious cure all, instead of simply a poor substitute for the genuine article. milk. Dairy and Creamery Butter. In cities, it is generally claimed that creamery butter is the best — nearl)^ all creamery butter is good, but the best butter is made in private dairies. As good butter can not be made from hundreds of cows owned by a score or more of patrons, as can be made from a few choice cows, where the greatest cleanliness is observed and none but healthy cows milked. A separator and a little dairy apparatus and a competent dairyman are all that are necessary to make N"o. i butter. A large quan- tity of such butter is made and sold from 20 to So per cent, above the best creamery butter. I was offered 35 cents a pound at wholesale for all the butter I would make, the year round. That is more than :^o per ccnf^, above the average price of the best Elgin creamery but- ter sold in many sections of the country. I can do better than 35 cents a pound, and so can almost any other up- to-date dairyman. IViost dairy butter is not good and never will be until dairy knowledge increases and better business qual- ifications are manifested by dairymen. Whenever you can satisfy the trade that your brand of butter is excel lent, and the greatest care and cleanliness are manifested 152 DAIRY FORTUNES. in producing it, there will be no trouble about the price. Large creameries have a great many obstacles to over- come in making butter — patrons will be careless and dirty, milk will persist in being "ofl^'' in flavor; some sick cows always will be found — cows are milked in and out of season, etc. The dairyman who has enough cows to enable him to churn two or three times a week has the advantage of any creamery in making fine butter. In nearly every city hundreds and in some cities thousands of customers are paying from 30 to 35 cents a pound for very ordinary country butter, while the best creamery butter is being sold at about 20 to 25 cents. If this can be done with butter that will not grade higher than third-class, what about first-class butter? These private customers pay 30 to 35 cents for this but- ter because they believe that most creamery butter is dirty. It is absolutely impossible under the present man- agement of large creamers to avoid a large quantity of filth. In n certain city in the Ohio valley is a large milk, butter and cream supply house, using the products of scores of dairies, and they guarantee to their patrons that all their milk and cream is from dairies conducted in the cleanest manner. I have visited many of these dairies and would not use their milk, nor permit it to be used except as the last resort, to prevent starvation. As much can be said of most of the dairies in the United States. I have seen enough of filth in the dairy and creamery to prevent me from using any dairy products when I am away from home. DAIRY FORTUNES. 153 Sweet Cream Butter. Sweet cream butter must be made from cream that is absolutely sweet and free from any kind of disagree- able taint and odor, as they are much more marked in sweet cream than in sour cream butter. Its keeping qualities are poor, consequently the milk should be drawn quickly in a clean room and in the cleanest manner, and separated and cooled to 35 to 40 degrees as quickly ns possible — then heated quickly to the proper temperature and churned at once. Not much of it is made in this country for two reasons — its keeping qualities are poor and but few persons have become accustomed to sweet cream butter and do not like it. Doubtless it is better than sour cream butter, but our taste for it must be cul- tivated before its delicate qualities can be appreciated. There are separators and butter extractors, combined, that will turn out this butter without churning. Many of the Hebrews in this country prefer it to sour cream butter. Gravity Cream. While the gravity system of creaming is not as suc- cessful as the separator system, there is a right and a wrong way. The Cooley system is a good one, much better than the " shot gun " or tall cans, that have to be skimmed. It is ulmost impossible to use a dipper and skim clean — a strainer skimer should not be used as it mixes cream and skim milk, and prevents you from get- ting all the cream. With the Cooley system the skim milk is drawn off at i-he bottom of the can and there is no danger of mixing again the skim milk and cream. 154 DAIRY FORTUNES. The crock or shallow pan system is poorest, although very thorough creaming can be done by this system. Milk should be set as soon as it comes from the cow, as cream rises best and more readily while milk is cooling. For shallow pans, the temperature of the milk room rhould be below 60 degrees, and milk should stand until the cream is all up. It is far better to have your pans in ice water, and after milk hns stood ten or twelve hours warm it up to 60 or 65 degrees and cool the second time, allowing it to remain 13 to 15 hours, or longer, if the skim milk is not soui*. To get the best results it should be warmed and cooled three to four times — the cream will be very thick and can be poured off the skim milk. A low temperature is necessary for successful Deep-setting Can. Cooley Can, with Adjustable Cream Spout. creaming. All milk that is set in Cooley or "shotgun'* cans should be cooled and aerated first, to prevent disa- DAIRY FORTUNES. ^5S greeable odors and souring too quickly. The cooling and warming can be applied to this system also. I can see no occasion for the " shot gun " cans, as the Cooley cans are so much better and as cheap. It is impossible to get anything nearly all the cream from pans set in a room Conical Skimmer. Refrigerator Box, filled witli Bottles, closed with Wood Fiber Cap. where the temperature is Labor 10 . 00 Interest, taxes, insurance, liability of death, etc. 5 00 Total $49 . 00 The price for bran is low almost everywhere — the price for corn is low, and in nearly all parts of the United States clover hay is higher. Timothy and prairie hay could be substituted, so could fodder and some other articles, but there would be a shortage in butter — $5.00 is too low for interest, taxes, etc. Live stock insurance companies want about $4.50 for insuring a $30.00 cow. The price tor pasture is away down. As to the $10.00 for labor, it would be difficult to find a man to care for cows, milk, churn and sell the butter for $10.00 a head. It would make him hustle to look after more than twenty cows — they would give him $200 a year. Where can you get a competent man for $200 a year and board him- self? Most farmers pay as much as that for farm hands besides boarding them, and no man can be boarded for less than $8.00 a month. The ordinary farm hand can not make good butter and properly manage cows. Butter costs much less a pound when 400, 500 and 600-pound cows are kept. With the 300-pound cow it DAIRY FORTUNES. 171 requires good management to keep the cost of butter be- low twelve cents a pound. I have a cow that produces butter at a cost of less than six cents a pound each year, but she is not a 300-pound cow, and her calf is worth from $So to .$100 when five weeks old. At least two- thirds of the cows in the United States do not make their owners a cent. A man who does not value his labor worth more than ten cents a day, and who raises corn and hay for amusement, will tell you his butter does not cost five cents a pound to produce, and frequently the butter is dear at that price, when sold. The better the cow, the less it costs to produce butter. Ring up the butcher and climb up a notch Care of Milk and Cream. To be a successful dairyman, it is necessary to know how to care for milk and cream properly. They are sensitive to odors of every description, especially the disagreeable ones, and should not be exposed to them. If the cow stable is filthy, while a cow is being milked, the milk will absorb all the filthy odors and never can be free from them. It is very difficult to have a stable sweet and clean all the time, even while milking. I have found it an excellent plan to have a neat, clean, cosy little room, large enough for three or four cows (large enough to accommodate as many cows as you have milkmen). It would not be best to give cows their grain feed until after the milking is done, but always have some choice morsel for them in their trough in the milk room — just tempting enough to make each one anxious to have her turn to be milked, come. If you can not have a separate milk room, do not keep the milk can (or 172 DAIRY FORTUNES. whatever vessel used to hold the milk), in the cow sta- ble ; if you have no adjacent room suitable, better keep the can several rods from the stable rather than keep it in an offensive stable. If milk is to be separated at once, Cream Can, with Plunger Cover and Jacket. the cream can be cooled and aerated ; if the gravity sys- is to be used, milk should be aerated — cooling is not necessary; if the milk is to be sold it should be cooled and aerated — it will be sweeter, better flavored, and will keep from twelve to twenty-four hours longer, without souring. The open pan system of raising cream is the most objectionable, because the milk is exposed too much, and will absorb all odors. Cold and Warm Milk should not be mixed. Fresh milk unless thoroughly cooled and aerated, should not be put in air tight vessels — it will spoil more quickly and the flavor will be bad. A Great Mistake is made by dairymen by putting fresh, warm milk in a closed can and setting it in cold water, or exposing it to winter tempetature of 50 degrees DAIRY FORTUNES. 173 or below. The cooling of the outside of the column of milk rapidly drives the heat to the center, where there is liability of decomposition. After milk or cream is thor- oughly cooled and aerated it should be put in an air tight vessel and kept at a low temperature — 35 degrees will not hurt it, neither xvill freezing, although some dairymen claim it will. Milk frozen solid will keep as long as you have any occasion to keep it, but it must not be exposed to any disagreeable odors. A can full of thoroughly cooled milk or cream will keep longer than a can partly filled. If I desire to keep milk or cream several days I fill the can if possible, and stir often and change to a fresh can once or twice ; if left in same can too long, there is danger; it is not best to mix milk or cream until you are compelled to mix it. Each milking or skimming, when kept by itself, nearly always will keep longer than when mixed with other milk or cream. Ice is absolutely indis- pensable to successful dairying. '* Hoodooed " Cream. Frequently persons tell me their cream will not churn nor whip. Any cream will churn, if you know how. The temperature must be 48 degrees or higher. Some- times cream will not churn below 65 degrees, especially if it is thin and has been mixed and been shaken much, and is stripper cream. If, after you have heated it to 65 to 70 degrees and it does not churn, cool it to 40 degrees and heat again. If this fails, cool cream to low temper- ature, let stand a few hours and draw off milk at bottom. of cream can; this will make cream rich enough to churn. The milk of a cow in heat may spoil a churning. 174 DAIRY FORTUNES. The difficulty in churning, frequently is due to this milk. I have had persons tell me their cream was so thin it would not whip. " Nonsense." Skim milk will whip if it is cold enough. All that is necessary to whip any cream is to cool it to 40 to 45 degrees. Washing Dairy Pails, Etc. Only a few persons know how to wash a tin pail. If it is scalded while the milk adheres to it, the tin will be given a yellow coating that will resist almost every- thing except sand paper. The hot water acts as a mor- dant and sets the color in the milk. At first, only use tepid water and foap until the milk is removed, then you can scald as much as you desire. Always rinse your pails, milk cans and other tinware with clean boiling water and they will dry themselves. Wiping dry with a towel is a dirty habit, unless a fresh towel is used for each vessel, and then wiping is objectionable; no ordi- nary washing makes a towel clean, the lint of the towel sticks to the vessel. Nearly all wiped vessels or dishes have a disagreeable, dishwater odor about them. All milk pails, cans, etc., should be rinsed with clean DAIRY FORTUNES. 175 water before used. The separator requires careful wash- ing and when the parts are put together they should be rinsed in boiling water, cold water will do, but boiling water is better. When convenient, tin pails and cans should be thoroughly exposed to the sun. Sale and Care of Butter. Butter is a delicate article and sensitive to every dis- agreeable odor. After it is made it should be kept free from all its enemies — it is very companionable and forms acquaintance with almost anything that comes along. As soon as butter is made it should be packed or printed and cooled to a temperature of 40 to 45 degrees, and kept there until marketed, which should be as soon as possible after it is made. Every dairyman should aim to market his butter within less than a week after it is made. If packed in wooden tubs or vessels, they should be scalded and perfectly clean — tin pa'ls are sometimes used; they are a little expensive, but you can afford to use them if you have a fine trade. If you retail butter in bulk it 70^^^'^JUl„'UiX> 1 irj Floating Thermometer. will pay to have two tin pails for each customer; let him keep one pail until empty. If you send your butter to a reliable commission house, let it be understood that your butter must be sold as first-class. If you have any other class, do not permit your name or stamp to be placed on it, let the commission man sell it upon its own merits, 176 DAIRY FORTUNES. never claiming it to be first-class. If you make fine but- ter, it will bring good prices. Your shipping tubs must be neat and clean, and when started on their journey, should come directly from a refrigerator, where the but- ter has been cooled to a low temperature. Have your commission man keep you posted about your butter; if the trade is not pleased with it. you should know it and find a remedy. Be absolutely honorable with your com- mission merchant — make good butter and work together, and you will succeed. Prints. — If you print your butter you shctuld have more for it, provided the prints are what they should be and properly wrapped. Make each package as neat and attractive as possible, one pound prints are the most con- venient. Have them twice as long as wide, making two jorints on each cake, with a division between them so the cake can be cut in two and each half have on it a perfect print. One-half pound is enough for the ordinary butter plate. If you retail the prints you should have a clean, neat butter box, with an apartment for ice. When your butter is delivered it should be cold and solid. If possi- ble have shelves in your butter box, high enough for one layer of prints. Always give full weight — remember that your prints will shrink a trifle — if your butter is properly churned and worked it will shrink but little. Never deliver any butter that is not up to the standard. Better sell it for old grease. When your customers learn that they can rely upon you for an excellent grade of but- ter and even in quality, you will be able to sell ten times as much as you can make, at a high figure. In looking for a retail trade do not conclude that rich customers always are desirable. Most rich people are stingy and buy DAIRY FORTUNES. 177 cheap butter. Clerks, book-keepers, public officers and what are termed '* sporting" men, such as theatrical peo- ple, horsemen, speculators, etc., pay the best prices. Your butter trade will want cream, eggs and other farm and garden products, which must always be the best and absolutely fresh. If your customer asks you whether you have this or that article, tell him the truth. If you have the article wanted, say so, and if it is not the best, tell your customer; also, tell him you will not sell him any article unless it is first-class. Collections. — Collect promptly. Show your custo- mers that you are in business for profit. Prompt collec- tions in all lines of business assist you in holding trade. If you are easy with your customers they get the idea that you are not much of a business man. Establish a pay day and adhere to it closely. If your customer quits you because you want pay for a first-class article, he is not the kind of a customer you want very long. Faulty Butter. Butter should have no faults, but most of it ha^. Mottled butter evidently is caused by bacteria. The gen- eral impression is that mottled butter is caused by the salt not being properly mixed. An active bacteria certainly is the cause of it. I have seen unsalted mottled butter. Flavor. — " Off " in flavor means that it lacks flavor, or has a flavor that does not belong to good batter. It is due to filth, improper ripening of cream, bac- teria or churning at a high temperature. Streaked and Striped butter is caused by improi:)erly mixing the salt and by its uneven distribution. i78 DAIRY FORTUNES. Specked butter generally is the result of too much butter- milk — not washed nor worked enough. Uneven Color is due to imperfect working. Moldy Taste is caused by being kept in a close, moldy room, or by mold bacteria. Sticky, Fatty butter is caused by high temperature churning and by overworking. White Spots generally are caused by faulty ripening of cream. To avoid them ripen quickly. Bitter butter nearly always is a cold weather product, and may be caused by some bitter weed that the cow eats, by some peculiar condition of the cow during the early period of gestation, or by a cer- tain combination of bacteria. Rank, Rotten taste in butter is due to filth and bacteria. vSome butter is " rank " as soon as made. This is frequently the result from cream raised in shallow pans, in a dark, filthy room. How to Hold Your Customers. To be successful in the dairy or any other business it is necessary to treat your customers properly — must be honest with them; must be accommodating; must be prompt; must do everything you promise— better do more. If you promise to furnish a customer butter, you must do it. It is no excuse to say you did not have it — it is your business to get it, if it costs you $io a pound. If you can not get it, do the next best thing; give him several pounds for nothing. Tell him you will do it as soon as you can make it — it is your duty to do it, even though he tells you he will be your customer no longer. That is the only way to do business in any line. I have DAIRY FORTUNES. 179 paid $2.00 a gallon for cream that I sold for seventy-five cents. Why? Because I promised to furnish my custo- mer so much cream each day, and accidently I was short; would have paid $10 a gallon, not simply because I wanted to hold his trade, but because it was dishonorable in me not to make my promise good. This slip-shod method of doing business is very common. Frequentl^^ you go to a store and leave an order, and when it is de- livered you find some articles missing. The excuse is : " Did not have them." That is stealings pure and sim- ple. They should have gotten them, if it cost twenty times what you were to pay for them, or satisfy or offer to satisfy you in some other way. If you discommode another person, it is your duty to pay him for the trouble you have caused him. Tell your customers what you can do and do it. Give them all you promised, round measure, and you will be richly rewarded. The manner in which the business of this country — private, county, municipal, State and National, is done, is not much bet- ter than high-way robbery. Skim Milk, Hogs, Calves, Etc. The value of separator skim milk depends consider- ably upon the method of feeding it. It is more valuable when fed in connection with grain feed, corn or wheat middlings. It is more valuable to feed to young animals than to old ones. When fed to pigs until they weigh one hundred pounds its value is greatest, when fed to pigs and mixed with wheat middlings — two parts of skim milk to one part of middlings — it is worth from thirty to fifty cents a hundred pounds, when pork is worth from four to five cents a pound. It is worth about one- i?.o DAIRY FORTUNEvS. third to one-half less when fed in connection with grain, to large hogs. After pigs get to be two months old, I have found it more profitable to feed it sour. Fed to calves pure and sweet it is worth about hfty cents a hundred pounds. But few dairymen get more than twenty cents a hundred pounds for their skim milk and most of them get from ten to fifteen cents. Twenty cents is a fair price when properly fed. It is relished by calves and can be fed to them profitably until two years old. It is an excellent article for young heifers. To feed it successfully to any animals it is necessary to feed in con- nection with other feed — corn meal is good, but wheat middlings are much better. Calves require some addition to the milk — a small handful of oil meal is the best; middlings are good. The best way to feed linseed meal^ is to boil it until it is converted into a soft jelly. It can be cooled and kept in a refrigerator two to three weeks ; thm it with a little hot water and mix with the skim milk ; cooking it also prevents it from scouring calves. Skim milk should be kept in clean vessels and the buck- ets used for feeding calves should be clean — bacteria are active in skim milk. The ordinary swill barrel is the source of much disease in hogs. Skim milk should be clean and fed to hogs in clean troughs, which should be where the sun can reach them during all the day, and they will not be troubled much with bacteria. Always mix the skim milk and grain feed in a clean vessel im- mediately before feeding it. DAIRY FORTUNES. Coolers. i8i To get first-class milk and cream it is necessary to cool and aerate them thoroughly. If you use a separa- tor a cooler an aerator can be used while the cream is passing from separator to cream can, or any time within an hour after cream is separated. There are many good ones. Any tinner can make you one if you are not sat- isfied with such as you can buy. I use one like engraving Aerator. and find it satisfactory for all practical purposes. Ice is indispensable to successful dairying, unless you live in the arctic regions. As soon as cooled and aerated, cream should be cooled to about 40 degrees and kept there un- til ready for shipment or use. I»2 DAIRY FORTUNES. Milk that is to be shipped, always should be aerated and cooled to make it most palatable, and for butter, to pre- serve it. By means of a little ingenuity any dairyman can plan and construct his own cooling apparatus. If milk is drawn and handled in accordance with the rules of cleanliness, as described on another page, aerating is not particularly necessary. Cooling Tank. The cheapest and best cooling tank is made as fol- lows : In one corner of your creamery cut a hole through the floor, the size you want your tank. Dig deep enough to be about fifteen inches beneath floor, if you have fall enough to drain at that depth — not as deep if there is not enough fall for drainage. Wall with brick or stone high enough for your tallest cans-:- two feet eight inches is about right — that would reach six or seven inches above the floor. Lay brick or stone in cement — at one end at the bottom, have a little recess in the wall large enough for the stop-cock of drain pipe. Cement bottom thoroughly and the inside of wall all the way up so it will be water tight. Cement around stop-cock thoroughly to prevent leaking. Put a layer of cement about one inch thick on top of wall, making it level and the inner edges straight and even, so that a lid will close it tightly. The tank should not be more than about eighteen inches wide — wide enough for your largest can. This tank will require very little ice, and always will be sweet and clean. The lid can be hung on hinges and made to fit perfectly. DAIRY FORTUNES. 183 Ice House. Every dairyman should have an ice house or part of one at least. It is an easy matter to build an ice house large enough for an ordinary dairy. An ice house 12x12-13 feet high is large enough for thirty cows. Several farmers can build one, dividing up the expense. Tw^enty- five to thirty dollars will furnish the lumber for a 13x12 ice house, and any farmer can build it in two or three days. An air space all around, twelve to fourteen inches, filled with sawdust well packed, will be proof against heat. I prefer fourteen inches. The roof can be double, leaving, a space of twelve inches for sawdust or shavings. Chaff is a good insulator. It is a good idea to start ice house two feet in the ground, and bank all around to keep out the water. Such an ice house will hold about twenty-five tons. In putting in ice, it should be cut in square cakes with parallel edges, so it will fit closely — as closely as brick. Set the cakes in edgewise and leave no air crevices. If you do not get a tight fit, fill in with broken ice. When filled it is a good idea to flood it with water. • It will freeze and tend to act as a cement. Cover top of ice with chaff or straw a few inches thick. Have a double door and a small vestibule or outer cham- ber, so it can be closed while you have inner door open to get ice. Thunder Soured. Nearly every dairyman believes that thunder and lightning sour milk, and most of them will continue to believe it until they are thunderstruck. It is not very difficult to convince persons who are simply ignorant, cf- tenbelief is based upon a foundation that excludes rea- i84 DAIRY FORTUNES. son, consequently precludes all possibility of being con- vinced by facts. An electrical storm has no tendency to sour milk, beyond the fact that it tends to increase the temperature of the atmosphere and ratifies the air. The same condition of the atmosphere at any other time will sour milk as readily. If the temperature of the milk is kept as low during a thunder storm as when there is no thunder, milk will not sour more quickly. The experi- ments during severe thunder storms showed that milk kept at a temperature of 40 degrees, remained sweet fully as long as milk when there was no storm. I have kept milk sweet eleven days after a terriffic thunder storm — the storm having occurred three to four hours after the milk had been drawn and placed in refrigera- tor. Milk properly drawn and handled can be kept sweet several weeks without sterilizing. A little exper- imenting will satisfy any persons except those persons whose ideas are based upon the gauzy fabric of belief. Strainers, The ordinar}^ strainer, whether wire or cloth, is a poor article, unless cleaned every time a pail of milk is poured through it. The filth settles in the bottom and is washed through into the milk can every time milk is poured through i<". Wire strainers with closed bottom and rim extending up at least one inch before the w're mesh begins, are the best. With this kind of a strainer the filth that accumulates in bottom will not be washed through into can every time extra milk is poured through strainer. Two thicknesses of cheese clolh should be placed over inside of stramer, to assist in catching all the fili'h from the milk. Strainers should be boiled after use DAIRY FORTUNES. 185 and scalded just before being used, to free them from all filth and bacteria. Remember that no stench can be strained out ot milk. 5ell Milk by Per Cent. Nearly always milk is sold by the quart or gallon, regardless of quality. Three per cent, milk sells as read- ily as six per cent. milk. The consumer is as well satis- fied with one as the other — quality is not a factor in his purchase. He does not realize that six per cent, milk is worth nearly twice as much as three per cent. milk. It is not worth quite twice as much because there is no more skim milk in six per cent, milk than there is in three per cent, milk — not quite as much. Skim milk is worth something. If three per cent, milk is worth six cents a quart, six per cent, milk ought to be worth eleven cents. Nearly all the milk sold at retail contains less than four per cent, fat, and less than two-thirds of it contains less than three and one-half per cent. Three quarts of water can be put in one gallon of six per cent, milk and the mixture will be better than three per cent. milk. The price of milk should be reg- ulated by the quantity of butter fat it contains. Kicking Cows. A kicking cow, generally, can not be broken of the habit. She will kick as long as she is alive, unless pre- vented. If she is fastened so she can not kick she will not attempt it, after she has made a few trials and learned that she is fast. A rope or strap around her body in front of udder is dangerous Put a strap with a ring about two inches in diameter around her ankle. Put a t86 dairy fortunes. large staple or wood screw in floor just where you want kicking foot to rest. Have attached to this screw or staple a large steel plate snap. Have it short enough to give the foot almost no friction when snap is attached to ring on ankle strap. A few attempts will satisfy the cow that she is conquered, and ever afterward when the snap is attached to ankle strap, she will be quiet. Let strap remain on ankle. I never knew this arrangement to fail to stop kicking. A scare or abuse causes the kick- ing habit, which has its seat in the nervous system. Food Rations for Human Beings. While much attention has been given to rations for cows, but little has been given to formulating rations for persons. The relative proportions of nutriment in difTer- ent kinds of food seem to be of little importance to the every day man or woman. In fact there have been but few, if any, careful scientific experiments in this line. For a man of average size the accompanying table is ap- proximately accurate : Protein. | Carbohvdr ttes. | Fat. | Calories lbs. lbs. lbs. Average work 30 Hard work 40 Hand and brain work .28 with light exercise. The "calories" represent the full heat value of food, one calorie being equal to the quantity of heat necessary to raise the temperature of one pound of water four de- grees. It has been estimated that in the average food : 1 05 ■32 3S61 1-45 ■50 5551 .98 .26 3439 DAIRY FORTUNES. 187 I lb. protein equals i860 calories. I " carbohydrates equals 1S60 calories. I " fat equals 4320 calories. As fat is the fuel of the body, and is necessary to sustain the temperature of the body and to produce physical power — hard physical labor requires a large quantity of fat. Fat bears a similar relation to fuel and fire in generating steam. Fat acts as fuel to consume the protein and part of the carbohydrates. The following table will give the reader a fair idea of the value of foods. These figures are approximately correct. Foods. Water. NUTKIKNTS. c i| i 0%. •i "5 & Si '^ < Full ilut of I lb. Calories per Sirloin of beef, me- ct. dium fat 62 Ham , 50 Pork sausage 38 Oysters 88 Eggs 74 Oleomargerine ... 9 Butter 10 Milk 87 Cream 74 Cheese (full cream) 30 White bread 35 Corn bread 38 Dried beans 13 Rice 13 r per ct. per ct. per ct. per ct. •5 19.3 17-3 I . 1090 . 1 154 Iiulude.l in tat. 38.5 6. 1490 •7 12.8 •8 45-4 23 3170 •3 6.1 3 • 3 1-4 •9 235 . I 14-7 10.4 .8 710 3 13 83.7 6.7 3515 • 5 I . • 5 8-5 •3 3015 3-3 5- 4- ■7 325 2-5 4-5 18.5 •5 910 3 38.3 1.8 35-5 4.3 2070 4 9 5- 53 . 8 1 . 3 I . I 1305 «-5 47-3 3.7 3-5 1 150 . 2 23 . 3 59 I 1.8 36 1590 •4 7-8 7 9 •4 •4 1630 i88 DAIRY FORTUNES. This table will enable the reader to compare the nu- tritive properties of dairy products with some of the common articles of food. The fuel properties of butter and cheese are high. With these articles " a little goes a long way," and a very small quantity satisfies the appe- tite. The component parts of three and one-half per cent, milk are about as follows : Water S7 . 7 per cent. Fat 3.5 " Casein 2.4 " Albumen. 7 " Sugar 1^ .0 " Ash 7 '' Total 100 " Condensed milk contains about 22 per cent, water. Heifers. Every dairyman should raise all the heifer calves from his best cows — from the cows that will make four hundred and fifty pounds of butter and more — let the butcher have the other calves. Do not give them much rich grain feed as it will tend to establish the fat habit. Do not permit them to get fat, as it will injure them for dairy cows. A little bran, hay and fodder will do for winter and good grass for summer. Handle them fre- quently, so they will be gentle when ready to milk. Rub and handle their udders frequently, but never play with nor tease them — pet cows are not the best. Be kind to DAIRY FORTUNES. 189 them. From twelve to fourteen months is the best time to breed them. Be careful with their feed, several weeks before they are fresh. Feed scantily, giving no grain when on grass, and but little in winter — the pasture should be scant. Attend to this feed matter properly, and there will be no milk fever. The first year, milk at least eleven months, if not all the year. This will tend to establish the milk habit, which is very important to a good cow. Get every drop of milk every time you milk. The year after second calf, if she does not prove to be a good milker, give her to the butcher. Diseases of Cows. While I do not believe much in the use of medicines, I am an enthusiast on the subject of preventives. I shall speak briefly about some of the common dis- eases of cows, and prescribe such medicines as will not do much harm, if they do no good. The curative prop- erties of medicines are greatly overestimated and gener- ally they " cure " in cases that would recover without out- side attempts at assistance. The dairyman that is continu ally running to the doctor or stuffing his cows with medi- cines, will be blessed with an abundance of sickness and its attendant misfortunes. The family that always is doctor- ing, always is sick. Prevention is cheap and always yields a large dividend on the investment. Care and good sense — not common sense, everybody has that — are ■ the prime elements of success. Tuberculosis simply is consumption, and generally death is the only cure for it in an acute state in man or beast. Tuberculosis in cows does not occur frequently, but with most dairyman "tuberculosis" is about as good 190 DAIRY FORTUNES. as any other name, when nobody knows what is the mat- ter Avith the cow. I have examined many cows sup- posed to be suffering from tuberculosis and never found the symptoms alike in any two cows. Many dairymen confound all diseases of the udder with tuberculosis, although nine-tenths of all the udder troubles are the re- sult of improper milkings and exposure — pulling the teats too much, squeezing the udder, not milking clean, etc., are a source of much trouble. Until in the advanced stages tuberculosis is not easily detected. The following are some of the indications: I, Yellow brown color of milk in early stages of the disease. 3. Slimy and lumpy milk. 3. Milk coagulates at about 80 degrees. 4. Enlargement or hardening of glands of lower jaw. t;. Hardening of skin over flank. 6. Hardness of glands above udder. 7. Hardness of glands in front of hip bones and in flank. 8. One part of udder may be affected and the other not — affected part will be enlarged, hard and knotty. 9. It is not often that tuberculosis affects the front part of the udder and not the back part. It nearly always begins in the back part. 10. Irregular respiration and inspiration — the latter should be about twice as long as the former. By careful comparison with the breathing of the other cows, the ir- regularity can be discovered. If, by presssing the wind- pipe, the cow expels any offen.sive mucous, there is some- thing wrong. The danger from tuberculosis has been exaggerated DAIRY FORTUNES. 191 ten fold. A cow wilh chronic tubercular centers may- give pure milk and as beef may l>e harmless. These cen- ters may not contain any germs of tuberculosis. The use of tuberculin is not absolutely reliable and frequently will not react in case of tuberculosis, but frequcnily will react where there is no tuberculosis. The indis- criminate use of tuberculin does great harm and by the use of it chronic tubercular centers may be changed into acute tuberculosis, impregnating the milk wilh tubercular spores and germs, making it poisonous, and killing the cow. The use of tuberculin in treating cows for tuber- culosis has been the means of killing or having killed many cows, that would have lived to old age and would have given milk pure and free from tubercular germs. Unless the udder and milk centers are contaminated with tubercle bacilli, there is no danger in using the milk. The effect of tubercle germs is neutralized when the milk is mixed with a large quantity of pure milk. Owino- to this fact milk from a dozen cows is less dangerous than that from one cow. In the use of milk for babies mixed milk generally is best. The danger from outside filth is a hundred times greater than that from internal disease. The chronic tu- berculous condition is not particularly dangerous, in fact there is no danger worth considering. If, after a careful chemical analysis, it has been established that your cow has acute form of tuberculosis, separate her from the herd at once, and thoroughly disinfect and clean the stable. Millions of human beings, whose lungs contain tubercu- lar centers, live scores of years and die of old age. Do not be too hasty about the use of tuberculin. It should be used only by scientific experts. Filthy, dark, poorly ventilated stables, tend to produce tubercular conditions. 193 DAIRY FORTUXE.^. Basement stables should Le condemned as unfit for use. lu many of tliese stables the heads of the cows face the wall, and are shut off from ventilation and light. Fresh air, cleanliness and abundance of sunlight ?.re necessary to health. Beware of the indiscriminate use of tuberculir. Milk Fever. — Many dairymen continually are asking questions about milk fever. "How to cure it?" comes from every quarter. I never bother my brain about how to cure it, be- cau'e I do not believe in cures, and do not believe in having milk fever. Cows nearly always die when they have milk fever or become worthless. Many dairymen will tell you they have cured it — their cows did not have it. There is no occasion for milk fever, if cows are properly- treated before fresh. You never hear of a poor cow hav- ing milk fever- — one that hid a scanty ration four or five weeks before becoming fresh. The fat, well-fed cows have milk fever. She should have but little if any grain feed and then nothing but bran in winter and a lit- tle hay and fodder, and in summer no grain and a scanty ration of pasture. Two months rich grass will cause milk fever See that her bowels and kiehieys are kept fre3 and active. A little oil meal, salts and salt peter will keep these organs active. Grass in summer will suf- fice. Keep the cow where she will be comfortable and free from drafts of air. See that her stall is not damp and that she has abundance of sunlight. Milk her three or four times a day the first two days, but never milk her clean — follow Nature — the calf never sucks her clean. If there are indications of fever give her eight to twelve drops of aconite and an equal quantity of belladonna, alternately, every twenty to thirty minutes, in a little warm water. Continue this for a few hours DAIRY FORTUNES. 193 and if the symptoms disappear, give her several doses of eight to twelve drops of nux vomica every twenty to thirty minutes. If she does not improve, call in a veteri- nary. But as I have said, there is no occasion for milk fever if the cow is properly handled before she becomes fresh. After she has her calf give her a little warm water and warm bran mash. Garget, or inflammation of the udder is common among cows. In some cows it is periodical, occuring once or twice a month. One part of the udder will be inflamed and caked. The milk will be thick, ropy and full of curd. These conditions may disappear within a day or two and they may continue for weeks and ruin the cow. The cause of this trouble is filth, exposure, bruise, imperfect milking, squeezing the udder in milking. Cows exposed to severe cold, dampness, such as damp floors, stables, cold drafts of air, etc., are subject to in- flammed udders. By reducing the feed and giving the cow something of a laxative and cooling nature, such as cow beets — bathe the udder twice a day with strong, hot salt water and rub well with three parts camphor and one of turpentine — generally she will recover. A dose of physic will be good for her. Abortion. — I have spoken briefly of this trouble in another part of the book, but shall treat it liere. It is claimed by many persons that feed produces abortion. Ergot in large quantities may produce it, but I 'do not believe many cows abort fi'om this cause. Cows in a nice, clean pasture, with clean water to drink and free from abuse and fright are not troubled with abortion. Anything that shocks the nervous system is liable to pro- duce abortion. The smell ot blood, fright, cruel treat- 194 DAIRY FORTUNES. ment, over feed, filth and stenches of any kind are dan- gerous. Lean cows rarely abort. Sore, Filthy Feet seriously disturb the nervous sys- tem of a cow and lessen the milk flow. Clean thor- oughly, wash with strong tar soap and bathe twice a day for a week with a quart of water, in which a half teaspoonful of permanganate of potash has been dissolved. Mange. — Keep clean, wash with tar soap, feed well. Bloody Milk. — There is no such thing as bloody milk, except in appearance. Give less feed and a little nitre and physic. Small Teat Opening. — Force a hard rubber tube up the opening of the teat and let it remain there two to three hours. Repeat two to three times a day for a few days. Protruding Uterus. — Have cow lie and stand with her hips higher than her head. Keep bowels active and bathe with acetic acid one part and water six parts. Warts on teats can be removed by touching them with nitric acid. Be careful not to touch any other part of the teat with acid. To prevent this, grease the teat all around the wart before applying. Stoppage of Milk. — Sometimes the milk flow will decrease one-half to three-fourths within a day or two. Physic freely and feed hot bran mash with ginger in it a few days. Nymphomania. — If you are anxious to experiment, try some of the remedies advertised. If they do not prove effective, turn her over to the butcher. Nympho- mania is a nervous disease, and nervous diseases are dif- ficult to handle. Dose of Physic. — Three-fourths to one and one- fourth pounds epsom salts and two ounces ginger in DAIRY FORTUNES. 195 quart of boiling water, given at temperature of 100 de- grees. Cheese. The cheese industry ot the United States is not large in comparison with that of some other countries. Can- ada has taken from us much of our best export trade, principally because Canadian cheese is richer and better. Much good cheese is made in the United States, but most of it is filled, skimmed or hastily cured. The English, demand full cream cheese well cured. To make good cheese, rich milk is necessary, and extra cream added will greatly improve the quality. Skimmed cheese is all right in it? place. In this age of boasted enlightenment, where hundreds of thousands of our inhabitants die of starvation each year, and where the majority go to bed hungry almost every night, cheap articles of food of all kinds are a necessity. All skimmed and filled cheese should be marked, and a penalty imposed for selling them for full cream cheese. Most persons do not know the difference by taste. Generally the profit in cheese making is not as large as in butter making. Circum- stances, location, etc., govern this point. The time and labor required to make good cheese, will prevent the manufacture of it on as large a scale as that of butter. The inhabitants of the United States are not cheese eaters. They nibble at it as though it were medicine. In Europe tens of thousands of persons frequently make a whole meal of cheese — eat a pound or more. Most of the cheese consumed in this country, is eaten by our for- eign population and by their families. Eaten in large quantities, like any other rich and concentrated food, it 196 DAIRY FORTUNES. is burdensome to the digestive system. Good cheese, eaten in proper quantity, is nutritious and wholesome, The appetite for old, strong cheese has to be cultivated. Such cheese is not fit for use. Many foreigners pre- fer this rank cheese, and the appetite for it — similar to that for coffee, tobacco and intoxicants — becomes a dis- ease. Most of the full cream cheese made in the United States is a palatable article and an economic food. Many persons have diseased appetites that demand strong cheese and rancid butter. I know several persons who will not eat butter until it is strong enough to bite the tongue. Cheese and Butter Fat. — Dairymen have had much to say about paying for milk for cheese, upon a butter fat bnsis. I have read and heard nearly everything that has been said upon this point and do not know any good rea- son ever advanced against butter fat, as a measure of value. It is true that six per cent, milk will not make twice as much cheese as three per cent, milk, but the cheese from six per cent, milk is enough better in quality to balance what it lacks in quantity. The richer the milk the less the proportionate loss of fat in the whey. . Throughout the entire list of dairy products butter iat is the best measure of value. How Much Cheese in Milk? — Average milk should make about two and one-tifth times as much cheese as butter. One hundred pounds of four per cent, milk will make about four and one-half pounds of good butter and about ten pounds of cheese. Careless manipulation of milk will decrease the quantity of cheese and butter. Cheese Making. — It requires considerable skill and care to make good cheese. Experience is the best teacher, although, much can be said on paper to assist DAIRY FORTUNES. 197 the cheese maker who has not learned how to make the article successfully. There are a hundred and two little, though important things, about cheese making that the dairyman who has good sense can arrange and manage to suit himself, consequently I shall not speak of them. The industry of cheese making is in its infancy. Yet, scientific experiments may solve the cheese making problem. There h;is not been half as much advancement made in cheese making as in butter making, although the art of butter making is in its swaddling clothes yet. For Cheese Making, milk should be sweet, fresh and free from disagreeable odors. It should be gently heated in the vat, to 85 to 86 degrees. The heat should be ap- plied to the vat in the form of steam or hot water. While being heated the milk should be stirred frequentlv. When the desired temperature is reached the heat should be turned off and the milk tested for acidity. There are several tests for acidity, but nothing "simpler" than the following: Put a dram of rennet in eight ounces of milk taken from the vat, and stir a few seconds. If it curdles in thirty seconds, it is ready for the rennet. If it requires longer to curdle it is not quite ripe and shouid stand longer. If it requires fifty to sixty seconds to curdle, bet- ter heat it 90 to 95 degrees, and by the time it cools to the proper temperature, it will be about right. When it has the proper acidity, the coloring should be added. The quantity of coloring matter will depend upon its strength and the degree of color desired in the cheese. It should be diluted with three to five times its bulk of water and thoroughly mixed with water. Rennet. — Two and one-half to five ounces of rennet extract should be used for 1,000 pounds of milk. No def- 198 DAIRY FORTUNES. inite rule can be laid down governing the quantity to be used, as it depends somewhat upon the condition of the milk and atmosphere, the degree of ripeness, etc. The rennet should be diluted with several times its bulk of water before adding it to the milk. Mix it thoroughly with the milk in the vat and stir frequently, until within a few minutes of coagulation. Keep the vat covered when not stirring. Coagulation should begin in about eighteen to twenty minutes, and should be ready to cut in forty to fifty minutes. Watch your curd closely. Whenever it splits before the finger without leaving anv trace of milk, it is ready to cut. Cutting the Curd. — For properly cutting the curd, a perpendicular and a horizontal knife should be used. The best knives are-made similar to figures i and 2. For convenience cut with the perpendicular knife first, crosswise and lengthwise of the vat. After three ZZEZIZI-^Z- ^ ^ :^^ ^^^ ^jg^ Fig. I — Horizontal Curd Knife. Fig. 2— Perpendicular Curd Knife. DAIRY FORTUNES. r99 to five minutes, cut with the horizontal knife. The blades in these knives should be about one inch apart. When the curd is cut it should be stirred gently to loosen all particles of curd from the bottom and sides of the vat. Heating and Handling the Curd.— The curd should be heated gradually to 9S to 104 degrees. There are many ways of heating. Heating can be applied by steam or hot water surrounding vat, or by removing part of the whey and heating it to a temperature of 135 to 140 de- grees, and puting it back into vat — a little at a time until the curd is cooked. The curd should be stirred fre- quently, to prevent matting, until the acid has suffi- ciently developed to remove the whey. When the acid shows about a quarter of an inch on the hot iron and pressed curd will fall in pieces readily, the whey should be removed and the curd stirred until it has a shotty ap- pearance and will creak between the teeth. Drain the curd to each side of the vat, leaving a gut- ter in the center to draw off the whey. The vat should be tipped a little so the whey will run off. Cut curd in strips, extending from center to side of vat, to assist drainage. Cover vat to prevent rapid cooling. A pail of hot water in each end of vat will keep temperature from decreasing. After the curd has become matted it should be cut in pieces six to ten inches wide and the pieces turned so the cooler side will be under, and the outside pieces put in the center to preser\ e equal tem- perature in all the curd. Every fifteen to twenty min- utes the pieces of curd should be subdivided and turned, until sufiicient acidity develops, the whey is all drained and the curd begins to get dark, when the ripening it about completed. When the hot iron — not red hot — is pressed against 200 DAIRY FORTUNES. the curd, if ripe, it will adhere, and when the curd is pulled away, gently, fine silky threads one and one-quar- ter to two inches long will be formed. If not ripe the curd will not adhere. Grinding, Cooling and Salting. — Grind the curd and spread it to cool and air. When cooled to 78 to 80 degrees, it should be salted, using two to three pounds to every 1,000 pounds of milk that had been used. Mix the salt thoroughly and let it air until cooled to about 70 degrees. It should be stirred frequently while airing. Generally the salt will be dissolved in twenty to thirty minutes, when the curd will be ready for the press. Pressing the Curd. — The pressure should be slight at first, and gradually increased. As soon as the whey starts freely let it rest a few minutes before applying any more power. After the curd has been pressed about an hour, it should be removed and the bandages arranged properly, to make the cheese as neat as possible. Ten to fifteen hours after the pressure has been applied the cheese should be turned, to keep the shape as harmonious as possible. Eighteen to twenty-four hours pressure should be enough to prepare the cheese for the curing room. A ten-pound cheese will require about five hun dred to seven hundred pounds of pressure and a fifty- pound cheese, two thousand pounds. Less pressure is required during warm weather than cold. The greatest pressure should not be applied until within five to seven hours before the time to remove cheese from press. The Curing Room should be clean, well ventilated and free from foul air. The temperature should be 65 to 75 degrees, and as regular as possible. A higher temper- ature is required in spring than in summer and fall. The atmosphere should not be too dry nor too damp. If DAIRY FORTUNEvS. 201 too dry the cheese are liable to crack and to mold, if too damp, water sprinkled on the floor will prevent dryness, and a little extra heat and fresh air will prevent damp- ness. Three tiers of shelves about two feet apart are ad- visable — they should be wider than the cheese. The cheese bandages should be fully as large as the hoops, or they will rip under pressure, and the cheese be exposed to flies. When cheese are placed on the shelves they should be greased thoroughly to prevent cracking. For greas- ing, whey butter (cream that rises on whey), or cheap butter can be used. It should be heated to i3o to 130 degrees, and rubbed on with a rag. The cheese should be turned and oiled every day for three or four weeks — two to tliree times a week after that time. To make first-class cheese it is necessary to keep them in the cur- ing room at least two months — a longer time is better. Cheese should be placed on the top shelf first, as the temperature will be higher than on the lower shelves. Fresh cheese require more heat than cheese partly cured. When the top shelf is filled, or after they have been there for a few weeks, remove to second shelf and afterward to lower shelf, where the curing is to be completed. It is almost impossible to lay down any iron clad rules for cheese m;iking, as there aie so many conditions that require a variation in the method of manufacturing. The quantity of rennet depends upon the degree of acidity of the milk. Over ripe milk requires more ren- net and should be set at a higher temperature — frequently as high as 95 degrees. Milk from fresh cows require more rennet than from strippers More rennet should be used for spring than for sum- mer and fall cheese. 203 DAIRY FORTUNES. Curd should not be cut too soon, as it will not retain enough moisture ; the more moisture retained, the more readily will cheese cure, provided other conditions are right. When the curd is ready to cut, it feels velvety and greasy and smells like fresh butter. Too much salt prevents rapid curing. Dairy Suggestions. Salt does not add to the weight of the butter, unless added after all the buttermilk is expelled, as it ex- pels more than its weight of buttermilk. It does not preserve butter, as unsalted butter will keep as long as salted butter. Milk from fresh cows, churns more easily than from strippers. \Vhen all the cows are strippers, it is difficult to churn at a ver}^ low temperature, unless the cream is very rich.' Cream rises more readily fiom milk from fresh cows than from strippers, and the skimming is cleaner. The loss in skimming strippers' milk is much greater when the gravity system is used than when skimmed by separator. Aerating impioves filthy milk, but is not beneficial to pure, clean milk. The animal heat, as it is termed, is a part of pure milk, and necessary to the most delicate flavor. Aerating should be done in a clean room. If you have a cow that you want to fatten and sell, it will be cheaper to fatten her while she is being milked. Give her all she will eat of fattening feed. She Avill take on flesh readily if she is not a good milker. DAIRY FORTUNES. 203 Do not force a cow dry — if she persists in giving milk, let her have her way about it. If a cow continues to milk freely to within a month to six weeks of calving, do not attempt to dry her. It is much more difficult to dry a cow three to four weeks be- fore she is fresh, than two to three months bet'ore. Caked udder, milk fever, etc., are liable to be the result. Do not buy a smooth, pretty cow except for beef They are not the best for beef — pretty animals are not a success ; pretty persons, not excepted. It is better to cut hay of all kinds a little early — it retains its succulent properties better than when cut late. If your milk, cream and butter are poor, do not always blame the cow and bacteria — generally the fault is your own. Nearly all poor dairy products are the result of dirtiness on the pait of the dairyman. Can not have good butter, milk or cream without cleanliness. Good butter should contain about eighty-five per cent. butter fat. The best butter should contain about ninety per cent. The more you mix and stir milk the more dilficult it is for the cream to rise, and the more the fat left in the skim milk. Never raise a calf for a milk cow unless its mother would produce more than three hundred and fift\- pounds of good butter in a year. If a cow is worth keeping she is worth feeding all she will eat of good miik feed, when in full flow of milk. Cows that have small bellies are worthless as milkers and not good beef cows. 204 DAIRY FORTUNES. Butter fat in butter is very unecjual in quantity. The best butter, other things being equal, contains about ninety per cent, butter fat ; common butter, eighty per cent. ; poor butter, sixty-five to sev- enty-five per cent. Some good butter does not contain more than seventy-five per cent, fat, but the other things are a little extra — that is, cleanli- ness, handling, etc. Abortions nearly alw^ays are the result of filth, fright and poor care. Poor, boney cows rarely abort. Decayed teeth frequently cause a cow to throw out her cud. Do not conclude that a loss of the cud will kill the cow, it is not dangerous. Value of ensilage can not be measured by the nutriment it contains, as its succulent, cooling properties are of great value. One man in one day can cut, load, haul one-third of a mile, and unload enough corn to make about ten tons of ensilage. One man, in a silo, can properly distribute, tramp and care for about thirty-five tons of ensilage in a day. A Machine, to cut one-half inch long, twenty tons of corn, a day, will require five to six horse power to run it properly. What suits one cow may not suit another. One cow may require four to six weeks rest each year, and another may not require any. The feed that agrees with one cow may not agree with another. ONE HUNDRED MILLIONS OF DOLLARS A YEAR! CHE De Laval Cream Separators have revolutionized the Cream- ery and Dairy methods of the world since their introduction fifteen years ago. They have increased the productiveness of the Dairy industry luliy One Hundred Millions of Dollars a year in that time, and practically earned that much in a year for their users. They have been the ''keynote" of modern dairjing. They are now used in every countrj' of the globe, and the total number in use is nearly 125,0(30, or more than ten times that of all the one hundred or more various kirds of imitating machines ever made in the dif- ferent parts of the earth < ombined. As the De Laval machines were first, so likewise have they been kept best, ever keeping further in the lead through constant improvt ment from year to year. They are now sufficientl}' superior in all respects to more than save their cost each }ear of use over and above what is possible with any of the imitating and infringing machines. The De Laval macliines are made in every conceivable size and style and operating' form, adapted to the requirements of the dairy of one cow, to the creamery of one thousand or more cows, at prices ranging from !ft50 to $800, They are sold, as ever, on the basis of their unqualihed and guaranteed superiority to all other existing methods and devices. Send for "Dairy" Catalogue No. 268, or "Creamery" Catalogue No. 508. The De Laval Separator Co. Western Offices: Randolph and Canal Streets. CHICAGO. General Offices: 74 Cortlandt Street, NEW YORK. IT PAYS! To Grind Year FEED. THE EXPORT. D^^Bs it Vdds Fully 30 per cent- to its Value. We make Grinding" Mills of every description, French Buhr Mills, Iron and Steel Grinders, Crushers and SAveep Mills. ESTABLISHED 1844. CORRESPONDENCE SOLICITED. Straub Macliinery Company, 1945-55 West Sixth Street CINCINNATi, 0. The 0. Armleder Co. CINCINNATI, O. Manufacturers Of FINE DAIRY WAGONS. We mal^:f^M!^:^^}M.^^lMMMiM^ fw tm. '^'m. '^^^ ^?^ ? ' W^ '^ ^ ' *fe-^' '^^-^ ■ '^ 'i^ ^'^fe^' '^■ ^^^M^^^^^' * mmM m^r