Pratt's Practical Pointers on the Care of Livestock and Poultry Part 4

[Ill.u.s.tration: ~AYRs.h.i.+RE COW~]

(6) There should be some reduction and it may be modification in the grain for a short time.

After turning out a full supply may be necessary. Should the pasture be composed mainly of gra.s.ses, food rich in protein, as wheat bran, should be fed, but if it is composed mainly of clover, then more carbonaceous grain, as corn, should be fed.

When pasture is succulent and abundant, it is a disputed point as to whether it will pay to feed meal of any kind in addition. The following conclusion in regard to this question would seem safe:

When cows are fed grain on pastures succulent and abundant, the tendency is to increase the yield in the milk and also to increase flesh.

The quality of the milk is not materially influenced.

_Millsboro, Del.

Pratts Cow Remedy was fed to the cow from the receipt of Remedy until the calf was eight weeks old and the calf weighed 234 pounds and was acknowledged unanimously to be the nicest calf that was ever s.h.i.+pped from this depot.

W.R. ATKINS._

Some saving is effected in the grazing, and the resultant fertilizer from the grain fed has a tangible value. It is certain, therefore, that full value will be obtained for a small grain ration thus fed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PRATTS PRACTICAL POINTERS]

+ -------+ | ~GET MORE MILK MONEY~ | | | |Help your cows, every one, to give the largest possible amount of milk | |and to produce big, strong, husky calves each season. The _extra_ pounds| |of milk, the _extra_ value of the calves are all clear profit. | | | |[Ill.u.s.tration: Pratts Cow Remedy] | | | |It costs as much to house and care for and nearly as much to feed a poor| |producer as a good one. The first may be kept at a loss. The latter is a| |sure profit-payer. The difference is generally merely a matter of | |physical condition. And this _you_ can control. | | | |Pratts Cow Remedy makes cows healthy and productive. It is not a | |food--it is _all medicine_, preventive and curative. It is absolutely | |safe to use because free from a.r.s.enic, antimony and other dangerous | |ingredients. | | | | ~PRATTS COW REMEDY~ | | | |is nature's able a.s.sistant. It not only improves appet.i.te and a.s.sists | |digestion, increases milk yield and percentage of b.u.t.ter fat, but in | |large measure prevents and overcomes such disorders as barrenness and | |abortion, garget, milk fever, scours, indigestion, liver and kidney | |troubles. | | | |The reason is plain when you know the ingredients. Here they | |are--gentian root, Epsom salts, capsic.u.m, oxide of iron, fenugreek, nux | |vomica, ginger root, charcoal, soda, salt. All of superior quality and | |properly proportioned and combined. | | | |You may _think_ your cows are doing their best when they are not. _Now | |find out_. Secure a supply of the original and genuine Pratts Cow | |Remedy. Use it and watch results. You will be astonished and delighted. | |But if for any reason you are not-- | | | | "~YOUR MONEY BACK IF YOU ARE NOT SATISFIED~" | + -------+

[Ill.u.s.tration: PRATTS PRACTICAL POINTERS]

As soon as the supply of pasture becomes insufficient in quant.i.ty or lacking in succulence, it should be supplemented with food cut and fed in the green form, as winter rye, oats and peas, and oats and vetches grown together, millet in several varieties, gra.s.ses, perennial and Italian rye, especially the latter, alfalfa, the medium red, the mammoth, alsike and crimson clovers, corn of many varieties, and the sorghums. Alfalfa, where it can be freely grown, is king among soiling foods. Peas and oats grown together are excellent, the bulk being peas.

Corn is more commonly used, and in some sections sweet sorghum is given an important place. The aim should be to grow soiling foods that will be ready for feeding in that succession that will provide food through all the summer and autumn. Soiling furnished by grains, gra.s.ses, and clovers are usually fed in the stables or feed yards, and corn and sorghum are usually strewn over the pastures, as much as is needed from day to day.

Where much soiling food is wanted from year to year, it would seem safe to say that it can be most cheaply supplied in the form of silage. Even when gra.s.s is abundant, cows will eat with avidity more or less of ensilage well made. They should not be fed in winter more than 25 pounds per animal per day, but the quant.i.ty needed is determined largely by the condition of the pastures. Because of the less quant.i.ty of the silage called for in summer, the silo that contains the silage should be of less diameter than the silo that holds food for winter use, otherwise the exposed silage will dry out too much between the times of feeding it.

In autumn soiling foods may be fed with profit that are possessed of less succulence than would suffice at an earlier period, as in the autumn the pastures are usually more succulent than in the summer. Corn may be fed at such a time with much advantage from the shock, and sorghum that has been harvested may likewise be fed from the shock or from the c.o.c.ks. Pumpkins may be thrown into the pasture and broken when fed.

Viewed from the standpoint of milk production, the legumes (clover, cow peas, soy beans, etc.) must be a.s.signed first rank. After these come grain fodders, corn and sorghum fodders, and fodders from gra.s.ses, suitable in the order named. Lowest of all is straw furnished by the small cereals. Fodders when fed are not restricted in quant.i.ty as concentrates are.

Among legumes, hay furnished by alfalfa, any of the clovers, cow peas, soy beans and vetches, is excellent for producing milk when these are cut at the proper stage and properly cured. Alfalfa should be cut for such feeding when only a small per cent. of blooms have been formed, clovers when in full bloom, and cow peas, soy beans, and vetches when the first forward pods are filling. Proper curing means by the aid of wind stirring through the ma.s.s rather than sun bleaching it.

When good leguminous fodders are fed, from 33 to 50 per cent. less grain will suffice than would be called for when non-leguminous fodders only are fed.

_Leavenworth, Kansas.

When two veterinarians had given up a cow to die, I gave her Pratts Animal Regulator with the result that she was on her feed in about a week. I am a constant user of Pratt Products.

J.D. WATSON._

Fodder may usually be cheaply furnished from corn and sorghum, when grown so that the stalks are fine and leafy, and if cut when nearing completed maturity and well cured. Such food is excellent for milk production when fed with suitable adjuncts, even though the fodder is grown so thickly that nubbins do not form. The aim should be to feed the sorghums in the autumn and early winter and the corn so that it may be supplemented by other hay when the winter is past, as later than the time specified these foods deteriorate.

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

Rye and wheat straw are of little use in making milk, oat straw is better, and good bright pea straw is still more valuable. When fodder is scarce, these may be fed to advantage if run through a cutting box and mixed with cut hay.

_Thomaston, Ga.

Since I started feeding her Pratts Cow Remedy, my cow has shown an increase in her daily flow of milk of over one gallon and is now in better condition than she has ever been. I give all the credit for this remarkable improvement to Pratts Cow remedy.

O.W. JONES._

The necessity for feeding succulent food in some form where maximum milk yields are to be attained has come to be recognized by all dairy-men.

The plants that furnish succulence in winter are corn in all its varieties, field roots of certain kinds, and the sorghums. Corn and sorghum to furnish the necessary succulence must be ensiled. Corn ensilage is without a rival in providing winter succulence for cows.

Field roots furnish succulence that, pound for pound, is more valuable than corn, because of the more favorable influence which it exerts on the digestion. But roots cost more to grow than corn. Rutabagas and turnips will give the milk an offensive taint if fed freely at any other time than just after the milk has been withdrawn, but that is not true of mangel wurtzel, sugar beets, or carrots.

The necessity for giving grain feed containing high percentage of digestible matter (known as concentrates) to dairy cows is based on the inability of the cow to consume and digest enough coa.r.s.e fodders to result in maximum production, even though the fodders should be in balance as to their const.i.tuents.

Concentrates are purchased or home grown. It matters not from which source they are obtained, but the values of those purchased are becoming so high as to force upon dairy-men the necessity of growing them at home as far as this may be practicable, and of insuring sound digestion by giving some such tonic and appetizer as Pratts Cow Remedy. This splendid prescription should be kept on hand the year round, and should be given with every feeding, especially in winter. Its value in keeping up milk production and for maintaining health is unequalled.

The method of furnis.h.i.+ng concentrates by growing certain of the small grains in combination is growing in favor. These combinations may include wheat, barley, outs, peas, and flax. Frequently but two varieties are grown together. They are grown thus, in the first place, to secure better yields, and, in the second, to furnish concentrates in approximate balance. Such a food, for instance, is obtained from growing wheat and oats together, and if some flax is grown in the mixture it will be further improved.

When choosing concentrates for feeding cows, the aim should be to select them so that when fed along with the roughage on hand, they will be in approximate balance, that is, the elements in them will best meet the needs of the cows.

If a flesh and milk-making food, like clover, is the source of the fodder, then a fat and heat-producing food, like corn, should furnish a large proportion of the grain fed. But it is not more profitable in all instances to feed foods in exact balance. Some of the factors may be so high priced and others so cheap that it will pay better to feed them more or less out of balance.

When good clover hay or alfalfa is being fed to cows in milk, any one of the following grain supplements will give satisfactory results.

(1) Corn meal and wheat bran, equal parts by weight.

(2) Corn meal, wheat bran, and ground oats in the proportions of 2, 1, and 1 parts.

(3) Corn meal, wheat bran, and cottonseed meal in the proportion of 2, 1, and 1 parts. Whether corn meal or corn and cob meals is fed is not very material. Barley meal may be fed instead of corn.

Should corn ensilage be fed to the extent of, say, 40 pounds per day along with clover or alfalfa, any one of the following grain supplements should suffice:

(1) Corn or barley meal, wheat bran, and ground oats, fed in equal parts by weight.

(2) Corn or barley meal and wheat bran, fed in the proportions of 1 and 2 parts.

(3) Corn or barley meal, cottonseed meal, and wheat or rice bran, fed in equal proportions.