The dairyman's manual; a practical treatise on the dairy

Front matter

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CHAPTER I Page Dairy Farming _.°.-- 2.2.22: Fhe Pe od TAF SAO 5D Me bbe ae 7 CHAPTER II

Peter aes cc AL eee Se he ee oes Pe Nee 17 CHAPTER III.

Peeve mon Ue MAI y ec ae de A er ee ey ee 26 CHAPTER IV. : Breeding and Rearing Dairy Cows.......--2--2-22-2-2222-: 50 . pe OMAP TER Vo ><: Papper Wary Panms. jl os = 26 ak a een eee 59

- CHAPTER VI, Grasses for Pastures and Meadows yA Le ee sees 66 CHAPTER VII.

Boring and Sole Crops: <2 220s ee 80 CHAPTER VIII, .

REMADE CH MOOUCT (oo rae ge 88 CHAPTER IX.

Dairy Buildings: 2-22-2225: oun doe oka eyes eee eee 97 ‘CHAPTER X,

Peecee tor tise i. hho. Dairy 2002 fe eee ee 127 33 CHAPTER XII.

Ree atigie: 22 oe es eS ee ee ees 147 _ CHAPTER XIII.

CHAPTER XIV. —

Rearing Calves’ for the Dairy... 2.22222-22.4.2-25. ....184 CHAPTER XV.

(TL! Sy sh ot 0A EE a cena Ba te MOCO saree Caen ad ean et ae A 191 eae x ER ee VI ) TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XVI.

PORTA oe SE rs St ee ae ee eee 207 _ CHAPTER XVII. i Milking and Milking Apparatus --...-. -...------..---.--- 213 CHAPTER XVIII. Pe The Cure: of Milk 250 oo es a eee ee eee 231 CHAPTER XIX.

Gream and: its Pécnliarities:: 2. 2255 ss 2 ee eee 259 CHAPTER XX.

Chnrnine ‘and: Charms’ o.i2 2 fo oe ase es ceeS- 205 eee 275 CHAPTER XXI aber re a ees tet ee et euee Le eee 286 CHAPTER XXII SP Gameries ois toe ie ak es 2 ee ae 309 CHAPTER XXIII MRPEERONEG |) Sous ro ow OR ne te oe eee ee 324 CHAPTER XXIV.

Cheese Making ---------- cae oe whet ns Soe tee ao ae 306 CHAPTER XXV Mati “Dainyany, <2 Soe nn Sa 397 CHAPTER XXVI Wanter Dairying: 2: 223-c2 sho co) os Se i oe eee 407 CHAPTER XXVII. whe amily Dary).. = [oie s2 es aise oe eee 418 CHAPTER XXVIII | Diseases of Cows ------- one eee Seen ee ene eee nner anes 426

THE DAIRYMAN’S MANUAL.

CHAPTER I.

DAIRY FARMING.

Darry farming has always been, and will always be, the most profitable branch of agriculture. It is a manufacturing industry, and a skilled manufacture; and manufacturing finished products from raw materials gives the greatest profits to the labor and skill which the enter- _ prising man devotes to the industry. It is so with all manufactures. The cotton planter, who grows the cotton for the spinner and weaver, is hard worked, lives poorly, and never has been known to accumulate a sufficient fortune to relieve him from work ; but the cotton manufacturers, who work up the planter’s product, are pro-— verbially wealthy, and build up rapid and large fortunes from their skill and enterprise. It is so in all agricultural labor. The grain farmer is not only the slave and the victim of all the adversities of season and weather and markets, but he sees the richest portion of his land carried off in his exhaustive crops, while these leave him nothing where with to restore his fields to fertility; and he is in the unhappy condition—if he is a thoughtful man —of one who is living upon his capital, and is daily eating from a circumscribed and fixed store, the end of which he sees gradually approaching day by day, without any means in his power of ay erting the impending exhaustion. - But when he feeds his grain, and alternates these crops — with grass and feeding crops, and transforms them into cattle or sheep, horses or hogs, he becomes a manufacturer—partially so, itis true—and he immediately reaps not only a second profit from his products, but he finds in his manure heaps a permanent source of fertility which - flows over and replenishes his soil.

The dairy farmer has a still further advantage in that he not only rears and feeds cattle, but he keeps cows from which he procures milk, and of this milk he makes butter and cheese, Ee eeamnee by his young stock all the wastes of these manufactured articles, and selling from his farm a highly finished product in a concentrated form | which carries away practically nothing in the shape of the fertile elements of his land. Moreover, he purchases cheap waste products and turns these into costly finished products, reserving the valuable wastes of them for the enriching of his soil. For instance, the farmer who sells a ton of hay for fifteen dollars has nothing but this - money in return for his labor and a certain quantity of the richest elements of the fertility of the soil. It is the same with the farmer who sells thirty bushels of corn from — - an acre of land for the same sum of money. The farmer who feeds the hay or the corn to a steer or to sheep doubles his income, and retains a large portion of the substante of his crops, which is coat to the land. But the dairyman who makes cheese or butter trebles his income, and retains nearly everything of value which the crops he has fed to his cows have drawn from the soil, and. he has expended nothing but his labor, for which he receives liberal pay. If he purchase hay from his neighbor, he makes a handsome profit from this; and if he buys bran or other feeding substances, he makes a

DAIRY FARMING. 9 profit from them; and thus turns his labor to the most useful and valuable account. ‘‘In all labor there is profit” is as true to-day as when it was written by the wisest of men, the only qualification being—as we may -assume is implied in the proverb—that the labor is wisely and rightly directed. And thus the dairyman, who of all farmers expends the most labor upon his farm and in his business, must necessarily reap the most profit.

WHAT A DAIRYMAN SHOULD BE.

It is a trite but true adage that in all sorts of farming

_ there is more in the man than there is in the land ;”

and this applies in the most forcible manner to the dairyman. For he must not only be a skillful farmer, but a good judge of cattle; a careful, cautious man, and habitually regular in his habits; endowed with the virtues of patience and perseverance, and good sound common sense; he must be studious, of a retentive memory, and able to judge wisely as to points of his business which may be in dispute; a good business man; and of a ¢ertaiv refined disposition and habits, and exceedingly neat and particular in his person. All these characteristics are indispensable for success in his vocation, and for the following reasons :—

1st. He must be a skillful farmer, because he must grow a large variety of crops, and make his soil exceedingly productive by the aid of the large quantity of manure he may make and gather; and he must expend the crops he raises in the most economical and effective manner. He ‘must understand well the character and uses of different kinds of soil, so that he may select the best suited for his purpose; and he must know how to manage such land as he can best select or procure with the greatest effect and success. His profit depends upon the raising of large crops, and those of the most valuable kinds for feeding; and he must thoroughly understand the different methods of culture for grain, grass, root and fodder crops. All this is indispensable for the suc- | cessful prosecution of dairy farming.

Qd. He must be a good judge of cattle, because the cows are the tools of his trade, and without the best tools no good work can be done. Moreover, there is such a large variety of breeds, and such a great variation in the quality of cows in use for dairy purposes, that without good judgment, and some accurate knowledge as a basis for the exercise of judgment in this respect, a dairyman would be at a loss how to make a proper selection, and would be very apt to make a serious and perhaps ruinous blunder at the outset. There are exceedingly great differences in cows, and yet, as a rule, good cows are easily distinguished from poor and unprofitable ones, and the distinguishing marks and characteristics should be well known to the dairyman who expects to make his profit from them. So, too, he should be able to choose the most promising calves from which to replenish his stock, and also to choose a good sire for his calves, that he may steadily improve his herd in character and value. It is also indispensable for full success in the dairy that the dairyman should be able to judge of the character of the cows he is feeding, that he may discard those which are not profitable and keep only those which pay the best for keeping; and while there are certain accurate tests by which this can be ascertained, yet it is a valuable acquisition for a dairyman that he can tell at a glance which cows of his herd are the best and which he had

better get rid of as soon as practicable. . 8d. Carefulness in every detail, cautious supervision over his stock, and in every little matter which calls for change or modification of method, are necessary qualifications in the dairy. A thousand small things are coming up at times which need foresight to guard against, and caution to avoid or evade. There are so many contin-

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‘DAIRY FARMING. 11

- gencies which are to be apprehended constantly, and so many accidents continually threaten to occur in this most intricate business, that unless one is naturally inclined to be careful in every matter of management, the accidents which will surely follow will be sufficient to rob the dairyman of his profit. For instance, a gate may be left open, and the cows thus get into a luxuriant clover field, becoming bloated or otherwise injured, and some of them be permanently ruined; or a cow may be left -unfastened in her stall and spend the night roaming about the stable, molesting the other cows and perhaps injuring or even killing one or more of them. The feed _ box may be left open and the loose cow may be found dead in the morning from overgorging herself with the feed. The water trough may be permitted to overflow on a cold day and an icy spot thereby formed upon

_ which a cow may slip and fatally injure herself. The root cellar may be left open and the roots become frozen, _ and this stock of indispensable feed be lost. The water trough may be leaking and the cows may go without a supply for the day, and half.the day’s milk be lost. And so on all through the daily routine of work there are many chances of damage which are to be avoided only by the exercise of great care and constant caution. Regularity too in every detail must not be neglected. It is one of the rarest attributes of a man, to be constantly regular to hours and minutes, and to methods.

_ And yet it is of the utmost importance in the dairy. A cow is a machine for making milk and butter. This fact should never be lost sight of. And the cow must be fed and watered, and supplied with every attention: milked, turned out and turned in, protected from storm and weather, and in every way managed with perfect regularity. She is an accurate time keeper, and if her ~ feed is late she frets, and fretting wastes milk, and the milk loses cream. This fact was learned by the writer —

ES ‘ . aie

19. THE DATRYMAN’ S MANUAL.

in a manner which could not be mistaken. It was the custom for years in his dairy to feed at five o’clock in the morning and to milk at six, every day but Sundays, when the work was delayed an hour, or somewhat more. As an accurate record was kept of every milking of each cow, it was soon found that the quantity of milk on the Sunday evening and Monday morning fell off considerably, as much as from two to four pounds per cow, some cows losing considerably more than this—one — nervous, fretting beast, which could scarcely wait her turn to be fed, losing the most. The result was so closely connected with the cause that there could be no’ doubt of it; and yet out of regard for the day, and on the principle of doing as little work as possible on the day of rest, this loss was submitted to without complaint. The feed also, being prepared on Saturday afternoons for the whole of the next day and Monday morning, was not so fresh, and this irregularity had its share in the result. And so it is in other respects. The milk must | be skimmed at regular periods; the cream kept at a regular and even temperature, stirred at every addition of fresh cream to keep the quality and acidity properly adjusted; the temperature in the milk-room must be regularly maintained at sixty-two degrees; and every other detail is to be kept even and regular from hour to hour and from day to day. If the man or woman upon whom such work devolves has not an instinct of regularity, or has not made a habit of it by constant discipline, the labor will be irksome, irregularity will soon preyail, and the dairyman will not prosper as he might and should do.

4th. Patience, perseverance and good common sense are requisite for success in the dairy. From the training of a calf to the last operation in dairying, patience is called for. ‘The calves and cows should .be well trained, and made docile and good natured. This cannot be se-

DAIRY FARMING. 13 cured unless the trainer is a patient man, able to control

; _ his feelings, and quell any rising anger stimulated by _ some accidental mischance. Impatience will make cows vicious, and their owners, at times, brutal. An accidental movement made by a cow, when the milker is careless or incautious, may cause a pail of milk to be overset. An impatient man will kick or beat the cow for his fault; for, as we have seen, he should at every moment be on his guard for such accidents, and always ready to avoid them, We should remember that the man is the reasonable animal, able to exert self-control and to think, while the cow has only a natural instinct, and that alone makes her suspicious and always on the defensive against danger orattack. An unguarded, hasty approach may cause a cow to kick or attempt to do it instinctively, and to avoid all such dangers the dairy-

_ man should, as we have already shown, be exceedingly cautious; but when they occur, the greatest patience is to be exercised. Cows should be pets, without fear, and with affection for their keepers; they are then most profitable to their owners; and te bring them to this desirable condition of docility the dairyman must exercise great and constant patience with them,

Perseverance and common sense will enable one to surmount difficulties and to apply proper remedies for them at the right moment. Dairy work is full of risks, and as few persons are able to meet every contingency until they have long experience, it is necessary to perse-. vere in spite of disappointments, using good common sense to make the lessons learned from time to time available for future service. :

5th. A dairyman must be studious, and remember what he learns, applying his gathered information to the better working of his dairy. There is no other business connected with agriculture which is so intricate and involves so many uncertainties, or which requires such constant application of special scientific experiment _ and of careful personal investigation and practice; and to meet successfully all these and other requirements of his work, a dairyman must have at least a fair knowledge of dairy literature, and know what other dairymen are doing, and what is done at the numerous experiment stations and by private investigations. At least he must have a good handbook or manual for reference in case of - need, and must not be averse to learn something from every possible source of information. Besides, one man alone is weak and helpless, and knowing this, the dairymen have formed associations for mutual help and information. It is very necessary then that every dairyman should make himself competent to discuss at these meetings such questions as may arise, so that from a multitude of counselors he may find safety from the difficulties which he meets constantly in his daily work.

6th. The dairyman must be a good business man, and make himself acquainted with the ordinary principles of business ; able to keep accounts, and discipline himself as much as possible in the strict rules of regularity and promptness which conduce so much to success in any ayocation. He is a manufacturer as well as a farmer ; a purchaser and a seller in the markets, and should therefore keep himself acquainted with the markets, and should habituate himself to weigh and measure accurately everything he buys, everything he produces, and all that he sells, keeping strict account of ‘all these matters. Otherwise he cannot tell where he loses and where he makes profit ; he will not know an unprofitable animal from a well paying one; he will not know which are the best and most profitable crops to grow for use, or the best foods to purchase ; he will be groping in the dark all the time, and must necessarily suffer in pocket from his want of accurate knowledge of his business.

Lastly, he should cultivate a certain refinement of man-

DAIRY FARMING. “45 ner and disposition, a kind, considerate and thoughtful habit, and, above all, practice the most thorough neatness and cleanliness in his person and manner. These requirements should be so constantly cultivated that they will become a second nature, an instinct which is so thoroughly and completely a part of the man’s char- — _ acter that they come into action spontaneously and without thought or effort on his part. For instance, the treatment of his cows should be instinctively kind and gentle, and the dairyman must so train himself to this habit, think of it so often, and make it so much a conscientious duty and a regular system of action, that he will never be tempted to act otherwise. Mr. Harris Lewis, President of the New York State Dairymen’s As- — sociation, once remarked in reply to a question as to how cows should be treated, that every man should treat a cow as he would a lady; that is, with as much considera- “tion for her comfort and happiness, and with the same _ gentleness and politeness. Politeness is simply the essence of thoughtful kindness, and this every dairyman _ should accord to his cows as a matter of common habit. _ Cows so used will well repay the favor, and in turn become kind and gentle, and never exasperate or annoy their owners with the common and troublesome vices of cows. Perfect cleanliness should be made a constant study, until it is so thoroughly a part of the daily life that a dairyman would no sooner milk a cow or handle milk or butter, or go about the work in the dairy, in an - unclean condition or manner, than he would put a dirty hand in his food, or go to a social gathering all unwashed and with clothes reeking with filth. This scrupulous cleanliness is indispensable in the dairy, and it should be so made a part of the nature and disposition of the dairyman by constant self-training, that it will naturally apply itself to every part of the dairy work—the care _ of the stables, the Beet of es! cows, frequent carding and brushing them, the washing of the udder —

when necessary, but always the wiping of it with a wet sponge or towel, the cleansing of the utensils, the careful protection of the milk from everything which would | make it impure or offensive, the situation and care of the milk-house, the manner of milking, churning and pre-.

paring the butter, with every other of the various details of the work. In every way the most constant and perfect cleanliness being necessary, this habit must beso thorough and strong that no effort will be needed to accommodate one’s self to it, and therefore it must be made a part of himself by every thorough and successful dairyman.

In the following chapters it will be made apparent how very great and important results hang upon the merest trifles, as one might suppose, in dairy work. | But it is in regard to these trifles that most of the great affairs of nature and industry depend for their results. A spark of the smallest size dropped into a powder magazine may lay a town in ruins or destroy a great ship and a thousand lives. One singleegrain of sand will destroy the balance of a great mass of matter ; a single degree of temperature is sufficient to turn water into ice, or solid ice into liquid; and is it strange, therefore, that little things should have an important effect upon the quality and the value of the butter, and so affect seriously the - question of a man’s success in business, or of profit or loss in it ? For this reason my readers will be asked to ,consider every supposed trifle mentioned in these pages to be of importance to them, because good reasons can be given for it, and my own experience has shown in every case that the little things which may be referred to are really not small by any means, but of serious importance in their result. :

DAIRY FARMS. 17

Chapter II. Dairy Farms

THE choice of land for a dairy farm should be made - with reference to some special points which have a great influence on the successful pursuit of the business. Some - particular localities excel in this respect. Vermont, Western New York, Western Pennsylvania, the Western Reserve of Ohio, Central Wisconsin, and parts of Iowa, have become noted for the excellent quality of their dairy products, and have gained a high reputation as dairy districts. If we consider how truly these localities excel in this, we find they possess some special peculiarities of ‘soil and herbage. All of them are underlaid by a limestone formation, and have a somewhat loamy open soil, “which produces very sweet and nutritious herbage, consisting mainly of blue grass, or, as it is sometimes called, June grass, the Poa pratensis of the botanists, and Kentucky blue grass of the seedsmen. They are somewhat rolling or even hilly as to surface, are well drained naturally, and are well supplied with good pure water, more or less impregnated with lime, or as is commonly called, hard. As pasturage is the main reliance of the cows, the herbage and the character of the surface are important considerations ; for the quality of the grass has much to do with the character of the milk, cheese and butter, and the ease of locomotion of the cattle over gentle slopes, and the general healthfulness of such ground, are equally important.

_ If we go abroad into foreign countries, we shall find that similar peculiarities of the land have conferred upon certain districts the character and. reputation of excellent dairy localities. The English counties of Cheshire, where the famous Cheshire cheese is made,

Derbyshire, where the first cheese factory in England was established, Leicestershire, where the exquisite

Stilton cheese is produced, Wiltshire and Gloucester- | shire, where also fine cheese of peculiar excellence is made, and some other places, as Dunlop in Scotland, where Cheddar cheese was first made, and which had a reputation for its fine cheese a hundred years ago, are all noted for the very same peculiarities of © geological formation, soil and character of surface and healthfulness. So that these circumstances being general, a rule may be predicated, that in choosing the locality and soil for a dairy farm, these characteristics should be sought in the land to be chosen.

But not every farm can be of this kind, and not one-tenth part of the number of dairy farms are located in these districts. ‘These farms are found everywhere, and - cheese factories, creameries and private dairies are scattered thickly over the whole face of the country, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and even bordering on the sea shores. Nevertheless, there are certain. requisites - to be secured whenever a farm is sought for dairying, which the farmer who is turning his attention to this lucrative pursuit would do well to recognize and understand. The choice may be large and wide, if these certain necessary points are found. The land must be well-drained, or it will not grow full crops or the most nutritious herbage, and will not be healthful. If it is not so drained naturally, it should be done artificially and thoroughly. ‘This is of the greatest importance, for often the richest and most fertile soil is in low bottom or swampy land, wanting only drainage to become pro- - ductive of the best permanent grass, and such crops are the most valuable for feeding cows. The kind of soil is of less importance, because there are so many different ways of managing the business, that it is only necessary for the farmer to adapt his methods to his soil, to equalig (oe fe io oh

- DAIRY FARMS. 19 ize whatever differences he might be obliged to meet. For instance, the cheaper lands, which are at.a distance from the best markets, must be adapted to pasture, and the heavier clay soils of a somewhat moist character are preferable. Even a poorer class of soils, if they are adapted for grass and are cheap enough, may answer very well for dairy purposes; because it is the low cost of the product in localities which are distant from markets which enables dairymen to compete favorably with others whose land, nearer to markets, is more costly. Cheap land is a great advantage in dairying, for butter and cheese are concentrated products, and the cost of transportation is light. It was the cheap lands of the West which changed the center of the dairy business from _ Western New York to Wisconsin and Iowa; for they attracted the best and most enterprising farmers, who removed thither, tempted by this advantage of cheap soil, and there, adopting the best methods of practice, quickly lifted from Western dairy products the stigma of their previous low quality, and raised them to the highest point of value in the Eastern markets by the force of their high excellence. It is this, too, which is constantly moving the center of the business to the West, and will — soon bring the cheap and rich lands of the South into competition with the Eastern districts.

But while this is true, the system of soiling and high culture of the land enables the owners of higher priced farms in the more thickly populated East to carry on the business profitably, by producing goods of fine quality, and supplying the best classes of consumers and the dealers in fine groceries with small quantities in a perfectly fresh condition, and by catering to the special wants of these purchasers, who desire their butter and cheese put up in attractive forms. For this purpose the kind of soil is of little account, as this class of dairymen are skillful farmers, who generally own fine stock, and

20 - THE DAIRYMAN’S MANUAL. ean know how to manage their farms in the most suitable manner for the production of soiling crops; and they are near the markets where cheap concentrated food can be procured.

Some of the best fancy dairies are found near the ee cities, upon light and inferior soils which are unfit for pastures and permanent meadows, but which are made’ to produce heavy crops of roots, fodder corn, clover, or- — chard grass, millet, mixed peas and oats, and other kinds of fodder ; and which, by the aid of the practice of ensilage, are made to support, in many cases, one cow or more to each acre the year round. In some localities, manure from the cities and special fertilizers are proeured to aid in keeping these ight lands in the highest state of fertility; so-that, on the whole, it may be said that in choosing a dairy farm the experienced dairyman is not bound by any circumstances, but may safely take the best situation for fae vatcade a favorable loca being of the greatest concern to him.

In general, however, the dairyman would safely choose a moderately level farm, well watered, having a somewhat firm clay loam soil, lying in a compact shape, with a convenient spot near the center of it for his buildings, and as near to a railroad station as possible. If there is a permanent cool spring upon it, that would bea great advantage; and if the spring is located near the dwelling, and in aconyenient place for the milk-house, it would be still better.

Perhaps the plan of the author’s farm, given at figure 1, might be suggestive of what can be done in laying out a farm for a dairy, which at first seemed to offer many disadvantages. The soil is a light sand and far from fertile naturally, but a swamp meadow . contributed ample supplies of rich muck, and a railroad station a few miles only from New York City gave good facilities for procuring abundance of manure to aid in growing root