The following is Mr. Thomas Horsfall’s statement, referred to onpage 138, with the omission of a few passages, relating to matters not immediately connected with the dairy. It is entitled
THE MANAGEMENT OF DAIRY CATTLE.
On entering upon a description of my treatment of cows for dairy purposes, it seems pertinent that I should give some explanation of the motives and considerations which influence my conduct in this branch of my farm operations.
I have found it stated, on authority deserving attention, that store cattle of a fair size, and without other occupation, maintain their weight and condition for a length of time, when supplied daily with one hundred and twenty pounds of Swedish turnips and a small portion of straw. The experience of the district of Craven, in Yorkshire, where meadow hay is the staple food during winter, shows that such cattle maintain their condition on one and a half stone, or twenty-one pounds, of meadow hay each per day. These respective quantities of turnips and of hay correspond very closely in their nutritive properties; they contain a very similar amount of albuminous matter, starch, sugar, etc., and also of phosphoric acid. Of oil—an important element, especially for the purpose of which I am treating—the stated supply of meadow hay contains more than that of turnips. If we supply cows in milk, ofaverage size, with the kind and quantity of food above mentioned, they will lose perceptibly in condition. This is easily explained when we find their milk rich in substances which serve for their support when in store condition, and which are shown to be diverted in the secretion of milk.
In the neighborhood of towns where the dairy produce is disposed of in new milk, and where the aim of dairymen is to produce the greatest quantity, too frequently with but little regard to quality, it is their common practice to purchase incalving cows. They pay great attention to the condition of the cow; they will tell you, by the high comparative price they pay for animals well stored with flesh and fat, that condition is as valuable for them as it is for the butcher; they look upon these stores as materials which serve their purpose; they supply food more adapted to induce quantity than quality, and pay but little regard to the maintenance of the condition of the animal. With such treatment, the cow loses in condition during the process of milking, and when no longer profitable is sold to purchasers in farming districts where food is cheaper, to be fattened or otherwise replenished for the use of the dairy keeper. We thus find a disposition in the cow to apply the aliment of her food to her milk, rather than to lay on flesh or fat; for not only are the elements of her food diverted to this purpose, but, to all appearance, her accumulated stores of flesh and fat are drawn upon, and converted into components of milk, cheese, or butter.
As I am differently circumstanced,—a considerable portion of my dairy produce being intended for butter, for which poor milk is not adapted,—and as I fatten not only my own cows, but purchase others to fatten in addition, I have endeavored to devise food for my milch cows adapted to their maintenance and improvement, and with this view I have paid attention to the composition of milk. From several analyses I have selected one by Haidler, which I find in publications of repute. Taking a full yield of milk, four gallons perday, which will weigh upwards of forty pounds, this analysis assigns to it of dry material 5.20, of which the proportion, with sufficient accuracy for my purpose, consists of
It appeared an object of importance, and one which called for my particular attention, to afford an ample supply of the elements of food suited to the maintenance and likewise to the produce of the animal; and that, if I omitted to effect this, the result would be imperfect and unsatisfactory. By the use of ordinary farm produce only, I could not hope to accomplish my purpose. Turnips are objectionable on account of their flavor; and I seek to avoid them as food for dairy purposes. I use cabbages, kohl rabi, and mangold wurzel, yet only in moderate quantities. Of meadow hay it would require, beyond the amount necessary for the maintenance of the cow, an addition of fully twenty pounds for the supply of caseine in a full yield of milk (sixteen quarts); forty pounds for the supply of oil for the butter, whilst nine pounds seem adequate for that of the phosphoric acid. You cannot, then, induce a cow to consume the quantity of hay requisite for her maintenance, and for a full yield of milk of the quality instanced. Though it is a subject of controversy whether butter is wholly derived from vegetable oil, yet the peculiar adaptation of this oil to the purpose will, I think, be admitted. I had, therefore, to seek assistance from what are usually termed artificial feeding substances, and to select such as are rich in albumen, oil, and phosphoric acid; and I was bound also to pay regard to their comparative cost, with a view to profit, which, when farming is followed as a business, is anecessary, and in any circumstances an agreeable accompaniment.
I think it will be found that substances peculiarly rich in nitrogenous or other elements have a higher value for special than for general purposes, and that the employment of materials characterized by peculiar properties for the attainment of special objects has not yet gained the attention to which it is entitled.
I have omitted all reference to the beat-supplying elements—starch, sugar, etc. As the materials commonly used as food for cattle contain sufficient of these to effect this object, under exposure to some degree of cold, I have a right to calculate on a less consumption of them as fuel, and consequently a greater surplus for deposit as sugar, and probably also as fat, in consequence of my stalls being kept during winter at a temperature of nearly sixty degrees.
The means used to carry out his objects are stated onpage 138.
As several of these materials—rape-cake, shorts, bean-straw, etc.—are not commonly used as food, I may be allowed some observations on their properties. Bean-straw uncooked is dry and unpalatable. By the process of steaming, it becomes soft and pulpy, emits an agreeable odor, and imparts flavor and relish to the mess. For my information and guidance I obtained an analysis of bean-straw of my own growth, on strong and high-conditioned land; it was cut on the short side of ripeness, but yielding a plump bean. The analysis by Professor Way shows a percentage of
In albuminous matter, which is especially valuable for milch cows, it has nearly double the proportion contained in meadow hay. Bran also undergoes a greatimprovement in its flavor by steaming, and it is probably improved in its convertibility as food. It contains about fourteen per cent. of albumen, and is peculiarly rich in phosphoric acid, nearly three per cent. of its whole substance being of this material. The properties of rape-cake are well known: the published analyses give it a large proportion (nearly thirty per cent.) of albumen; it is rich in phosphates, and also in oil. This is of the unctuous class of vegetable oils, and it is to this property that I call particular attention. Chemistry will assign to this material, which has hitherto been comparatively neglected for feeding, a first place for the purpose of which I am treating. If objection should occur on account of its flavor, I have no difficulty in stating that by the preparation I have described I have quite overcome this. I can easily persuade my cattle (of which sixty to eighty pass through my stalls in a year), without exception, to eat the requisite quantity. Nor is the flavor of the cake in the least perceptible in the milk or butter.
During May, my cows are turned out on a rich pasture near the homestead; towards evening they are again housed for the night, when they are supplied with a mess of the steamed mixture and a little hay each morning and evening. During June, when the grasses are better grown, mown grass is given to them instead of hay, and they are also allowed two feeds of steamed mixture. This treatment is continued till October, when they are again wholly housed.
The results which I now proceed to relate are derived from observations made with the view of enabling me to understand and regulate my own proceedings.
—For some years back I have regularly weighed my feeding stock, a practice from which I am enabled to ascertain their doings with greater accuracy than I could previously. In January, 1854, I commenced weighing my milch cows. It has been shown, by what I have premised, that no accurate estimate can be formed of the effect of the food on theproduction of milk, without ascertaining its effect on the condition of the cows. I have continued the practice once a month, almost without omission, up to this date. The weighings take place early in the morning, and before the cows are supplied with food. The weights are registered, and the length of time (fifteen months) during which I have observed this practice enables me to speak with confidence of the results.
The cows in full milk, yielding twelve to sixteen quarts each per day, vary but little; some losing, others gaining, slightly; the balance in the month’s weighing of this class being rather to gain. It is common for a cow to continue a yield from six to eight months before she gives below twelve quarts per day, at which time she has usually, if not invariably, gained weight.
The cows giving less than twelve quarts and down to five quarts per day are found, when free from ailment, to gain, without exception. This gain, with an average yield of nearly eight quarts per day, is at the rate of seven pounds to eight pounds per week each.
My cows in calf I weigh only in the incipient stages; but they gain perceptibly in condition, and consequently in value. They are milked till within four weeks to five weeks previous to calving. I give the weights of three of these, and also of one heifer, which calved in March, 1855:
These observations extend over lengthened periods, on the same animals, of from thirty to upwards of fifty weeks. A cow, free from calf, and intended for fattening, continues to give milk from ten months to a year after calving, and is then in a forward state of fatnessrequiring but a few weeks to finish her for sale to the butchers.
It will thus appear that my endeavors to provide food adapted to the maintenance and improvement of my milch cows have been attended with success.
On examining the composition of the ordinary food which I have described, straw, roots, and hay, it appears to contain the nutritive properties which are found adequate to the maintenance of the animal, whereas the yield of milk has to be provided for by a supply of extra food; the rape-cake, bran, and bean-meal, which I give, will supply the albumen for the caseine; it is somewhat deficient in oil for the butter, whilst it will supply in excess the phosphate of lime for a full yield of milk. If I take the class of cows giving less than twelve quarts per day, and take also into account a gain of flesh of seven to nine pounds per week, though I reduce the quantity of extra food by giving less of the bean-meal, yet the supply will be more in proportion than with a full yield; the surplus of nitrogen and phosphoric acid, or phosphate of lime, will go to enrich the manure.
I cannot here omit to remark on the satisfaction I derive from the effects of this treatment on the fertility of the land in my occupation. My rich pastures are not tending to impoverishment, but to increased fertility; their improvement in condition is apparent. A cow in full milk, giving sixteen quarts per day, of the quality analyzed by Haidlen, requires, beyond the food necessary for her maintenance, six to eight pounds per day of substances containing thirty or twenty-five per cent. of protein. A cow giving on the average eight quarts per day, with which she gains seven to nine pounds per week, requires four to five pounds per day of substances rich in protein, beyond the food which is necessary for her maintenance. Experience of fattening gives two pounds per day, or fourteen pounds per week, as what can be attained on an average, and for a length of time. If we considered half a pound per day as fat, which is not more than probable, there will be one and a half pounds for flesh, which, reckoned as dry material,will be about one third of a pound, which is assimilated in increase of fibrin, and represents only one and one third to two pounds of substances rich in protein, beyond what is required for her maintenance.
If we examine the effects on the fertility of the land, my milch cows, when on rich pasture, and averaging a yield of nine quarts per day, and reckoning one cow to each acre, will carry off in twenty weeks twenty-five pounds of nitrogen, equal to thirty of ammonia. The same quantity of milk will carry off seven pounds of phosphate of lime in twenty weeks from each acre.
A fattening animal, gaining flesh at the rate I have described, will carry off about one third of the nitrogen (equal to about ten pounds of ammonia) abstracted by the milch cow, whilst if full grown it will restore the whole of the phosphate.
It is worthy of remark that experience shows that rich pastures, used for fattening, fully maintain their fertility through a long series of years, whilst those used for dairy cows require periodical dressings to preserve their fertility.
If these computations be at all accurate, they tend to show that too little attention has been given to the supply of substances rich in nitrogenous compounds in the food of our milch cows, whilst we have laid too much stress on this property in food for fattening cattle. They tend also to the inference that in the effects on the fertility of our pastures used for dairy purposes we derive advantage not only from the phosphate of lime, but also from the gelatine of bones used as manure.
On comparing the results from my milch cows fed in summer on rich pasture, and treated at the same time with the extra food I have described, with the results when on winter food, and whilst wholly housed, taking into account both the yield of milk and the gain of weight, I find those from stall-feeding full equal to those from depasture. The cows which I buy as strippers, for fattening, giving little milk, from neighboring farmers who use ordinary food, such as turnips with straw or hay, when they come under my treatment increase theiryield of milk, until after a week or two they give two quarts per day more than when they came, and that too of a much richer quality.
—I sometimes observe, in the weekly publications which come under my notice, accounts of cows giving large quantities of butter. These are usually, however, extraordinary instances, and not accompanied with other statistical information requisite to their being taken as a guide; and it seldom happens that any allusion is made to the effects of the food on the condition of the animals, without which no accurate estimate can be arrived at. On looking over several treatises to which I have access, I find the following statistics on dairy produce: Mr. Morton, in his “Cyclopædia of Agriculture,” p. 621, gives the results of the practice of a Mr. Young, an extensive dairy-keeper in Scotland. The yield of milk per cow is stated at six hundred and eighty gallons per year; he obtains from sixteen quarts of milk twenty ounces of butter, or for the year two hundred and twenty-seven pounds per cow; from one gallon of cream three pounds of butter, or twelve ounces per quart (wine measure). Mr. Young is described as a high feeder; linseed is his chief auxiliary food for milch cows. Professor Johnston (“Elements of Agricultural Chemistry”) gives the proportion of butter from milk at one and a half ounces per quart, or from sixteen quarts twenty-four ounces, being the produce of four cows of different breeds,—Alderney, Devon, and Ayrshire,—on pasture, and in the height of the summer season. On other four cows of the Ayrshire breed he gives the proportion of butter from sixteen quarts as sixteen ounces, being one ounce per quart. These cows were likewise on pasture. The same author states the yield of butter as one fourth of the weight of cream, or about ten ounces per quart. Mr. Rowlandson (“Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society,” vol. xiii., p. 38) gives the produce of 20,110 quarts of milk churned by hand as 1109 pounds of butter, being at the rate of fully 14 ounces per 16 quarts of milk; and from 23,156 quarts of milk 1525 poundsof butter, being from 16 quarts nearly 163⁄4ounces of butter. The same author states that the yield of butter derived from five churnings, of 15 quarts of cream each, is somewhat less than 8 ounces per quart of cream. Dr. Muspratt, in his work on the “Chemistry of Arts and Manufactures,” which is in the course of publication, gives the yield of butter from a cow per year in Holstein and Lunenburg at 100 pounds, in England at 160 pounds to 180 pounds. The average of butter from a cow in England is stated to be eight or nine ounces per day, which, on a yield of eight to nine quarts, is one ounce per quart, or for sixteen quarts sixteen ounces. The quantity of butter derived from cream is stated as one fourth, which is equal to about nine ounces per quart. The richest cream of which I find any record is that brought to the Royal Society’s meeting during the month of July, for the churns which compete for the prize. On referring to the proceedings of several meetings, I find that fourteen ounces per quart of cream is accounted a good yield.
I have frequently tested the yield of butter from a given quantity of my milk. My dairy produce is partly disposed of in new milk, partly in butter and old milk, so that it became a matter of business to ascertain by which mode it gave the best return. I may here remark that my dairy practice has been throughout on high feeding, though it has undergone several modifications. The mode of ascertaining the average yield of butter from milk has been to measure the milk on the churning-day, after the cream has been skimmed off, then to measure the cream, and having, by adding together the two measurements, ascertained the whole quantity of milk (including the cream), to compare it with that of the butter obtained. This I consider a more accurate method than measuring the new milk, as there is a considerable escape of gas, and consequent subsidence, whilst it is cooling. The results have varied from twenty-four to twenty-seven and a quarter ounces from sixteen quarts of milk. I therefore assume in my calculation sixteen quarts of milk as yielding a roll (twenty-five ounces) of butter.
As I have at times a considerable number of cows bought as strippers, and fattened as they are milked, which remain sometimes in my stalls eight or nine months, and yield towards the close but five quarts per day, I am not enabled to state with accuracy and from ascertained data the average yield per year of my cows kept for dairy purposes solely. However, from what occurs at grass-time, when the yield is not increased, and also from the effects of my treatment on cows which I buy, giving a small quantity, I am fully persuaded that my treatment induces a good yield of milk.
As the yield of butter from a given quantity of cream is not of such particular consequence, I have not given equal attention to ascertain their relative proportions. I have a recollection of having tested this on a former occasion, when I found fourteen to sixteen ounces per quart, but cannot call to mind under what treatment this took place.
On questioning my dairy-woman, in December, 1854, as to the proportion of cream and butter, she reported nearly one roll of twenty-five ounces of butter to one quart of cream. I looked upon this as a mistake. On its accuracy being persisted in, the next churning was carefully observed, with a like proportion. My dairy cows averaged then a low range of milk as to quantity—about eight quarts each per day. Six of them, in a forward state of fatness, were intended to be dried for finishing off in January; but, owing to the scarcity and consequent dearness of calving cows, I kept them on in milk till I could purchase cows to replace them, and it was not till February that I had an opportunity of doing so. I then bought four cows within a few days of calving; they were but in inferior condition, and yielded largely of milk. Towards the close of February and March, four of my own dairy cows, in full condition, likewise calved. During March, three of the six which had continued from December, and were milked nearly up to the day of sale, were selected by the butcher as fit for his purpose. Each churning throughout was carefully observed, with a similar result, varyingbut little from twenty-five ounces of butter per quart of cream; on Monday, April 30, sixteen quarts of cream having yielded sixteen rolls (of twenty-five ounces each) of butter. Though I use artificial means of raising the temperature of my dairy, by the application of hot water during cold weather, yet, my service-pipes being frozen in February, I was unable to keep up the temperature, and it fell to forty-five degrees. Still my cream, though slightly affected, was peculiarly rich, yielding twenty-two ounces of butter per quart. Throughout April the produce of milk from my fifteen dairy cows averaged full one hundred and sixty quarts per day.
My cows are bought in the neighboring markets with a view to their usefulness and profitableness. The breeds of this district have a considerable admixture of the short-horn, which is not noted for the richness of its milk. It will be remarked that during the time these observations have been continued on the proportion of butter from cream, more than half of my cows have been changed.
Having satisfied myself that the peculiar richness of my cream was due mainly to the treatment of my cows which I have sought to describe, it occurred to me that I ought not to keep it to myself, inasmuch as these results of my dairy practice not only afforded matter of interest to the farmer, but were fit subjects for the investigation of the physiologist and the chemist. Though my pretensions to acquirements in their instructions are but slender, they are such as enable me to acknowledge benefit in seeking to regulate my proceedings by their rules.
In taking off the cream I use an ordinary shallow skimmer of tin perforated with holes, through which any milk gathered in skimming escapes. It requires care to clear the cream; and even with this some streakiness is observable on the surface of the skimmed milk. The milk-bowls are of glazed brown earthen ware, common in this district. They stand on a base of six to eight inches, and expand at the surface tonearly twice that width. Four to five quarts are contained in each bowl, the depth being four to five inches at the centre. The churn I use is a small wooden one, worked by hand, on what I believe to be the American principle. I have forwarded to Professor Way a small sample of butter for analysis; fifteen quarts of cream were taken out of the cream-jar, and churned at three times in equal portions:
At a subsequent churning of fourteen quarts of cream,
On testing the comparative yield of butter and of butter-milk, I find seventy per cent. of butter to thirty per cent. of butter-milk, thus reversing the proportions given in the publications to which I have referred. An analysis of my butter by Professor Way gives:
The only analyses of this material which I find in the publications in my hand are two by Professor Way, “Journal,” vol. xi., p. 735, “On butter by the common and by the Devonshire method;” the result in one hundred parts being:
The foregoing observation of dairy results was continued up to grass time in 1855. In April and May the use of artificial means was discontinued, without diminution in the yield of butter or richness of cream, the natural temperature being sufficient to maintain that of my dairy at 54° to 56°.
I now proceed to describe the appearances since that time. In the summer season, whilst my cows were grazing in the open pastures during the day and housed during the night, being supplied with a limited quantity of the steamed food each morning and evening, a marked change occurred in the quality of the milk and cream; the quantity of the latter somewhat increased, but, instead of twenty-five ounces of butter per quart of cream, my summer cream yielded only sixteen ounces per quart.
I would not be understood to attribute this variation in quality to the change of food only. It is commonly observed by dairy-keepers that milk, during the warm months of summer, is less rich in butter, owing probably to the greater restlessness of the cows, from being teased by flies, etc. I am by no means sure that, if turning out during the warm months be at all advisable, it would not be preferable that this should take place during the night instead of during the day time. Towards the close of September, when the temperature had become much cooler, and the cows were supplied with a much larger quantity of the steamed food, results appeared very similar to those which I had observed and described from December to May, 1855. During the month of November the quality was tested with the following result:
From two hundred and fifty-two quarts of old milk were taken twenty-one quarts of cream, of which twenty were churned, and produced four hundred and sixty-eight ounces of butter, which shows:
During May, 1856, my cows being on open pastureduring the day were supplied with two full feeds of the steamed mixture, together with a supply of green rape-plant each morning and evening.
The result was that from three hundred and twenty-four quarts of old milk twenty-three quarts of cream were skimmed, of which twenty-two were churned, and produced five hundred and fifteen ounces of butter, which shows:
There is, doubtless, some standard of food adapted to the constitution and purposes of animals, combining with bulk a due proportion of elements of respiration, such as sugar, starch, &c., together with those of nutrition, namely, nitrogenous compounds, phosphates, and other minerals; nor can we omit oil or fat-forming substances; for, however we may be disposed to leave to philosophy the discussion as to whether sugar, starch, &c., are convertible into fat, yet I think I shall not offend the teacher of agricultural chemistry by stating that the more closely the elements of food resemble those in the animal and its product, the more efficacious will such food be for the particular purpose for which it is used.
Sugar, starch, &c., vary very considerably in form and proportion from vegetable oils, which closely resemble animal fats.
When we consider that plants have a two-fold function to perform,—namely, to serve as food for animals, and also for the reproduction of the like plants,—and that, after having undergone the process of digestion, they retain only one half or one third of their value as manure, the importance of affording a due but not excessive supply of each element of food essential to the wants and purposes of the animal will be evident. If we fall short, the result will be imperfect; if we supply in excess, it will entail waste and loss.
Linseed and rape-cake resemble each other very closely in chemical composition; the latter is chiefly used for manure, and its price ranges usually about half that oflinseed-cake. In substances poorer in nitrogen, and with more of starch, gum, oil, &c., the disparity in value as food and as manure will be proportionately greater.
During the present season, Mr. Mendelsohn, of Berlin, and Mr. Gausange, who is tenant of a large royal domain near Frankfort on the Oder, on which he keeps about one hundred and fifty dairy cows, have been my visitors. These gentlemen have collected statistics in dairy countries through which they have travelled. I learned from them that in Mecklenburg, Prussia, Holland, &c., fourteen quarts of milk yield, on the average, one pound of butter; in rare instances twelve quarts are found to yield one pound. Both attach great importance to the regulation of the temperature. Mr. Mendelsohn tells me that the milk from cows fed on draff (distillers’ refuse) requires a higher temperature to induce its yield of butter than that from cows supplied with other food.
On inquiry in my own neighborhood, I find it is computed that each quart at a milking represents one pound of butter per week. Thus, a cow which gives four quarts at each milking will yield in butter four pounds per week, or from fifty-six quarts sixty-four ounces of butter, or from fourteen quarts of milk one pound of butter. Taking the winter produce alone, it is lower than this; the cream from my neighbors’ cows, who use common food, hay, straw, and oats, somewhat resembles milk in consistence, and requires three to four hours, sometimes more, in churning. On one occasion, a neighboring dairy-woman sent to borrow my churn, being unable to make butter with her own; I did not inquire the result. If she had sent her cow, I could in the course of a week have insured her cream which would make butter in half an hour. These dairy people usually churn during winter in their kitchen, or other room with a fire. Each of them states that from bean or oat meal used during winter as an auxiliary food they derive a greater quantity of butter, whilst those who have tried linseed-oil have perceived no benefit from it.
My own cream during the winter season is of theconsistence of paste, or thick treacle. When the jar is full, a rod of two feet long will, when dipped into the cream to half its length, stand erect. If I take out a teacupful in the evening, and let it stand till next morning, a penny-piece laid on its surface will not sink; on taking it off, I find the under side partially spotted with cream. The churnings are performed in a room without fire, at a temperature in winter of forty-three to forty-five degrees, and occupy one half to three quarters of an hour.
Several who have adopted my system have reported similar effects—an increase in the quantity with a complete change as to richness of quality. I select from these Mr. John Simpson, a tenant farmer residing at Ripley, in Yorkshire, who, at my request, stated to the committee of the Wharfdale Agricultural Society that he and a neighbor of his, being inconvenienced from a deficient yield of milk, had agreed to try my mode of feeding, and provided themselves with a steaming apparatus. This change of treatment took place in February, 1855. I quote his words:
“In about five days I noticed a great change in my milk; the cows yielded two quarts each, per day, more; but what surprised me most was the change in the quality. Instead of poor winter cream and butter, they assumed the appearance and character of rich summer produce. It only required twenty minutes for churning, instead of two to three hours; there was also a considerable increase in the quantity of butter, of which, however, I did not take any particular notice. My neighbor’s cow gave three quarts per day in addition, and her milk was so changed in appearance that the consumers to whom he sold it became quite anxious to know the cause.”
My dairy is but six feet wide by fifteen long and twelve high. At one end (to the north) is a trellis window; at the other, an inner door, which opens into the kitchen. There is another door near to this, which opens into the churning-room, having also a northern aspect; both doors are near the south end of the dairy. Alongeach side, and the north end, two shelves of wood are fixed to the wall, the one fifteen inches above the other; two feet higher is another shelf somewhat narrower, but of like length, which is covered with charcoal, whose properties as a deodorizer are sufficiently established. The lower shelves being two feet three inches wide, the interval or passage between is only one foot six inches. On each tier of shelves is a shallow wooden cistern, lined with thin sheet-lead, having a rim at the edges three inches high. These cisterns incline downwards slightly towards the window, and contain water to the depth of three inches. At the end nearest the kitchen each tier of cisterns is supplied with two taps, one for cold water in summer, the other with hot for winter use. At the end next the north window is a plug or hollow tube, with holes perforated at such an elevation as to take the water before it flows over the cistern.
During the summer the door towards the kitchen is closed, and an additional door is fixed against it, with an interval between well packed with straw; a curtain of stout calico hangs before the trellis window, which is dipped in salt water, and kept wet during the whole day by cold water spirted over it from a gutta-percha tube. On the milk being brought in, it is emptied into bowls. Some time after these bowls (of which adescriptionis given in a former part of this) have been placed on the cistern, the cold-water taps are turned till the water rises through the perforated tube, and flows through a waste pipe into the sewer. The taps are then closed, so as to allow a slight trickling of water, which continues through the day. By these means I reduce the temperature, as compared with that outside the window, by twenty degrees. I am thus enabled to allow the milk to stand till the cream has risen, and keep the skimmed milk sweet, for which I obtain one penny per quart.
Having heard complaints during very hot weather of skimmed milk, which had left my dairy perfectly sweet, being affected so as to curdle in cooking onbeing carried into the village, I caused covers of thick calico (the best of our fabrics for retaining moisture) to be made; these are dipped in salt water, and then drawn over the whole of the tin milk-cans. The contrivance is quite successful, and is in great favor with the consumers. I have not heard a single complaint since I adopted it.
Finding my butter rather soft in hot weather, I uncovered a draw-well which I had not used since I introduced water-works for the supply of the village and my own premises. On lowering a thermometer down the well to a depth of twenty-eight feet, I found it indicated a temperature of forty-three degrees—that on the surface being seventy degrees. I first let down the butter, which was somewhat improved, but afterwards the cream. For this purpose I procured a movable windlass with a rope of the required length; the cream-jar is placed in a basket two feet four inches deep, suspended on the rope, and let down the evening previous to churning. It is drawn up early next morning, and immediately churned. By this means the churning occupies about the same time as in winter, and the butter is of like consistence.
The advantage I derive from this is such that, rather than be without it, I should prefer sinking a well for the purpose of reaching a like temperature.
When winter approaches, the open trellis window to the north is closed, an additional shutter being fixed outside, and the interval between this and an inner shutter closely packed with straw, to prevent the access of air and cold; the door to the kitchen is at the same time unclosed to admit warmth. Before the milk is brought from the cow-house, the dairymaid washes the bowls well with hot water, the effect of which is to take off the chill, but not to warm them. The milk is brought in as milked, and is passed through a sile into the bowls, which are then placed on the cistern. A thermometer, with its bulb immersed in the milk, denotes a temperature of about ninety degrees. The hot water is applied immediately, at a temperature of one hundred degreesor upwards, and continues to flow for about five minutes, when the supply is exhausted. The bowls being of thick earthen ware,—a slow conductor,—this does not heighten the temperature of the milk. The cooling, however, is thereby retarded, as I find the milk, after standing four hours, maintains a temperature of sixty degrees. This application of hot water is renewed at each milking to the new milk, but not repeated to the same after it has cooled. The temperature of the dairy is momentarily increased to above 60°, but speedily subsides, the average temperature being 52° to 56°.
It will be observed that the churnings in summer and winter occupy half an hour or upwards. By increasing the temperature of the cream I could easily churn in half the time, but I should thereby injure the quality of the butter. When the butter has come and gathered into a mass, it is taken, together with the butter-milk, out of the churn, which is rinsed with water; the butter is then placed again in the churn with a quantity of cold spring water, in which salt has been dissolved, at the rate of one ounce per quart of cream; after a few minutes’ churning, the butter is again taken out; the water in which it has been washed assumes a whitish appearance. By this process the salt is equally diffused through the butter, which requires little manipulation, and is freed from a portion of caseous matter. A recent analysis of my butter shows only 1.07 instead of 2.45 per cent. of caseine, as before. That it ranks as choice may be inferred when I state that my purchaser willingly gives me a penny per roll more than the highest price in Otley market, and complains that I do not supply him with a greater quantity.
In this dairy of the small dimensions I have described, my produce of butter reaches at times sixty to seventy pounds per week. Though the size may appear inconveniently small, yet I beg to remark on the greater facility of regulating the temperature of a small in comparison with a large dairy. This difficulty will be found greater in summer than in winter, as it is far easier to heighten than depress the temperature.
I have cooked or steamed my food for several years. It will be observed that I blend bean-straw, bran, and malt-combs, as flavoring materials, with oat or other straw and rape-cake; the effect of steaming is to volatilize the essential oils, in which the flavor resides, and diffuse them through the mess. The odor arising from it resembles that observed from the process of malting; this imparts relish to the mess, and induces the cattle to eat it greedily; in addition to which, I am disposed to think that it renders the food more easy of digestion and assimilation. I use this process with advantage for fattening, when I am deficient in roots. With the same mixed straw and oat-shells, three to four pounds each of rape-cake, and half a pound of linseed-oil, but without roots, I have fattened more than thirty heifers and cows free from milk, from March up to the early part of May; their gain has averaged fully fourteen pounds each per week,—a result I could not have looked for from the same materials, if uncooked. This process seems to have the effect of rendering linseed-oil less of a laxative, but cannot drive off any portion of the fattening oils, to volatilize which requires a very high temperature. My experience of the benefits of steaming is such that if I were deprived of it I could not continue to feed with satisfaction.
I have weighed my fattening cattle for a number of years, and my milch cows for more than two years. This practice enables me at once to detect any deficiency in the performance of the animals; it gives also a stimulus to the feeders, who attend at the weighings, and who are desirous that the cattle intrusted to their care should bear a comparison with their rivals. Another obvious advantage is in avoiding all cavils respecting the weight by my purchasers, who, having satisfied themselves as to the quality of the animal, now ask and obtain the most recent weighing. The usual computation for a well-fed but not over fat beast is, live to dead weight, as 21 to 12, or 100 to 591⁄7with such modifications as suggest themselves by appearances.
Though many discussions have taken place on the fattening of cattle, the not less important branch of dairy treatment has hitherto been comparatively neglected. I therefore venture to call attention to considerations which have arisen from observations in my own practice affecting the chemistry and physiology, or, in other words, the science of feeding. That I am seeking aid from its guidance will be apparent, and I have no hesitation in admitting that, beyond the satisfaction from the better understanding of my business, I have latterly derived more benefit or profit from examination of the chemical composition of materials of food than from the treatment or feeding experiments of others which have come under my notice. So persuaded am I of the advantage of this, that I do not feel satisfied to continue the use of any material, with the composition of which I am not acquainted, without resorting to the society’s laboratory for an analysis.
To one leading feature of my practice I attach the greatest importance—the maintenance of the condition of my cows giving a large yield of milk.I am enabled, by the addition of bean-meal in proportion to the greater yield of milk, to avert the loss of condition in those giving sixteen to eighteen quarts per day; whilst on those giving a less yield, and in health, I invariably effect an improvement.
When we take into consideration the disposition of a cow to apply her food rather to her milk than to her maintenance and improvement, it seems fair to infer that the milk of a cow gaining flesh will not be deficient either in caseine or butter.
I have already alluded to the efficiency of bean-meal in increasing the quantity of butter: I learn, also, from observant dairymen who milk their own cows and carry their butter to market, that their baskets are never so well filled as when their cows feed on green clover, which, as dry material, is nearly as rich in albumen as beaus. I am also told, by those who have used green rape-plant, that it produces milk rich in butter. From this we may infer that albuminous matter is the mostessential element in the food of the milch cow, and that any deficiency in the supply of this will be attended with loss of condition, and a consequent diminution in the quality of her milk.
I am clearly of opinion that you can increase the proportion of butter in milk more than that of caseine, or other solid parts. From several, who have adopted my treatment, I learn that on substituting rape-cake for beans they perceive an increased richness in their milk. Mr. T. Garnett, of Clitheroe, who has used bean-meal largely as an auxiliary food for milch cows during the winter season, tells me that when rape-cake is substituted, his dairymaid, without being informed, perceives the change from the increased richness of the milk. Mr. Garnett has also used linseed-cake in like quantity; still his dairy people prefer rape-cake.
Mr. Whelon, of Lancaster, who keeps two milch cows for his own use, to which he gave bean-meal and bran as auxiliaries, has recently substituted rape-cake[4]for bean-meal; he informs me that in a week he saw a change in the richness of milk, with an increase of butter.