Timely Farm
Dy TAIT
Are Pure-bred Red Polled dsttte in
variably Without White Cdor? V
THE Red Polled color Varies irorn
light red to a real dark red. A
medium shade -aor4eMflg 'a little ".to
the' dart side is common and prefer
red. A Httle white on ,the belly and
udder is not unamunoii and this as
well as a white switch or tail .brush .
is permissible, but soBd red is much
preferred. " . .
With this breed as with others it is
possible for a pure-bred animal to
depart from this color. These cases,
however, of atavism or . breeding
backward are rare and execot : as
above stated such an animal is dis-"
qualified by the standard of.excel
fctce adopted for the breed.
WhytheBntterlsScft
A READER complains that the twit
ter made from. his cow is so soft
that it as difficult to gather when
churned and -when made is so soft At
ordinary temperatures as . to The un
suitable for use, He appears to blame
the cow for all the trouble.
Publow, in his " Questions and An
swers on Butter Making," ;gives the
following as the "conditions that in-'
fiuence the hardness of the fat glob
ules in churning. , - , , ,
1. The breed of the "cow.
Z Individuality f the .cow.
3. The feed of the. cow.-, : J
4. The season of the year,
5. The stage of Jactation, -&
Abnormal conditions.
It will be noticed that only two.cf
these six conditions, -which influence
the hardness of-the fat, arc charge
able to the cow, and it may be stated
that these affect the hardness: of the
fat only to comparatively slight
degree. . ; v. t ' , ,
Probably the most important condition-affecting
the hardness of the iat
in churning is the temperature of. the
cream at the time it is churned. Cream
should be churned at a temperature
between 50 and 60. degrees and, the
witter should be washed with water.:
as nearly as possible the same tem
perature as the cream when churned:
In the South, especially sn warm
weather, during the summer wlien the
cows are on pasture, feeding two to
low pounds -of cottonseed meal a day .
will harden the fat and improve the
ality of the butter, : - .;
Why Hogs Eat Oikkecs
WHAT is the cause of hogs eating
fowls?" -
The bog, like man,' appreciates the
ste of chicken, no doubt'; butprob
ably the cause of the Ijog learning to
at fowls is to be found in i faults of
management. ' - s - .
.Small chickens should not fee aitow-
to run an the hog lots tier should
fowls be left where the ho-s
W eat them. ' The chkkenating
may sometimes .4 formed. in
at way. Bur probably . most bctgs
fnL fim leara
cai,? t?lz others eat them, or fee
whirl, 1 fcd something
that i r stfas need." The-hogs
tho J lTn 40 at chicks axe usually
ttft :l wpina dry tot -without
Jarii 'ecd aHi on a ration lacking
tur orat?d Hfes 'on .jpas-
aced ra t0'6 Wt .Wr.
form ? ?n are awjch-less likely to
atedlYit:H:Mm
feed 'chlckcn or, .some -other
chicked
need , y do noW what-they
m the feeds'. -. . , '.- r . '
per feeiin.g and separating the
Suggestions
BUTLER
poultry from the hogs will tend not
only to prevent the formation of the
ihabit, but will probably tend to keep
at in -check; but when the habit is
once formed we know of no way of
entirely correcting it
Jersey Characteristics
you ;please telLme how many
Kinas oi jerseys there are? Or
is .there but one kind? Have all Jer
seys a .black tongue or not?"
There is -only one ."breed -of Jersey
cattle. Of course,, there are different
families which have certain more or
less uniform characteristics, but the
breed characteristics of the Jersey
are distinct and well-Sxed.
. The color of the Jersey is not a
fixed matter. They range in color from
tbe lightest fawns with white mark
ings to black. Plttmb, in his 'Types
;and Breeds of Farm Animals", says :
""The color is generally termed fawn
like, but is juate variable in its shade,
being yellowish, reddish, .grayish,
brownish, or silvery fawn. "Some are
described as orange or lemon fawn
and others as sfflrirrel gray, or mul
berry black. -White as a whole does
ai ot occur, but white marks are quite
common, although solid fawn color
over the entire body is generally pre
ferred. Brindle is a rare color and is .
objected to, but does occur,1
All Jerseys do not have black ton
gues, but in registering Jerseys it is
accessary to state whether tongue
and switch arc white r black. The
color of the Jersey is not regarded by
the best breeders as f very great
importance if within the rather wide
limits or range above indicated.
Warts on Teats
A MISSISSIPPI reader has a cow
A with -warts on her udder and
teats. The warts are hard and dry.
Sometimes greasing regularly once
a day for ten days ot two weeks will
cause the warts to disappear. "Some
have, thought that castor oil is best
for this purpose.
If the greasing does not remove the
warts, we would not advise any ef
fort to remove them while the cow is
milking. When she is dry the warts
may be cut off with a knife or sharp
pair of scissors and the wounds treat
ed with some antiseptic, like 1 part
of Kreso or carbolic acM to 40 or 50
parts of water, or dusted with pow
dered bo rack add. If the raw sur
faces do .not heal promptly remove
the scabs and rub with a tan of
bJaaestone or plaster a little powdered
bitaestone on raw spots.
Calculating the Capacity of Corn Cribs
A READER wishes to know how to
"estimate the number of bushels
of unshucked corn in a crib W! feet
" wide, 20 feet kmg and 10 feet high.
At best, only an approximate esti
mate can, be made. The variety of
corn the thickness of shucks and the
manner of fillin.g-4he crib will cause
considerable variation. Mr. A. F. Kid
der, Agronomist of the Louisiana Ex
periment Station, after measuring
sme 500 bushels, makes a tentative
estimate of $000 cubic inches of space
as being necessary to hold a bushel ot
whacked corn. The. waters -
- periencc leads him to believe that it
will require . better than average
Southern corn to shell a bushel from
" 5000 cubic inches of unshucked corn
iaj a crib., . ,u
: . . Accordingly we have been in the
- habit of estimating three cubic feet or
S1S4 cuttc inches as required to tola a
bushel of unshucked corn. Thl W
-rule .given "in our Reference Special,"
February 14, 1914.
Estimating 5,000 cubic inches for a
bushel, a crib 10 feet by 10 feet, by
20 feet, would hold Writbc20xl728--W0,
or m bushels, if completely
Ifilled. Using three cubic feet as the
space for a bushel, there would be,
10x10x203, or 666 bushels of corn
m such a crib, if completely filled.
These estimates vary 25 bushels,
enough to .more than pay for weigh
ing the corn, and .it is, therefore., bad
.practice to depend on estimates of
.this sort in selling or buying corn. In
the first place, not enough data have
been collected to justify an estimate
with reasonable assurance of even ap
proximate accuracy, and no amount
of data will enable any one to esti
mate the contents of a crib accurate
ly, because of the variations which
are certain to occur. Such estimates
are merely useful ,in roughly calculat
ing the approximate capacity of cribs.
Bad-tasting Milk
A NORTH Carolina reader writes:
have a 12-year-old Jersey cow
that will freshen next June. Her feed
is cottonseed meal, bran, shorts, hulls,
shucks and corn fodder. Her milk
has a very strong, rank taste. About
a month ago there were pimples on
her udder, but they are about well
now. Can you suggest something
that will help this trouble? What
was the cause of the pimples, on her
udder?"
A cow receiving the feeds stated,
that has no disease of the udder and
will not freshen until next June is
probably not giving milk that has a
"'strong, rank taste" when it leaves
her. The bad taste is probably pro
duced by something that gets into'
the milk at the time of or after milk
ing. If the milk does not have this
taste when fresh this is additional
proof that the cow is not responsible
for it. ..
The "pimples" on the udder may
have been cowpox, and it is possible
that germs from these nearly well
pimples get into the milk; for it is
pretty hard to milk without some
dust and scurf from the cow getting
into the. milk unless the udder and
flanks are wiped oiff with a damp
cloth and special care taken to keep
the dust from the cow out of the
milk bucket.
Another possible source of the trou
ble is in the ripening of the cream.
The cream should be well mixed or
stirred up as each new lot is put in
and during the ripening, which should
be done in 12 to 4 hours. When it
is attempted to keep cream a kmg
while at low temperatures . a bitter
taste often develops, because these
low temperatures retard the develop
rnaent of the bacteria which cause
soiuring and this favors the develop
eentpf other bacteria which produce
theT)itter taste.
Value of Buttermilk fcr Feeding Hogs
A READER wishes to know the. val
ue of creamery buttermilk as a
feed for hogs compared with corn.
When water is not added, butter
milk is about equal to skim milk for
hog feeding. There are several rules
for calculating the value of skim milk.
Governor Hoard gives in substance
the following:
When skim milk is fed alone to
fattening hogs, multiply the market
price off live hogs by 5 to find the rai
se of 100 pounds of skim milk, and by
6 to find its value if fed with com or
other similar grain. With live hogs
at 7 cents a pound the value of 100
pounds of skim milk by this rule
would be 35 cents when fed . alone,
and 42 cents when fed with corn.
, H. B. Gurler proposed the follow-
ing rule . many years ago, according to
Henry's, Feeds and Feeding;
"The value of 100 pounds of -slpm
milk when fed along with corn to fat
tening hogs is half the market price
of corn per bushel"
From three to four pounds of skim
milk or buttermilk should be fed to
one pound of grain. When .grain is
high-priced the larger proportion,
and when the price is low the smaller
proportion, of milk should be used. !
For; feeding young pigs and brood
sows, especially pure-bred animals to
be sold" for breeding purposes, the
writer's, experience would lead him to
put a somewhat higher value on but
termilk or skimmilk than indicated
above.
When corn or- buttermilk is each
fed alone and constitutes the solo
feed of hogs, no comparison is of
much value, foroorn alone is an un
satisfactory feed for all kinds of hogs
being fed for growth or breeding pur
poses; while' buttermilk alone is not
suitable, except for pigs two or three
months old, and even these should
have some grain also.
Probably there is no better rule for
comparing buttermilk with corn than
to assume that buttermilk, not water
ed, is equal to skim milk and that. but
termilk is therefore, worth per hun
dred pounds five times the market
price of live hogs per pound, and then
this can be compared with the market
price of corn.
The Color of Guernseys
A READER asks if there is "any
particular color that pure-bred
Guernsey cattle should have.
"Which hare, the highest colored
milk and butter, Jerseys or Cuern
seys?" Shaw in his "Study of the Breeds"
"has the following to say relative to
the color of Guernseys:
"1. The colors include red,
light lemon, orange and yellow
fawn, sometimes solid but com
monly with white markings.
"2. The shading includes such
hues as reddish yellow, darker
than' brown, and fawn dun, but
never gray, as in the Jersey.'
"3. The color markings are
white and are distinct and they are
found sometimes on the body but
often er on the face, ilanks, legs
and switch.
"4. Among the favorite colors
are orange red, orange fawn afid
lemon fawn, with white mark
ings." In the scale of points adopted by
the American Guernsey Cattle Club,
the color is stated as follows : CoTor
of hair, a shade of fawn with white
markings." Cream-colored nose, horns
and hoofs amber-colored.
Wilcox and Smith in their "Farm
ers' Cyclopedia of Livestock" state
that The color is light yellow and
orange or bulff predominating, with
considerable white in patches on. the
body and- legs. Dark colors approach
ing brown are seen on some cows and
more frequently on bulls. The muzzle
is most always buff or flesh color.
It will be seen that a wide vari
ation in. the shade of "fawn" and the
white markings may occur rn this
breed.
To determine the purity of breeding
by the color is always difficult and
generally impossible. Of course, there
arc certain colors which do not occur
in pure-bred Guernseys, but on the
other hand, the fact that an animal
conforms to the Guernsey colors, 'as
given by the authorities cited, is by
no means proof that the animal ts
pure-bred.
As a breed, the milk and butter of
the Guernseys are "more highly col
ored than the milk and butter of the
Jersey. .