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Show C0.W NEEDS RESTING PERIOD Some Animals Maintain Good Milk Flow Right Up to Calving Time Rest Is Important. The dairying department of the New Jersey agricultural experiment station recommends that the dairy farmer should rememner to give his cows a rest of six weeks or more before they freshen. Some cows may maintain a good flow of milk right up to calving time, and in such cases the dairyman hesitates to dry them off for a rest period of several weeks. This should be done, however, and the cow well fed so that she will be in good flesh when she freshens. The work of producing a heavy yield of milk for ten months or a year is a severe drain upon the cow's strength and vitality, and a period of rest should be given her to recuperate and prepare for another lactation period. If she finishes her milking period quite thin in flesh, she should be given a longer dry period and more liberally fed. The loss of what milk the cow might produce during the dry period will be made up several times over by an increased yield during the following fol-lowing lactation period. A good rest and liberal feeding preceding the date of calving helps largely to bring about 1 good yield during the following year. |