OCR Text |
Show Cow Needs Dry Period to Store Up Minerals It is true that a cow that is continuously con-tinuously milked up until the time she freshens will not milk well during dur-ing the succeeding lactation, says a correspondent of the Idaho Farmer. The production of a liberal amount of milk is a severe tax upon a cow and experience has shown that a cow will produce much more milk if she is allowed to have a dry period of from six weeks to two months than If she is milked continuously. Recent investigations in nutrition show that special value of the dry period is to allow the animal to store up minerals in her body which may be drawn upon during the heavy milking milk-ing period. A cow that is not given a rest before calving will begin her milk production at a much lower level and with a result that the milk production pro-duction will continue on a lower level throughout the entire milking period. There is not much that can be done to increase the production of your cow during this milking period. |