Watauga Democrat

FEED YOUNG HEIFERS DURING WINTER MONTHS

Raleigh, Nov. 23.--There is a keen demand for good dairy heifers all over the south at the present time and a well grown, type animal should bring a good price next spring to the dairymen who wants to sell.

"To get that well grown, type animal, however, she must be well fed during winter," says J. A. Arey, dairy extension specialist at State College. "If we assume that the heifer has reached the age of four to six months, this is the time to give careful attention to winter feeding. One of the main things is to grow out a big frame or skeleton, in turn, means big capacity. To do this, the heifer should have a liberal amount of legume roughage at all times. If possible, part of this roughage should consist of silage. A dairy heifer, six months to one year of age, will consume from five to fifteen pounds of silage daily."

The grain ration may consist of a mixture composed of two parts of corn meal, one part bran, one part oats and one part cottonseed meal or linseed meal. A safe rule in feeding this grain mixture is to give a pound a day for the first hundred-weight of the heifer and one-half pound for each additional hundred-weight. A calf weighing 200 pounds would get one and one-half pounds of the mixture each day.

Mr. Arey says that the number of milk cows in the United States has decreased from 225 per thousand inhabitants in 1916 to 189 per thousand inhabitants in 1926. During the same period there has been an increase of 16 per cent in our population. This explains the present demand for good dairy cows; and shows the necessity for raising all heifer calves at this time.

In the past, many dairymen have thought it better to buy their cows as needed rather than raise them. The time has come in Mr. Arey's opinion when this idea must change.