Mrs. White also needed cows to provide a supply of milk and cream. In a letter written to friends in the United States she described the venture to supply the needs in this line: 4BIO 225.5
I drive my own two-horse team, visit the lumber mills and order lumber to save the time of the workmen, and go out in search of our cows. I have purchased two good cows—that is, good for this locality. 4BIO 225.6
Almost everywhere in the colonies they have a strange custom of confining the cow at milking time. They put her head in a fixture called a bail, then tie up one of her legs to a stake. It is a barbarous practice. 4BIO 225.7
I told those of whom I bought my cows that I should do no such thing, but leave the creatures free, and teach them to stand still. The owner looked at me in astonishment. “You cannot do this, Mrs. White,” he said; “they will not stand. No one thinks of doing it any other way.” “Well,” I answered, “I shall give you an example of what can be done.” 4BIO 225.8
I have not had a rope on the cows’ legs, or had their heads put into a bail. One of my cows has run on the mountains till she was 3 years old, and was never milked before. The people have not the slightest idea that they can depart from their former practices, and train the dumb animals to better habits by painstaking effort. We have treated our cows gently, and they are perfectly docile. These cows had never had a mess of bran or any other prepared food. They get their living by grazing on the mountains, and the calf runs with the cows. Such miserable customs! We are trying to teach better practices.—Letter 42, 1895. 4BIO 226.1