FEEDING DAIRY COWS. 45 



ration for one cow, under one set of conditions, would not be a 

 balanced ration for another cow, under different conditions. 

 Climate, stage of lactation, different things vary the ration. 

 Down South they can feed more protein and get along with less 

 of the carbohydrates, although I am inclined to think they are 

 carrying that to an extreme. I presume that down there enough 

 cottonseed meal and hulls have been fed to kill a cow up here. 

 Up in this cold climate the animal requires more of the heat giv- 

 ing food, the carbohydrates, than in the southern states. So I 

 say you cannot lay down any absolute rule as to what is a 

 balanced ration for you to feed. But in regard to the quantity 

 of the grain ration, the experience of those who have worked 

 upon this problem serves to narrow the field of the farmer's 

 experiments, of his own inquiry. Every farmer should con- 

 duct on his own farm a little experiment station of his own ; but 

 after the work which has been done there is no occasion for the 

 farmer to extend his trials in this matter of a proper ration over 

 such a wide territory as he otherwise would. As the result of 

 these experiments it seems to me perfectly plain that here in 

 Maine it is a waste of energy, of money and of time, for a farmer 

 to experiment with rations away out to i to 8 or 9 or 10. The 

 use of that sort of a ration has been demonstrated to be unwise. 

 And for the same reason it is no use to experiment with a ration 

 I to 3 or 4. It is too expensive and not adapted to our climate. 

 So, by the work of the experiment stations the field of investi- 

 gation has been brought down to comparatively narrow limits, 

 but the necessity for a farmer to study his own cows and his own 

 herd has not been and never will be done away with. 



It is fair to assume, then, that the cow must have a sufficient 

 amount of these different elements, protein and carbohydrates. 

 The question comes, how is the farmer to get those substances? 

 Is he to raise them on his own farm entirely, or is he to go into 

 the market and buy a part of them ? I am aware, of course, that 

 it is a common thing w^th many speakers to say that the farmer 

 should produce upon his own farm everything which he possibly 

 can produce, and go into the market and buy just as little as it is 

 possible for him to buy. I believe that to be illogical advice. It 

 is not the principle followed by any successful manufacturer. I 

 should change that and say let the farmer produce upon his farm 

 whatever he can produce most profitably, and then go into the 



