230 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



of fat was 1.42 pounds. Her average daily ration for the month sup- 

 plied 29.31 pounds of dry matter per thousand pounds live weight, con- 

 taining 2.5G pounds of protein, 15.42 pounds of carbohydrates, and .97 

 pounds of fat, with a nutritive ratio of 1 : G.9. On this ration the cow 

 continued her maximum yield through the month, and at the same time 

 made a gradual gain in weight. The watchful eye of the feeder noted 

 this fact, and slightly reduced the amount of dry matter in the ration. 

 This was accomplished without changing the weight of the materials 

 fed, by feeding silage with a much lower per cent of dry matter. The 

 dry matter fed per day to the cow was kept considerably above the 

 standard to warrant the large yield of fat, during the five early months 

 of the period of lactation. 



Standing by her side was a mature Jersey cow, College Pogis, which 

 had a tendency to lay on fat. She was giving a large flow of milk and 

 was, in January, 1895, in the fourth month of her milking period. 

 Her ration was below the standard recommended. Her weight remained 

 practically constant and her yield of fat gradually declined, as was to 

 be expected from the lapse of the period of lactation. During the next 

 winter her floAV of milk and yield of fat daily was promising at the 

 outset, and she was given 25 to 20. 5 pounds of dry matter per day, 

 with 2.36 pounds of protein. Her daily yield of fat kept constant for 

 the three months of winter at 1 :8 pounds or slightly more than 2 pounds 

 of butter per day. The grain ration was kept up during the summer, 

 and by October the cow had made the phenomenal yields of 11,314,71 

 pounds of milk and 553.06 pounds of fat. It would have been sheer 

 ifolly to measure her feed during the earl}^ months of her period of 

 lactation by any standard based upon live weight alone or derived from 

 the average feeding of average cows. 



Still more remarkable is the consumption of dry matter and protein 

 of College Pogis II during the winter of 1895-1896. Here we have a 

 cow that weighed in January but 880 pounds, which was gaining in 

 live weight because still young and which was turning out regularly 

 nearly 2 pounds of butter per day. She required on the average for a 

 whole month over 32 pounds of dry matter per thousand pounds of 

 live weight per day, containing 2.75 pounds of protein. The cow 

 weighed but 880 pounds, and this 880 pounds was made up largely 

 of digestive organs, lungs and udder. In proportion to her live weight 

 she could consume and economically utilize a very much larger amount 

 of feed than could an animal with a massive frame and relatively small 

 per cent of viscera and udder. 



A study of the tables shows conclusively that an expert feeder varies 

 the size of the ration, not according to the weight of the cow alone or 

 primarily, but according to her capacity to receive and her ability to 

 yield, and that, with the same cow, the ration is modified as the period 

 of lactation advances, to conform to the requirements of the system. 



What is true of the dry matter is true of the digestible protein. Where 

 a cow is secreting a large amount of milk containing from one to two 

 and one-half pounds of dry casein per day, her food must be relatively 

 much richer in protein than when she has not this demand upon her 

 system. The food requirements of the system to sustain the vital func- 



