DAIRY mee;ting. 137 



erwise it is of no value to the practical man trying to make a 

 profit from keeping cows. 



Two of the best cows in our barn are grade, one a grade Hol- 

 stein producing last year 11,596 lbs. of milk, 3.8% fat, or 506 

 lbs. of butter, the other a grade Jersey producing 8,042 lbs. milk, 

 5.6% fat, or 517 lbs. of butter. Either one of these, any dairy- 

 man would be working on the right line to have in his dairy. So 

 far, I have considered only the individuality of the animal but 

 there is another phase of equal importance. You may have 

 heard some one say that the feed makes the breed. While 

 I must differ with that proposition, I am willing to allow that the 

 feed is of very great importance. 



Given the best cow it is possible to obtain, if you feed her 

 improperly the production will be small ; on the other hand, a 

 poor cow fed the best ration possible will not make satisfactory 

 returns. 



It is difficult to understand just why two cows of apparently 

 equally strong digestion diff'er so in their ability to work their 

 food over into milk. On the other hand, I think I can make 

 clear to you why the improperly fed cow does not make satis- 

 factory production. 



It has been said that "The inside of a cow is a very dark 

 place, and it is hard to tell why certain things are so." This 

 is true, but there are very many things that science has worked 

 out to a definite basis in the nutrition of animals. It is known 

 for a certaintv that the starches, sugar and gum of a plant are 

 utilized in the animal economy to produce heat and energy and 

 that they can not be used to make blood or repair worn-out tis- 

 sues. The substance that performs that duty is of an entirely 

 different nature and is that part of the plant which we know as 

 nitrogenous. In animal nutrition the first are known as carbo- 

 hydrates or heat producers, the latter as protein or flesh form- 

 ers. In order to keep an animal in normal condition, that is, 

 without gain or loss, a certain amount of each of these elements 

 is required in the daily ration. 



This is one of the problems that science has worked out by 

 conducting a great number of feeding experiments both in this 

 country and in Europe, where all the conditions were controlled, 

 thus enabling definite determination of what the animals required 

 for maintenance. 



