CORNELL READING-COURSE 

 FOR FARMERS. 



READING-LESSON 



No. 7, 

 DECEMBER, 1899. 



BY A. L. KNISELY, 



BALANCED RATIONS FOR STOCK. 



David and John lived on the outskirts of a village, but on opposite 

 sides thereof. One Saturday morning there was an auction sale in 

 town, and among the things sold were several fine milch cows, of 

 no particular breed. David and John each bought two cows. These 

 cows were " fresh ; " that is, thej had been giving milk for about 

 one month. Each cow gave an average of twenty-five to thirty 

 pounds of milk a day. Each man intended to buy feed for his 

 cows and to sell his milk to the village people. These cows were 

 to be used as machines with which to convert raw material, as grain 

 and coarse fodder, into the manufactured product, milk. About 

 three months later we heard that David had sold his two cows to 

 John. He complained that they had steadily fallen off in milk since 

 he had bought them, until each cow gave scarcely fourteen pounds 

 a day. John's cows were still giving thirty pounds a day. Here 

 was a difference of sixteen pounds, or over half, in three months. 

 What was the reason ? 



It at once occurred to us that John must have given his cows 

 better care than David. We went to each man and asked him how 

 he had fed his cows. David said he had given each cow a small 

 armful of timothy hay and three or four quarts of corn meal, every 

 morning and night. This would be about twenty pounds of hay 

 and ten of meal each day. He did not think it was necessary to 

 feed his cows any particular kinds of food in order to get the most 

 milk from them. Anything the cows would eat was good enough, 

 if only it filled up their stomachs and satisfied their hunger. 



John said that he gave each of his cows a daily ration of about 

 twenty pounds of clover hay, three pounds of wheat bran and six 

 pounds of ground oats. He believed that a cow needs variety in 



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