716 ANNUAL REPORT OF NEW- YORK 



My COWS, during the period under consideration, were treated 

 as follows : — During August and September tliey were on open 

 pasture by day and housed by night; evening and morning they 

 were supplied with mown grass, and two feeds of steamed mix- 

 ture. Towards the close of September green rape was substituted 

 for the mown grass, with the same allowance of steamed mixture; 

 from the 8th of October, when they were wholly housed, they 

 were supplied with steamed food ad libitum three times per day. 

 After each meal 10 to 12 lbs. of green rape-plant were given, and 

 9 lbs. hay per day till November; from that time steamed food 

 with cabbages or kohl rabi till the early part of February, when 

 mangel wurzel was substituted. It will be observed that I give 

 hay and roots in limited quantities, and the steamed food ad 

 libifum; I prefer this to apportioning the cake and other concen- 

 trated food in equal quantities to each; as this steamed mixture 

 contains more of the elements essential to milk, and each cow is 

 thus at liberty to satisfy her requirements with it. Nos. 2 and 4, 

 which have given the greatest quantity of milk, have eaten more 

 than their share; whilst No. 1, which has given the least milk, 

 has scarcely eaten more than half tlie quantity of steamed mix- 

 ture consumed by 2 or 4. The yield of milk and the live weights 

 on the 4th of February nnd the 4th of March scarcely vary. 

 During February 34 lbs. of mangel were substituted for kohl rabi; 

 with this change the cows became more relaxed. My experience 

 in weighing, extending over several years, has shown me that 

 when animals, from change of food, become more relaxed or more 

 costive, their weighings in the former state denote less, whilst in 

 the latter they denote more than their actual gain in condition. 

 I have known instances in which a month's weighing, accompa- 

 nied by some relaxation, has shown no gain, whilst in the follow- 

 ing month, with restored consistency, the gain has doubled. 



The results I have described are wholly over periods com- 

 mencing from the time of calving, and during the first stages of 

 milk, the longest extending over thirty-one weeks, when the pro- 

 duction of milk is at the largest. 



No. 4 suffered from pi euro in September, from which time her 

 yield of milk fell oft' to less than two quarts per day. 



Nos. 6 and 7 suffered also, and No. 11 considerably, after their 

 weighing, Oct. 8th: each of them regained their yield of milk 



