72 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



Ans. That is correct; you certainly must change the air. 

 But the cow will give off enough heat from her body to enable 

 the air of the barn to be changed once an hour. All of the food 

 which the cow digests is finally degraded to heat except what 

 she puts into her milk. This heat you must make use of to 

 warm the body of the cow. Whether it is sufficient or not I 

 cannot say. 



Ques. In relation to the water, is it not possible that there 

 is a happy medium between giving water too warm and giving 

 ice water? 



Ans. Yes. That is one advantage in having water basins in 

 the stable. The water is somewhat tempered by the atmosphere 

 of the stable. If the water is drawn from a well just as it is 

 given that water is warm enough. It will not pay to warm water 

 at 50 degrees, the temperature of most well water. If it is down 

 to freezing, that is a different problem. 



Ques. Is the richness of the milk increased by the food the 

 cow consumes? Will feeding rich foods increase the butter 

 fat? 



Ans. I think not. The quality of the milk which a cow 

 gives seems to be an inborn quality, you cannot affect it mate- 

 rially. There is a slight change from a heifer to a mature cow. 

 I reviewed some 4,000 milk tests of Holstein cows, some heifers 

 and some three, four and five years old. The milk of the heifers 

 was about two-tenths of one per cent less rich. It has been 

 observed, too, that when cows go to pasture, and have a violent 

 change of food, they will sometimes increase a little, but hardly 

 ever more than .2 per cent. I do not know whether it is due to 

 the change in food or to the fact that she likes the out-door air 

 and sunshine. Usually that is temporary, however. There are 

 one or two feeds which have the reputation of increasing the 

 per cent of fat in the milk. Cocoanut meal is one of them. 

 But no ordinary food changes the quality of milk. 



Dr. C. D. Smead. I have listened with a great deal of inter- 

 est to Prof. Beach's address. He has brought out a great many 

 fine points. I will say for one that I was highly instructed. 

 There are some questions that he touched upon which are 

 unsolved today from the health point of view. We should keep 

 the cow comfortable and yet give her a sufficient amount of 



