DAIRY MEETING. 65 



matter of the ration appear in the droppings of the animal. As 

 you increase the ration in rich concentrates, rich in mineral mat- 

 ter and in nitrogen, the droppings of the animal increase in 

 richness, and a part of the profit which comes from high feed- 

 ing may be looked for in the manure pile. It may pay some- 

 times to feed a nitrogenous food even while there is very little 

 increase in the milk flow. 



These are four of the principles : The more food you can 

 induce the cow to eat the more milk she will give; the more 

 easily digested the ration, the more energy she will have for 

 converting the food into milk and the more milk she will give; 

 an increase in the protein of the ration is followed by an increase 

 in the milk flow ; the richer the ration in nitrogenous and min- 

 eral matter, the richer the manure. 



These principles must all be modified by the 5th one, and that 

 is, that maximum production is not always the most profitable. 

 You must work out that factor for yourselves. Neither Prof. 

 Woods, the professor of dairying at Orono, nor any dairy 

 expert, I do not care who he is, can give you the most econom- 

 ical formula for feeding in any particular case. Conditions are 

 so dififerent with dairy herds. In the first place, you have dif- 

 ferent productive capacities in your cows, then your market 

 prices for feeds and for products are different ; so that no man, 

 I do not care how well he understands the subject of feeding, 

 can tell another off hand how he should feed his herd. Then, 

 again, no two individuals in the herd can be fed in the same 

 way with the same results. It seems to me you will each have 

 to try that for yourselves and watch the milk flow, increasing 

 the foods and the protein and stopping at the point where the 

 increase yields the most profit, 



Ques. Did you say that the standard was i^ pounds of pro- 

 tein to 10 or 12 of carbohydrates? 



Ans. One and one-fourth pounds of protein to ten or twelve 

 pounds of milk produced. The German standard calls for 

 about .08 of a pound of protein for each pound of milk pro- 

 duced in addition to the f pound required for maintenance. 



We must select better cows, feed them more intelligently, and 

 care for them better. In the first place we must keep our cows 

 warm. Ordinarily I think enough heat is liberated in the body 

 5 



