398 Repokt of Farmers' Institutes 



mixed cattle. While this latter conception of grading is the one 

 that is generally meant, we should remember that when in pure- 

 bred herds we use sires that are inbred we are still employing the 

 same principle. The Mendelian explanation of grading and the 

 improvement that is possible by this method of breeding depends 

 upon the purity of the reproductive cells. The fact that a pure- 

 bred sire can fix his characters, and consequently those of his 

 ancestry, upon a grade herd is due to the greater purity of those 

 characters in his germ cells. By using the first method outlined 

 in this discussion for the production of breeding stock and by then 

 using pure-bred sires to improve our grade cows, we can hope for 

 the best improvement in our dairy cattle. 



PROFITABLE FEEDING PRACTICES FOR THE DAIRY HERD 



O. C. Bowes 



Agricultural Department, Columbia University 



It has been customary in recent years to point out the dairy 

 cow as an efficient machine for converting rough feed on the farm 

 into marketable human food products. It has been shown that 

 she is more than twice as efficient in the production of dry matter 

 as the beef steer. When beginning to feed dairy cows for the first 

 time, people are usually impressed with the great capacity for 

 food possessed by them. Beginners will be more likely to under- 

 feed than the reverse. This capacity to handle large amounts of 

 food is perhaps the most valuable asset of the dairy cow ; it enables 

 her to have a large resei"ve food, supply above her maintenance 

 requirement for production of milk. The ability and knowledge 

 of the feeder to feed so as to allow the cow full use of her capabili- 

 ties will be the determining factor in the economical production 

 of milk. 



In this country a great deal of eifort has been devoted to elim- 

 ination of the ^' boarder cow " from our herds, apparently without 

 realizing that this is only a relative term, and that the " boarder 

 cow " will be with us in the future as she has been in the past. 

 While it may be highly advantageous to have cows of great capac- 

 ity excessively fat when they freshen, for the mediocre cow it is 

 not necessary and may not be economical. 



