70 Bureau of Farmers' Institutes. 



there would lie no trouble in making a first-class cow out of a scrub. 

 So, then, if we are to get a first-class cow we must either buy or 

 sd her. 



Question. — Can a dairyman feed a full grain ration of eight or 

 ten pounds to a cow with feed at $1 per 100 pounds, and sell his 

 milk at 80 cents per 100 pounds? 



Mr. Smith. — It would depend wholly on the capacity of the 

 cow. We had three cows at the Geneva Station, all weighing nearly 

 the same. It costs $47.50 to keep each of them. In winter they 

 were fed 40 pounds of ensilage, 6 pounds of hay, 4 of wheat 

 bran, 4 of malt sprouts and one of cotton seed meal. In summer 

 they were fed alfalfa instead of ensilage. One cow was a full- 

 blood Jersey; the second one, seven-eighths, and the third one a 

 half-blood. The first one returned a profit of about $50; the 

 second one, $11.90, while the third one returned a loss of $11.2:5; 

 figuring the cheese at nine cents per pound, had it been made 

 from the milk. So you see it all depends on the individuality 

 of the cow and owner. 



Question. — Will corn meal increase the richness of milk, or 

 affect its flavor? 



Mr. Smith. — No. There is not protein enough in corn meal 

 to supply that required in milk. So that if the milk flow is to bo 

 kept up, food containing the same elements found in the milk must 

 be given. When a cow shrinks in her milk, the part that goes 

 out is the water. So it would seem that the per cent, of butter fat 

 had been increased; but the other solids, except the sugar, have 

 increased in the same ratio. If a cow has been starved to a 

 point below her normal capacity of butter-fat production, she 

 may, by judicious feeding, be brought up to it, but not beyond it. 



Question.— Will any feed enrich a cow's milk? If so, what 

 kind \ 



Mr. Smith. — I wish some one would tell me what kind will 

 do it. I shall be glad to know. 



A Fanner. — Green clover hay will do it. I have tried it and 

 know. 



Mr. Smith. — You have done something no one else has done 

 Here are ihe records of three of the Geneva Station cows; if you 

 will feed them so as to increase the fat in the milk of either of them 

 1 will make you a nice present. No cow which has been fed up to 

 her normal capacity of butter-fat production can be so fed as to in- 

 crease the per cent, of fat. lint, if the cow has been ill-treated 



