Thirty-sixth Annual Convention 990 



Prof. Van Pelt: We iiiiinediately began taking the feed away 

 from her. We were giving her twenty pounds and she gave fifty- 

 seven pounds of milk. Then the indications were that she was 

 getting all the feed she could handle. We began taking it away 

 gradually. We gave her nineteen and one-half pounds the next 

 day, nineteen the following, and continued decreasing the ration 

 to seventeen pounds and it was then that she produced sixty and 

 four-tenths pounds of milk. If you are feeding for records or 

 high production, you need some kind of a safety valve. I have 

 fed a great many cows through long-record periods. To the best 

 of my knowledge, I never used any medicine except salts and 

 linseed oil. JN'ever very much of the former, but I presume 

 scores and scores of gallons of raw linseed oil. If I were to start 

 a cow on a large record to-dav the first thing I would do would be 

 to l)uy five gallons of oil. I might not need it for a long time, 

 but when needed I would want it immediately. If you watch 

 closely you get the first indication of the cow going " off feed." 

 As soon as she does, do not feed anything the next meal except 

 a little bran mash. Then give her a quart of raw linseed oil. If 

 she is all right by the next feeding time, give her a little feed ; if 

 not, give another quart of oil. It will not hurt a cow, is just as 

 effective as any laxative you can give, and in addition is nutri- 

 tious so that she does not fall away in milk flow. I learned to 

 feed with beef cattle, and we used to feed them four times a day, 

 but Sunday evenings we gave them a little bran mash, taking all 

 other feed away ; then the next feed they were ready to go ahead. 

 I have practiced that with dairy cattle when we had them on 

 heavy rations, once in a while giving just a little bran mash. 



Mr. Dutton : Do you recommend feeding grain with the silage 

 or roughage, or separately ? 



Prof. Van Pelt : I do not believe in feeding grain by itself. 

 When you study the nature of the cow you will find it is 

 hardly practicable to give a cow a lot of ground grain. Horses 

 masticate their feed, taking a great deal of time to eat. In 

 masticating the feed is mixed with saliva, which is the first pro- 

 cess of digestion, turning the starch into sugar. The cow 

 bolts her feed, swallows it whole, and when she has plenty of time 



