Thirty-sixth Annual Convention 1003 



sight J had of those heifers it looked to me as though they were 

 very fat, overdone. Jhit when I phieed my hand along the back- 

 bone and felt the ribs J found there was no surplus fat. Those 

 heifers had simply been growing from birth to maturity. They 

 had been fed foods rich in protein, foods that grew bone and 

 muscle. They had built great frameworks. And I believe that 

 is one of the great secrets of producing these great champion cows, 

 growing the heifers well and preparing the cows for the great 

 yearly records they are making. 



Mr. Graney : J\lany good feeders recommend a balanced ra- 

 tion, 1 to 5.5. I got the impression that you rather ignore that. 



Prof. Van Pelt : ]\^o ; I do not ignore the principle of the bal- 

 anced ration, but 1 do ignore the argument that a ration 1 to 5 

 should be fed to cows, or 1 to G, or 1 to 4. I do not think it is 

 practical. It is a good guide, mind you; a 1 to 5 is a good 

 general ration. But I say this, that a ration balanced for one 

 cow is not balanced for another. A ration which is balanced 

 for a cow to-day is not balanced for the same cow next month. 

 In feeding for a purpose we should take into consideration the 

 condition of the cow, the purpose for which we are breeding, and 

 the purj)ose for which we are feeding, and then in a common-sense 

 way work out a ration most satisfactory to that particular cow 

 for the particular jnirpose for which we are feeding her. 

 And then we will have a balanced ration. We have well- 

 bred cows that are naturally beefy. Such a cow invariably will 

 demand a ration as narrow as 1 to 4, and if you will look 

 up the i-ecord you will find I fed such rations to Loretta 

 1), who won the St. Louis World's Fair championship, fed to her 

 rations as low as 1 to 3.5. After she left the fair she got fat as 

 a beef animal, and never did good work afterward, as they did 

 not eater to her. I remember one cow which w^as so intensely bred 

 for milk production that she was inclined to work herself to 

 death, just took every pound of feed you gave her, without regard 

 to what it v/as, and made it into milk and butter fat. Had we 

 fed that cow the same ration that we fed Loretta D she would 

 have worked herself to death. 'So I say if we are going to be 

 expert in our line ^ — and this is a day when experts are success- 

 ful men — we want to get right down and study the cow and 



