278 ANNUAL REPORT) OF THE Off. Doc. 



does better than when conditions are absolutely as uniform as pos- 

 sible? 



Let me give my theory. As I said yesterday, it just comes back to 

 the question whether we shall give too much of our personal, prac- 

 tical experience on the farm, or talk on general principles. I be- 

 lieve we ought to urge the farmer to weigh the milk every day. I 

 disagree with Prof. Cooke on that point. I have weighed my milk 

 for twelve vears. 



Now coming to this point, when we turn our cows out, after getting 

 some insight and hearing some lecturer tell us we were losing milk 

 by exposing those cows, I turned those cows out for a week to test 

 this matter and then I took pails made out of galvanized iron and 

 carried water to their mangers and weighed and tested and found 

 that it paid me a return of about |5 a day to carry that water to those 

 cows in that stable and not let them out at all, and I went to work 

 and put devices in so that they have water in the stable right along, 

 and they don't get out at all from fall until spring, that is, if I am 

 at home and attending to my business. 



MR. KAHLER: As I understand it, the idea is, if you exercise the 

 cov»^, the energy required for the exercise will reduce the energy that 

 goes to milk production^ and she will give us less than if we keep her 

 perfectly quiet. Probably by keeping her perfectly quiet she will 

 give you a little better results. The question arising in my mind is, 

 whether you are not endangering the cow? The cow was never 

 created to be put in a band-box, and I believe that for the benefit 

 of the general health" of the cow, that she ought to have a certain 

 amount of exercise at the proper time. I believe that in my ex- 

 perience that if the cow did not move a foot that probably she would 

 give a little more milk, but I also believe that if you keep your 

 cows entirely without exercise, as some men recommend, you will 

 make a very short-lived cow. I think there are two sides to this 

 question, and that either side can be abused. 



PROF. MAIRS: I am glad to hear the experience of Mr. Lighty 

 and Mr. Sexton with their dairy herds; I am glad that I have got 

 some one stirred up on the subject. I had hoped to when I mentioned 

 that subject of exposure and the subject of shredded stover too. 



DR. ARMSBY: I just w-ant to offer a suggestion. I think possi- 

 bly, Mr. Lighty, one important element at least when we speak 

 of uniform conditions — keeping a cow under uniform conditions from 

 time to time is important. Some six months ago I visited the Ex- 

 periment Station in Illinois. They have there a very good cover, 

 a closed barnyard, roofed over. They told me in their experience 



