378 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



chase of commercial fertilizers for our fields. I am confident it will be found 

 a more economical method of enriching land. 



Judicious, common-sense feeding, that secures thelargest product at the 

 least cost, is the basis — the most important factor in dairy husbandry. 

 And by this I mean more than a knowledge of the chemical constituents 

 of foods and of milk, more than a knowledge of the dairy breeds and the 

 anatomy most likely to be associated with large milk production. Such 

 knowledge is very desirable ; but it must be associated with correct notions 

 of the peculiar characteristics of individual animals, with methodical feed- 

 ing, kind treatment, and the wise and practical application of all of these to 

 the work in hand. 



The more I see and study cattle and cattle-feeding the more I believe that 

 good feeders, like poets, are born — not made. I shall not go wide of the 

 mark when I say that the supply of such is not at all equal to the demand. 



WHAT TO FEED. 



1 shall treat this topic from a Michigan standpoint, assuming that, for 

 Michigan dairymen, in the main only such products as are grown in our State 

 can be fed with economy and profit. For the summer season I should give 

 the preference to old pastures having a variety of grasses. The experience of 

 old dairymen is almost universally in favor of such pastures. The quality 

 of the milk produced by them is much better and the quantity larger than 

 that produced by the grasses of newly seeded lands. Good pasture grass — 

 that is grass that is eaten a week after it is grown, is the most perfect food 

 for cows in milk. The food elements are in right proportion and a large per 

 cent of it is digestible. 



Michigan dairymen, I fear, have not given as much attention to making 

 l^ermanent pastures as their value and importance demand. Besides being 

 more palatable, on account of the variety, the grasses are more nutritious, 

 and careful tests have shown that they produce more milk and beef at less 

 cost than any other feed. The practice of laying by a good portion of the 

 farm to permanent pasture, by seeding with a variety of grasses and clovers, 

 may be safely adopted, by most of our dairymen. By frequent top dressing 

 with manure such lands will become more productive and valuable as year 

 succeeds year. 



In addition to the pasture I should feed a small ration of wheat bran daily, 

 increasing the amount when the pastures are short. Two considerations 

 would induce me to feed the bran, viz., to secure an increased milk yield, 

 and also the fact that its manurial value after having passed through the 

 cow is equal to almost, if not quite, its first cost as sold in our markets. 

 The pasture and bran may be supplemented by a piece of fodder corn sown 

 in drills not too thick, which can be drawn upon in case of drought or other 

 emergency. These are the foods upon which the Michigan dairymen can 

 rely for summer feeding and not be disappointed. 



The question of feeding for quantity and quality of milk during the win- 

 ter season is more complicated, and will call into active exercise all the skill 

 the dairyman possesses; because, as we have seen, his success in feeding will 

 depend upon his judgment in combining the coarser fodders with the con- 

 centrated foods so as to make a good milk ration. Clover, old meadow and 

 Timothy hay, corn stover, straw, ensilage and roots — these, in various com- 



