76 THIRTIETH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



calves off milk or before, I begin by feeding - them on the 

 coarsest, rough food they will eat in order to develop the di- 

 gestive organs. When our heifers are a year old or less, 'in 

 the winter time, they are turned out of doors in the barn yard 

 and fed on rough fodder, without grian. I feed corn stalk, hay 

 and all the turnips they will eat. In that way I claim to get 

 her digestive organs so developed when she comes to maturity 

 that she will assimilate her food better and make butter at a 

 less cost per pound than if otherwise grown. 



Question. Don't you believe in feeding a young cow that 

 is to come in so as to develop the milking qualities? 



Mr. Aitken. Certainly. 



Question. What is your treatment of the young calf? 



Mr. Aitken. We take the calf right away from the cow, 

 never let it suck, give it new milk. As a rule we do no feed 

 the calf new milk over a week; then we begin to take the fat 

 off the milk and use cheaper substitutes, cooking flaxseed 

 meal until it is a jelly, and by the time the calf is a month 

 old we can feed it oat meal, then feed a mixture of flaxseed 

 and oat meal as long as it is necessary. 



Gov. Hoard. How long would you feed a calf skim milk? 



Mr. Aitken. Until they are six months old. 



I was very much interested yesterday in the discussion con- 

 cerning cottonseed meal. I do not feed it, I have made butter 

 for the Philadelphia, New York and Boston markets and my 

 experience was very much like Mrs. Nelson's. I was carried 

 away by the praise of cottonseed meal in making butter when 

 I was supplying the Philadelphia market and tried it with the 

 same experience Mrs. Nelson had. The buyer wanted to 

 know what was the trouble with my butter stating it was 

 "off" flavor. I stopped it right off. I tried it again for an 

 experiment when I made butter for the New York market 

 with the same result, and I had the same experence with the 

 Boston market I again tried it. So I do not feed cottonseed 

 meal and I cannot give you any idea whether it is a detriment 

 to growing" stock or not. 



Question. What concentrated food do you feed? 



Answer. I feed ground oats and ground corn on the cob 

 and flaxseed meal. 



Question. You do not feed gluten? 



Answer. No sir. 



Question. You do no feed ensilage? 



Answer. No sir. 



Question. Feed bran? 



Answer. No sir. 



Question. How much cottonseed did you feed a cow? 



Mr. Aitken. I tried all sorts of rations, I have fed to see 



