4S2 ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



iUU lbs. liuseed meal, 



5 lbs. powdered charcoal. 



5 lbs. Epsom salts. 



5 lbs. common salt. 



4 lbs. saltpetre (which they call nitrate of potassium, and we 



don't recognize it). 

 3 lbs. fenugreek. 



You can see how very expensive these things are, and I would say 

 that if the animal is well, 1 would not give her any of them. Well, 

 friends, there is rational feeding. Now, how much will you feed? 

 Why, we wdll feed all the animal needs to keep her in good condi- 

 tion and in addition to the course of feeds she |ias, just as much 

 grain as she will pay a profit on. That depends a good deal on the 

 cow and a good deal on what you are getting for the milk. If you 

 are getting four cents for it, you can feed better than on three 

 cents. It is not ''How much milk can I carry away," but "How 

 much have I left for myself?" That is, over and above cost. 1 

 think it can safely be put down that eight pounds of grain in addition 

 to the silage and good hay is as much as the average herd will pay 

 a profit on for a daily ration. 



But, you ask me, will that ration balance? I don't care a hill of 

 beans whether it balances or not. I have quit sitting up nights figur- 

 ing on that. 



I am going to ask the old ^\\ whether that ration was balanced 

 or not. "How?" you will ask. I put my hand on her skin; if that is 

 soft and oily as it is in summer, when she has pasture grass, she is 

 all right, but if it is coarse and rough, then we put in more protein. 

 Then, her droi)pings I consider a very important indication. If they 

 are too hard, I would feed her more linseed as a laxative, and if they 

 are too soft, some cottonseed meal, and I don't care whether it bal 

 auces from one to four or from one to seven; it is all right. 



And again, there is a difference in the cows. I find that the Hol- 

 stein will take a wider ration, with less of the heating elements, 

 than the Jersey. Again, I find that it depends upon the way the 

 cow is kejot. A cow that is ke])t very cold needs more heating feed. 

 You go out here on the Pennsylvania Railroad some day when it is 

 wry cold, and you will find that the train is losing time, and the con- 

 ductor will tell you, if you ask him, that it can't get up steam; the 

 trolley car is making its usual time in the same weather because 

 its power engine is under cover. 



Vs'e want to calculate by weight and not by quart, and first we 

 must feed that cow so as to keep her in good condition; next, we 

 will feed her for profit and not for production. We will give her the 

 succulent silage, then w^e will follow with the alfalfa; then we will 

 feed her the coarse feeds we have and to give our animals what they 

 need of protein, w^e will depend on oats, peas, and home grown feeds, 

 and when we need to buy, we will buy where we can get the greatest 

 amount of protein for the least amount of money, because the cow 

 will be the better for it, and then we will feed her as much as she 

 needs to keep her in good condition, and that will be rational feed 

 'ng. 



The CHAIRMAN: As this is a joint meeting of the State Board 

 of .\grifulhire, Rennsvlvania Dairv Union and the Ljve Stock Breed 



