198 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



over-fed, especially when they are in the herds of the dairy men, 

 who realize the necessity of liberal feeding. The proper feeding 

 of this group of animals can perhaps be made clearer by the fol- 

 lowing illustration: 



Cow of lower productive capacity liable to be over-fed. 



Full Ration 



Used for Used for 



Ration Of Maintenance nun Production Bodr Fat 



a 



Economical Ration 



Used, for 

 Pat Ion of Maintenance /mm Production 



The line a to d represents the amount of feed that an animal 

 of this class will consume ; a to b represents the ration of main- 

 tenance as before. In this case, however, the capacity for milk pro- 

 duction is not equal to the capacity of the animal for utilizing feed 

 in excess of that required to maintain the body. The amount which 

 the animal is capable of utilizing for milk production is represented 

 by that portion of the line b to c, while the animal's appetite is 

 equal to the total line ad. This gives a surplus, c to d, which is 

 not utilized for milk production but which will be used for storing 

 fat on the animal's body, and we will have the cow gaining in weight 

 while she is producing milk. This gain in weight will be of no 

 service as far as milk production is concerned, except that it is of 

 some value as a reserve material to be drawn upon at some other 

 time when feed is not supplied in sufficient amounts, but it is not 

 economical nor desirable to fatten dairy animals with the expensive 

 feeds which are fed dairy cows. That portion of the feed repre- 

 sented by the line, cd, should be taken from the ration. This 

 means reducing her feed to take off the amount used for storing 

 fat on the body; in other words, to feed her only what she will 

 utilize for milk production. This means feeding enough to main- 

 tain a practically uniform body weight. In every large herd where 

 the amount fed is not carefully regulated, we find errors made in 

 both these classes. We find the heavy producing cows being under- 

 fed, and we find the light producing cows being over-fed and al- 

 lowed to accumulate fat. 



Relation of Live Weight to Proper Feeding — The live weight 

 of a cow is a good index of whether the cow is being fed a proper 

 amount or not, but good judgment must be used in regulating the 

 ration by observing this condition. We must expect that a cow 



