state Dairy Associatmi. 251 



the leaves. It should be cut early and put into cocks when wilted 

 fairly well, not only to save the leaves, but to prevent the sun 

 drying- it out. Will not attempt to explain to you why hay so 

 cured excels in feeding value, but experience has proven such to 

 be the case. Now I have spoken of growing clover, and have done 

 so mostly for the sake of variety because alfalfa is far more profit- 

 able and much superior to clover for our purpose. Mind you, I 

 want the cows to have a change to clover of the right kind that 

 they may not tire of the generous feeding of alfalfa and silage, 

 because alfalfa heads the list. Fix the fact in your minds that we 

 are to grow the maximum yields of corn, clover and alfalfa 

 through the most careful selection of seed, the most thorough prep- 

 aration of the seed bed, in soil that has been supplied through the 

 application of the liquid and solid voidings of our animals with 

 plant food, and then by approved methods of cultivation. Now 

 returning to the point that I hope to make clear : The three maiii 

 feeds are very bulky. There is a limit to the capacity of a cow's 

 lumen, and to the energy that she must employ to keep it working. 

 We may choke the machine and cut down its capacity. To reach 

 the assimilative capacity of a cow she must have the required 

 amount of fats, carbohydrates and protein in about the right pro- 

 portions and in the three feeds mentioned, the excessive amount 

 of dry matter renders it impossible without the aid of concen- 

 trated feed like oil meal, cottonseed meal or the like, abounding 

 largely in protein. I have tried to avoid the use of scientific terms 

 likely to confuse the average farmer. In other words the cow can 

 not eat, digest and assimilate an amount of these three bulky feeds 

 sufficient to enable her to appropriate for the manufacture of 

 milk in the largest possible amount. Cows difi'er in this character- 

 iw^'tic, each cow being a proposition within herself and for this rea- 

 son in order to get the best results from each and every cow in 

 the herd it is necessary to feel an interest in the work and live 

 very close to the cows. The good feeder will closely watch the 

 trough, the eye, the coat and the voidings of his charge and soon 

 experience a fascination for the work. Imagine the keen delight 

 that Mr. Gillett experienced in making Colantha 4th's Johanna 

 yield more than 27,000 lbs. of milk in one year. I derive much satis- 

 faction in the unquestioned record of Jacoby Irene, the cow that 

 will soon complete the third year of a continuous record having 

 produced in thirty-five months the equivalent of 2,613 lbs. of 

 butter. Similar results will reward those who will put their best 

 tiiought and their heart into the work. 



