148 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



A RATION. 



For a thousand pound cow in full milk a ration of eight pounds of corn 

 meal, six pounds of wheat bran and all the clover hay the cow will eat 

 is suggested, to begin on. Increase the amounts of the grain feeds as long 

 as the increased yield pays for it. Then stop. With such a ration some 

 roots may profitably be fed. I fed roots extensively to a large herd of 

 cows in the early '80's, but the tender recollections of the frequent back- 

 aches attendant upon their culture has prejudiced me against them 

 since. Rather than raise roots for the succulent fodder I would certainly 

 rig up a silo. With silage and clover hay both on hand, the dairyman 

 is well fixed for the best and most economical feeding. With oil meal 

 cheap as it is today, its use ought to be greatly extended in this State. 

 A ration like this is almost perfect: Corn silage, forty pounds; clover 

 hay as much as the cow will eat, usually five or six pounds; roller pro- 

 cess bran, eight pounds, and oil meal, two pounds. Or substitute pea 

 meal for the oil meal if on hand. Silage is weak in protein, the very ele- 

 ment in which clover hay, oats, bran, pea meal, oil meal and cottonseed 

 meal are strong, hence the advisability of the mixture. So we might go 

 on all day suggesting mixtures and rations, but we desist. 



Love your cows, study them, supply all their wants, never neglect 

 them, feed high, keep warm and comfortable in the winter, and sup- 

 plement poor pastures in the summer with proper forage. Obey these 

 rules and you cannot fail to reap a financial rew ard for your toil. 



DISCUSSION. 

 LED BY L. J. RINDGE, GRAND RAPIDS. 



I don't profess to be much of a farmer, but it was my good fortune in 

 1866, for sixteen years, to travel in western Michigan, and during that 

 time, I had opportunity to observe the great waste in coarse fodder on 

 the farm. It was not properly taken care of. It should be cut up either 

 with the shredder or silo, and grain added with it. That produces a 

 manure that they tell me is better than anything the farmer has ever 

 found to put on land. Our lands through this country have been 

 exhausted too much, and are too poor, and many of them have got to 

 change, or we will have a big State that cannot produce anything. 



I would like to speak of the stable. At first I put up the old fashioned 

 stanchion, and then I changed to the stall that Prof. Smith has spoken 

 of — the model stall. I have been using those now two years, and they 

 work to perfection, and I get a large per cent of milk, over any other 

 method. 



I agree with the Professor that you can't have a cow all dirt and milk 

 her and expect to keep the milk clean, and we must have the proper hous- 

 ing for a cow. I make a warm stable. I found it necessary in my stable 

 that is 9| feet high, and 50x70, to put in three ventilators, running 

 through to the roof and coming down near the ground, to draw the cold 

 air out. The cold air settles and the warm air rises, and when I used to 



