FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 21 



dairy farm is to not allow the cow out of doors 'when it freezes. She 

 should be protected against frost. The dairy barn should be warm, at 

 least forty degrees above zero. It should also be light. Have plenty of 

 windows. Sunlight is the best medicine a dairy cow ever had. It 

 is much cheaper than paying veterinarians' bills. There is nothing 

 that will prevent and hold in check the disease-producing germs like 

 sunlight. Have the stable as light as our own living rooms. 



Besides being warm and light, the dairy barn should be well ven- 

 tilated. Cows consuming heavy rations and producing large quantities 

 of milk, must have plenty of pure air. It is absolutely necessary. This 

 can be supplied by properly regulating the windows, but the best way 

 is to build a chimney on one side of the stable, with the opening at the 

 bottom like an old-fashioned fire-place, for the impure air to pass out, 

 as the impure air is heavier than pure air and settles to the bottom 

 of the room. Then take in the pure air at the ceiling. To avoid drafts 

 have a box extend across the ceiling of the stable and put auger holes 

 in the bottom of it, so that pure air will pass through these small open- 

 ings and avoid all drafts. This system will save the warm air in the 

 stable, which is near the ceiling, and will hold the stable at the proper 

 temperature. 



Besides being warm, light and well ventilated, the dairy barn should 

 be dry. Conduct the water from the eaves of the barn away from the 

 building, tile drain the land near the bam and have no water-soaked soil 

 near to cause dampness. Proper sanitary conditions cannot be secured 

 unless the ground is dry. 



A WORD ABOUT FEED. 



We can comply with all other conditions, but unless the dairy cow is 

 well fed she cannot produce a maximum flow of milk. And here I wish 

 to add that the drinking water must also be pure and abundant. We 

 not only must feed the cow well, but we must feed her as cheaply as 

 possible. Competition is so close, wages are so high that no extrava- 

 gance can be tolerated here or there will be a loss instead of a profit. 

 I am convinced that for the Michigan dairyman there are no better 

 foods than clover hay and corn silage. Every one should have these 

 in abundance. But the dairy cow cannot do her best on these alone, 

 for they are too bulky. She cannot eat enough of them to do her best, 

 and must have some concentrated food as well. 



No better food can be obtained than peas and oats for a grain ration 

 to be fed with clover hay and corn silage. Peas are rich in protein and 

 help balance the excess of carbohydrates in the corn silage. Generally, 

 we can buy a protein food cheaper than we can raise it on our farms. 

 The American farmer has a splendid opportunity to buy the waste prod- 

 ucts of our flour mills, linseed oil mills, our cotton oil mills and our 

 glucose sugar mills, and he may buy in this way that food in which he 

 can get a pound of digestible protein for the least money. 



With proper care in the selecting, breeding, care and feeding of the 

 dairy cow, no man need complain that dairying does not pay. 



Colon C. Lillie: A poor milker in the stable is a bad investment and 

 when one has a good man he should be retained. It is better to have 

 the same man milk a cow continuously rather than keep changing 



