SIXTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART V. 407 



of the dairy cow is a very dark place, and so intricate the silent working 

 machinery that our search lights have failed to disclose many hidden 

 secrets. However, from experimental work and scientific research we 

 are able to make valuable deductions and have found that certain kinds 

 of food are used by the animal to maice milk, bone and muscle, while 

 other varieties tend to produce heat and fatty tissue, all of which give 

 rise to the great subject of economic and scientific feeding. Much has 

 been written concerning the compounding of well balanced rations for 

 dairy cows and much valuable literature is available upon this very 

 important subject that merits the most careful consideration of the dairy 

 farmer of today, so there can be no plausible excuse for him not becoming 

 a student in his profession if he has the inclination. 



The dairymen of the middle west can better existing conditions by 

 better feeding and care taking, by closer selection and by better breeo- 

 ing. By better feeding I mean the more liberal use of a well balanced 

 milk producing ration. The cow utilizes her food either for the elabora- 

 tion of milk .or the taking on of flesh, and she yields nothing in either 

 direction except by food taken in at the mouth. If of a dairy tempera- 

 ment it is used for the secretion of milk and, up to the limit of her 

 capacity, she will respond in the milk pail in proportion to the amount 

 supplied at the feed rack, hence if it pays to feed at all it pays to feed 

 liberally, quite up to the limit of her capacity, and it will be generally 

 noted that it is the persistent and not the spasmodic liberal feeder that 

 scores the best results. But there is another point involved in this feed- 

 ing problem that necessitates the feeder in knowing the different individ- 

 uals in the herd. No two co-.vs are constituted with exactly the same 

 dairy temperament. If some become too much reduced in flesh, the 

 reme'dy will not necessarily be more feed but a reduction in the amount 

 of protein and an increase in the amount of carbohydrates, and on the 

 other hand, if some become too fleshy, an increase in the protein and a 

 reduction of the carbohydrates is advisable. Many cows will be found, 

 however, . that will yield tut little milk and take on flesh regardless of 

 how the ration is balanced. The composition of the feed has a great 

 influence even with such animals, but they should be eliminated from 

 the herd for they will be found wanting in the balance and so the import- 

 ance of closer selection is suggested. The dairy farmer has a friend for 

 his financial advancement in the typical dairy cow and he has two 

 more friends in the Babcock Tester and the scales that hang in the cow 

 barn, which with little mathematical calculation, will show the money 

 earning capacity of the different members of the herd, aid in drawing 

 the line between profit and loss, and afford advantages in weeding out 

 and selection that we can not well do without. It is simply a business 

 proposition for the dairy farmer to know with which of his cows he 

 can exchange his food stuffs for her milk with a margin of profit for 

 himself. 



The prevailing prices of dairy products in the United States during 

 the past decade has stimulated our dairy industry but on the other hand 

 the corresponding high prices for our concentrated food stuffs has, 



