10 Feb., 1919.] Feeding— The Basis of Profit. 93 



FEEDING-THE BASIS OF PROFIT. 



By W. J. Y'uUl , Dairy Supervisor. 



In spite of all that tlie Department of Agriculture has done to demon- 

 strate the advantages of scientific dairying, and the results of the 

 application of common-sense principles, as practised by successful 

 daiiytnen, it is surprising to find how many dairy farmers simply " milk 

 tho gi-ass," and give no thought to the problem, " How much feed is 

 required to get the maximum return from a dairy cow?" 



To the dairy farmer who buys the bulk of his milking stock, the 

 difference between success and failure rests solely on the question of 

 feed. 



The Government system of herd-testing has clearly shown that, in 

 all the well-known breeds, there are cows of exceptional merit, but 

 probably none of these would give big yields of milk and butter fat 

 if they had to forage for themselves on Gippsland hills each winter. 

 Good feeding is the basis of good milk production in any breed of cattle. 

 No cow can produce to her limit unless she receives a continuous and 

 full supply of nutritious and palatable food. In some places, good 

 returns have been recorded from pasture feeding alone, but these are 

 from exceptionally favoured farms, and are seldom met with. 



In many districts, the pastures are now failing to carry as many 

 head of stock as they formerly did. They are degenerating through over- 

 stocking, and, unless they are built up again with top-dressings of 

 artificial manures, the farms will only be able to maintain their present 

 carrying capacity by an increase in the growing of fodder crops to 

 supplement the grazing. More especially is this true of rabbit-infested 

 areas and land that is continually overstocked. 



On many dairy farms the grazing areas are much overtaxed during 

 the milking season, and no extra feeding provision is made for winter, 

 except, possibly, by growing a few tons of hay, which is doled out to 

 the cows to keep them alive until the grass revives again. Consequently, 

 every spring, large numbers of dairy cattle come into milk while in a 

 weakened and debilitated coudition. 



Some farmers study their cows a little by drying them off early in 

 the autumn, thus giving them a chance to improve somewhat in condi- 

 tion before winter sets in. Each spring, however, showr how few really 

 do improve unless they are wintered in a sheltered and well-grassed 

 paddock, and usually the need of better treatment soon tells its own tale. 

 Many cows experience such hardship during the winter months, 

 and their constitutions are so undermined by insufiicient nourishment 

 and the tax on the system caused by carrying and nurturing the calf, 

 that half of the spring season is past before they get into a normal 

 conditions, and come properly into milk, while some even never properly 

 recover. Many farmers do not have a milking season of more than 

 six months in each year at the best, and of this, several weeks are wasted 

 while the cows are recovering from the effects of insufficient feed during 

 the previous months. Especially is it true of those places where the 

 haystack is conspicuous only by its absence, and silage, or even a 

 paddock of early green feed, a thing unknown. 



It certainly does not pay to underfeed, and overstocking, which 

 results in underfeeding, is the last word in bad management. A case 



