4. INFLUENCE OF STAGE OF LACTATION ON 
NUTRIMENT REQUIREMENTS. 
In our feeding practice the generalrule is to give the cows 
all they will eat up clean, and if a cow shows a desire for 
more feed it must not be granted until it has been manifested 
for a week. This is done because a cow will, for a few days, 
take more than her system can digest and assimilate, so 
under this rule with its restrictions cows seldom get more 
than they really need. And it is quite likely that by its 
strict enforcement it occasionally happens that a cow will 
shrink in milk because of a shortage of nourishment, but this 
is not so serious a matter as to cause a cow to go off her 
feed because of an excess of nutriment. It is not claimed 
that the cows are fed just right. To be frank we do not 
know yet the best way to feed each cow, but we are trying 
to learn and hope in time to succeed. To illustrate the re- 
sults that are secured from week to week under the methods 
employed, tables are submitted giving the daily averages of 
a number of weeks’ feeding, covering different stages of the 
period of lactation. 
The following table gives the weekly weight, the nutri- 
ents consumed daily, yield of milk, butter fat, and total 
solids and also the nutrients required to one pound of butter 
fat and one of total milk solids after deducting for mainten- 
ance .78 of a pound per one hundred pounds live weight. 
