154 FARM ANIMALS 



According to the tests which have been made in 

 this country they are somewhat lacking in vigour. 

 The milk yield, however, is excellent. The color 

 is black with a sharply defined, broad white band 

 extending around the body between the hips and 

 the shoulders. 



In addition to these breeds of dairy cows we may 

 mention French Canadian, Kerry, Brown Swiss, 

 Holderness, Shorthorn, Polled Durham, and Red 

 Poll. Some of these breeds are commonly referred 

 to as dual-purpose cattle on account of their posses- 

 sion of the essential beef form and they have been 

 referred to in the discussion of beef cattle. 



FEEDING DAIRY COWS 



In feeding milch cows a number of systems are 

 in vogue, depending largely on the kind of feeding 

 stuffs which are most convenient for the farmer in 

 different localities. In general, it should be remem- 

 bered that the dairy cow is capable of utilizing a 

 large amount of feed and turning it into milk. 

 These cows are the biggest eaters and also produce 

 the greatest amount of milk from their food. It 

 is not enough, however, merely to give the cow an 

 enormous quantity of food without regard to its 

 quality. On the contrary, if any point has been 

 definitely determined by experiments regarding the 

 dairy cow, it is the fact that she needs a compara- 

 tively narrow ration, that is, one containing a large 

 amount of nitrogenous material. There are obvi- 

 ously two ways to obtain this protein, either through 

 purchasing nitrogenous feeding stuffs such as bran, 

 cotton seed meal, middlings, linseed meal, gluten 

 meal, oats, peas, etc., or by the use of leguminous 

 forage plants such as alfalfa, clover, cowpeas, 



