Feed and Care of the Dairy Cow. 467 



milk than the kind of food, provided the ration given contains 

 sufficient nutriment for the maintenance of the animal. " 



701. Feed and care of the bull. The ration for the bull calf 

 should be rich in muscle- and bone-making material and ample in 

 amount. As much growth as possible should be secured from 

 pasture, because flesh from this source is the best that can be 

 made, and also because of the vigor and tone this form of feed 

 insures. In order to retain the young bull in pasture, a fence 

 may be constructed with strong posts eight feet apart set deep in 

 the ground; to these six or more strands of doubled barbed-wire 

 are fastened. This makes an enclosure that will easily hold the 

 young fellow, and here in the air and sunshine, with grass under 

 foot, he will build a framework and establish a constitution which 

 will not leave him old at four or five years, as we have come to 

 think bulls to be. In winter, if possible, allow the bull exer- 

 cise in an open lot with shed on one side to protect from the storm. 

 The feed supply should consist of ample roughage, such as clover 

 hay, corn stover and oat straw, with shorts, bran and oats for 

 concentrates, these, however, being not too abundant. 



If the mature bull must be confined to the shed or housed in sum- 

 mer there should be a liberal allowance of green feed, which will 

 alleviate in some measure the hardship of continued confinement. 

 A reform is needed in our present methods of confining bulls, 

 leaving them more in the pasture than at present. To do this 

 the enclosure must be made secure with plank fences, supple- 

 mented by wires for older animals, to insure safety, for there is 

 too great risk of life in allowing these creatures to run at large 

 with the herd in pasture. 



702. Fall and spring cows. On the plains of the West, where 

 we find the cow under natural conditions, calves must be dropped 

 in the spring in order to become strong enough to withstand the 

 rigor of the following winter. In dairy districts the cow is under 

 artificial conditions, and nature need not be followed in all par- 

 ticulars. Cows fresh in the spring yield most of their milk dur- 

 ing periods of low prices for dairy products, and on returning to 

 winter quarters the milk flow is not stimulated by the feed and 

 conditions there prevailing. The cow that is fresh in the fall 



