350 



FEEDS AND FEEDING 



capacity for producing milk and yields only sufficient for her calf, even 

 tho her feed be abundant. Any surplus of nutrients is stored in her 

 body as fat. On the other hand, in the well-bred dairy cow the impulse 

 to produce milk is so strong that with abundant and suitable feed and 

 good care she yields much more milk than her calf requires. 



Many dairymen make the serious mistake of failing to supply good 

 dairy cows with enough feed for the most economical production. The 

 following figure shows that a good dairy cow fed a liberal ration requires 

 about half her feed to maintain her body and uses the other half to make 

 milk. If she receives less feed, the proportion which she can use to 

 produce milk will be decreased. For example, if fed three-fourths of a 

 full ration, she can use only one-third of what she eats to make milk. 

 Should she be fed but half of a full ration, she will still need as much 

 as before to maintain her body and no feed will remain for milk pro- 

 duction. Any milk she then yields would be made by robbing her body 

 of nutrients. The true dairy cow thus produces milk most economically 

 when fed a liberal ration, while a cow of beef type or one lacking in dairy 

 temperament, when liberally fed, will store a considerable part of the 

 food nutrients in her body as fat, instead of turning them into milk. A 

 safe rule is to feed such a cow only what she will eat without gaining in 

 weight. 



Use of Feed by Cows 



LIBERAL RATION FED TO 

 GOOD DAIRY COW 



THREE-FOURTHS RATION 



HALF RATION 



LIBERAL RATION FED TO 

 BEEF COW 



FOB MAINTENANCE 



FOR MILK FOR GAIN 

 PRODUCTION IN WEIGHT 



IT PAYS TO FEED GOOD DAIRY Cows LIBERALLY 



When fed liberally a good dairy cow can use half her feed for milk produc- 

 tion. When fed a three-fourths ration she can use only one-third of her feed for 

 producing milk, and when fed a half-ration she needs all her feed to maintain 

 her body. A beef cow, if fed a liberal ration, will turn part of her surplus 

 feed into fat instead of milk. (After Van Norman.) 



The increase in production due to good feed and care is shown in a 

 striking manner in a trial by Wing and Foord at the New York (Cornell) 

 Station 29 . A herd of cows poorly fed and cared for by their owner, was 

 taken from a farm to the Station where they were liberally fed for 2 



*N. Y. (Cornell) Bui. 222. 



