58 BRITISH DAIRYING. 



heat of the body is an alt-important demand of nature, and that 

 it is a serious matter to expose cattle to climatic conditions 

 which reduce warmth to any considerable extent. On this 

 account it is not a good thing to allow cows to drink large 

 quantities of water which is only just above freezing-point 

 32 Fahr. or to eat a lot of ice-cold turnips. Before the 

 water or turnips can be assimilated by the organs of digestion, 

 their temperature in the stomach has to be raised to 98 

 Fahr., which is the normal temperature of the cow's body, and 

 this involves a waste of carbo-hydrates, which may be avoided 

 in respect to the water by warming it artificially ; and in respect 

 of the turnips, by pulping them and mixing them with chaffed 

 hay and straw, when, after a few hours, the temperature will be 

 raised by fermentation. This fermentation has the useful effect 

 of rendering the chaff easily digestible. The value of giving 

 cows warmed water to drink in winter warmed say to about 

 75 has been repeatedly proved ; and cows will give 

 more and better milk, on a given quantity and quality of food, 

 than when they drink cold water. Mr. Gilbert Murray, who for 

 years has devoted a good deal of attention to dairy subjects, 

 gives the following as an average daily ration of food for a 

 cow in full milk in winter : 



ibs. 



A mixture of chaffed hay and straw . 20 



Bran meal ...... 2 



Ground oats ...... 2 



A mixture of wheat and barley meal . 2 



Linseed meal or cake .... 2 



Bran 2 



Roots 25 



Hay, divided into two feeds . 5 



60 



Indoor Feeding. 



The roots in this ration, or at all events the greater portion of 

 them, would be pulped and mixed with the chaffed hay and 

 straw, and the different kinds of meal added just before feeding- 

 time. Two feeds of hay per day are advisable, in order to 



