416 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



feeding cows applies to the relative proportion of con- 

 centrates fed. This should not be so high as to react in 

 reducing digestive capacity, which will certainly follow pro- 

 longed and excessive feeding of concentrates (see p. 115). 



That the aim should be to feed foods relatively cheap 

 when efficient, does not require -to be argued. But how to 

 secure and feed them thus stirs a large and ever recurring 

 question in the experience of dairymen. Grass and soil- 

 ing foods, as well as dry fodders, are usually cheaper 

 than concentrates, and therefore should be fed to the great- 

 est extent compatible with the highest profit attainable. To 

 secure this it may be necessary first, to sacrifice something 

 in highest yields, attainable through feeding more grain, 

 and second, to feed more carbohydrates relatively than the 

 feeding standards call for, because of their greater relative 

 cheapness. 



That succulence in foods exercises an important in- 

 fluence on milk production has already been noticed. Why 

 it does so is not so well understood. This relation is con- 

 stant in the sense that it is always present, though varying- 

 in degree with the foods that contain the succulence. The 

 influence thus exerted is greater with some foods than with 

 others of . equal succulence. The result follows probably 

 from the favorable influence which they exert on the 

 digestive tone, as when they lessen the tendency to consti- 

 pation, and also because of the more favorable condition in 

 which they are for being suitably acted upon by the gastric 

 juices, because of their soft condition. Green corn is cer- 

 tainly more favorable to milk production than the same 

 amount of dry matter in corn fed in the cured form, not- 

 withstanding that the amount of water taken into the sys- 

 tem should be the same in the two instances. 



Milk production and cost. The cost of producing 

 milk will depend on such conditions as the following : ( i ) 

 The value of the food fed; (2) the capacity of the cow to 

 turn food into milk; (3) the season of the year at which 

 the milk is obtained ; (4) the cost of the plant and the value 

 of labor involved. 



