CHAPTER XX 



FEEDING AND CARE OP DAIRY COWS 



I. The Dairy Cow as a Producer of Human Food 



As the price of land, labor, and feed increases, the dairy cow will 

 more and more displace the strictly meat producing animals, for she 

 produces human food far more 

 economically than does the 

 steer, sheep, or pig. That this 

 change is already taking place 

 is brought out by recent cen- 

 sus statistics. These show that 

 between 1900 to 1910 the num- 

 ber of dairy cows in the United 

 States increased about 20 per 

 ct., while the number of other 

 cattle decreased. 



Cow and steer compared. — 

 The great economy with which 

 the dairy cow converts the 

 products of the fields into hu- 

 man food is evident from the fact that she yields in her milk 18 lbs. or 

 more of edible solids for every 100 lbs. of digestible matter in her 

 feed. This is over 6 times as much human food as is produced by a 

 steer from the same amount of feed. (See Chapter VI.) 



A dairy cow producing 1 lb. of butter fat per day uses about 47 

 per ct. of her food for the support of her body, 24 per ct. in the work 

 of converting food nutrients into milk, and actually yields in her 

 milk about 29 per ct. of the digestible nutrients in her feed.^ This 

 shows her to be a more efficient machine than either the horse or the 

 steam engine. (See Chapter VI.) 



Dairy vs. beef type. — When in full flow of milk, a high-producing 

 dairy cow is generally spare and shows an angular, wedge-shaped 

 form, a roomy barrel, spacious hindquarters, and a large udder. 

 This conformation is in strong contrast to that of the low-set, blocky, 

 beef animal, with its compact, rectangular form, and broad, smooth 

 back. These two types are the result of careful breeding with oppo- 



Fig. 69.— Tilly Alcartra, the Holstein 

 cow holding the world's record for milk 

 production. The milk cans represent her 

 average weekly production, 08 gallons. 

 Her year's record was 30,451.4 lbs. of milk. 

 (From Country Gentleman.) 



iHaeeker, Minn. Bui. 140. 



247 



