62 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



and vigor. "VVe handle and feed for milk. Exercise costs 

 feed and a lessened production of milk. We cannot evade 

 the working of that law. But a certain amount of exercise 

 is no doul:)t necessary for health. Let us always remember, 

 however, that if we shut the cow up in a barn for six months 

 for the sake of extra flow of milk, no doubt we will get it ; 

 but we must take extra pains to make the environment as 

 perfect as possible. She must have good air, plenty of light 

 and dry quarters. We must never forget that the giving of 

 milk is a function of motherhood, and we must be obedient 

 to all laws that promote that function. The natural instinct 

 of a cow, when left to herself, is to eat her fill, if she can 

 get it easily, and then lie down and digest it. The law that 

 governs the health and development of the male does not 

 apply to the female in this particular of exercise. 



Feeding. 



At the outset let us consider what the dairy cow produces. 

 Milk is a highly nitrogenous compound. The caseine is 

 almost a pure albuminoid and is one of the three chief con- 

 stituents of milk. It is almost amusing to note how crude 

 are the judgments of some dairymen on this subject. Last 

 summer a neighbor asked me for a reason why certain foods 

 were recommended for butter cows. I commenced by trying 

 to show him the character of milk, how it was composed of 

 about 4 per cent butter fat, 3| per cent caseine, 4.70 per 

 cent milk sugar, etc. " Well," says he, "I don't care for 

 these other compounds ; show me how to feed for the butter 

 alone." I replied that I would do so if he would find me a 

 cow that gave milk composed of butter fat alone. 



The composition of milk should teach us, approximately 

 at least, how to feed. We cannot get the butter fat without 

 the caseine, sugar, etc. Hence, we feed a balanced ration, 

 one that is sufficiently composed of albuminoids to enable 

 the cow to produce milk, which is a balanced food of itself. 

 You feed a balanced ration ; you get back a lialanced food. 

 There is no such thing as a horse which has two trotting legs 

 and two running legs. Whether he runs or trots he must be 

 fed for all four legs. It is so with the idea of feeding for 

 milk. The cow must have access to food abounding in the 



