52 Milk and Its Products 



Last of all, the ideal ration should be cheap, not 

 necessarily in the sense of being made up of low 

 grade or low cost foods, but from the standpoint of 

 furnishing the largest possible amount of digestible 

 nutrients at the lowest cost. Home-grown foods 

 ordinarily cost the dairyman less than commercial 

 foods, and the milk producer will ordinarily feed most 

 economically who uses the largest possible amount of 

 home-grown foods. On the other hand, commercial 

 foods in nearly all markets, if well selected and care- 

 fully purchased, may be fed at a profit if the cows 

 are well selected and productive. Market fluctuations 

 in various localities make it possible for the consumer 

 of commercial foods to effect considerable saving in 

 his feed bills, and the dairyman can scarcely be called 

 an intelligent one that does not keep well-informed 

 in regard to local market conditions and prices, with 

 respect to commercial foods, and vary his purchases 

 accordingly. 



Selection of breed. The development of the milk- 

 ing powers of the dairy cow has been the result of 

 evolution and selection. ' So far as is known, all of 

 the breeds of dairy cattle have been brought up to 

 their present capacity for production by constantly 

 selecting the highest producing individuals, and raising 

 the offspring from these on both sides; that is to say, 

 the selection of the bull from a high -producing cow 

 has been considered quite as important as the raising 

 of female calves of such cows, in securing improve- 

 ment. The importance of a high- producing animal 

 has already been discussed. In order to produce such 



