No. 4.] ECONOMICAL MILK PRODUCTION. 103 



We are convinced that the milk-giving characteristics are 

 hereditary, but it should be clearly understood that we do not 

 think the amount of milk that a farmer secures from his cows 

 has been taken out of his hands and is to be attributed entirely 

 to the ancestors of his herd. Such is certainly not the case. 

 By the milking qualities of an animal we mean simply her 

 capacity as a milk-producing machine, and in order to get good 

 results from any piece of machinery we must have an efficient 

 operator. So the inherited dairy characteristics of the cow are 

 the first requirement, and the next is that this machine be 

 handled by some one skilled in its management. 



The Feeding Question. 



It is not my purpose to discuss the subject of feeding in 

 detail, as I am not familiar with the local conditions and 

 problems, but I desire to take up a few points that I consider 

 of the greatest importance in regard to the fundamental 

 principles of successful feeding. I have already emphasized as 

 best I could the importance of selecting the cow that has the 

 ability to produce large quantities of milk as the starting point 

 for economical production. In INIissouri, and I think the same 

 is true in a number of other States, before we can begin to 

 select cows we must first give them an opportunity to make 

 good. If a cow does not receive a sufficient amount of feed, or 

 the ration is unsuitable for producing milk, it is unwise to 

 sa}'' she is an inferior producer and sell her. The first thing to 

 do, and the step that must precede the selection of the cow, is 

 to make sure the conditions for production are right. Then 

 if she does not respond, she cannot be sold too quickly. 



In the section of the country with which I am familiar, the 

 most common mistake made in feeding cows is not to give them 

 enough. Many of the farmers are more accustomed to feeding 

 steers and hogs than they are to feeding dairy cows. While 

 they recognize that to fatten steers economically the animals 

 must have all the feed they will eat, they do not understand 

 that exactly the same thing holds with a dairy cow. If I see 

 the proposition correctly, you cannot afford to keep cows that 

 are not well fed. It may be that you cannot afford to keep the 



