136 



is the best cow in our barn, the one that 3'ielded a profit of 

 over $50, is as good a beef animal as any butcher need ever 

 wish to lay on his block. 



There is and ought to be a general purpose cow, and 

 she will be on earth when the highly bred, nervous, weak 

 constitutioned breeds, with a predisposition to tubercu- 

 losis, garget and milk fever, are on the back seats or in the 

 hospitals. 



Part two of this talk is on the feeding of our cow. 



She must have food, and it is time that she should have 

 it in such form and proportion, that it may do her the most 

 service. 



There was a time when farmers believed that herdsgrass, 

 hay and corn meal were the foundation stones in the 

 structure of good feeding, and many to-day believe the 

 same thing ; but, as a matter of fact, they are two of the 

 poorest articles when fed together that we can use. They 

 are both excessively composed of starch, and while it is 

 well-known that a cow requires daily from 2 to 2.5 pounds 

 of albuminoids and from 13 to 15 pounds of starch to give 

 the best results, or six pounds of starch for each pound of 

 albuminoids, this herdsgrass hay contains 14 lbs. of starch 

 to one of albuminoids. So if we should feed a cow on this 

 alone, we must get her to consume 100 lbs. of hay daily to 

 get what starch she requires, and then instead of having 

 two lbs. of albuminoids which she requires, she will have 

 only one pound. Now if we add corn meal to this we are 

 using a grain that has 9 lbs. of starch for every one pound 

 of albuminoids, and can never balance a ration in that v^aj. 

 What we must do then is to find some grain that has an 

 excess of albuminoids, and this we find in cottonseed meal, 

 gluten meal, linseed, middlings, shorts, brewers' grains, etc. 



A balanced ration is simply one that has the albuminoids 

 and starchy parts in the right proportion, and balancing a 

 ration mean simply to so supplement our coarse fodders 

 that this correct proportion will be attained, hence the 



