Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 193 



3,188 pounds of milk and 169.3 pounds of fat. The former produced 

 2.67 pounds of milk and 2.77 pounds of fat for each pound produced 

 by the latter. The digestion trial showed practically identical results, 

 the co-efficient of digestion being 64.39 per cent for the best cow and 

 64.99 for the poorest cow. Pedro's Ramaposa consumed 1.75 pounds 

 of feed for each pound used by the other cow, and the real cause of 

 the difference in production was found to be the amount of feed con- 

 sumed above maintenance. The maintenance requirement being prac- 

 tically the same, Ramaposa had 65 per cent of the total feed consumed 

 available for milk production, and Elf had only 44.2 per cent thus 

 available. 



It was observed that Ramaposa, when producing the maximum 

 milk yield, was practically to the limit of her capacity for handling 

 feed. Her maximum capacity for feed seemed to coincide closely with 

 the amount necessary to maintain her at uniform weight. Elf con- 

 sumed all her feed, and would have taken slightly more had it been 

 offered, although she never showed lack of feed. Ramaposa had much 

 the stronger appetite; she ate rapidly, swallowed the grain with much 

 less chewing, and always showed by her impatience to get her feed a 

 much keener appetite than did the latter. Both cows remained in 

 excellent physical condition throughout the investigation. 



After deducting the maintenance requirement, one cow produced 

 milk as economically as the other. The ratio between the feed avail- 

 able for milk production and the milk produced was practically the 

 sam.e for each cow. The experiment showed that cows vary but little 

 in the maintenance requirement, or in their ability to digest feed. A 

 superior dairy cow is one with a large capacity for feed above mainte- 

 nance, and one that is not disposed to take on fat, but uses the feed above 

 maintenance for milk production. This once more emphasizes the im- 

 portance of a large, well-developed barrel and its significance in judging 

 dairy cows, provided the cow also has a high degree of dairy tempera- 

 ment as shown by her lean appearance when heavily fed while in milk. 



EflFect of feed on quantity and composition of milk. — The general 

 statement may be made that the quantity of milk is dependent upon 

 the amount of feed and upon the inherent milk-giving qualities of the 

 cow. Feed has an effect on the quantity of the milk yield, in that an 

 underfed cow cannot produce to the limit of her ability. As shown in 

 the Missouri experiment, however, heavy feeding does not increase the 

 cow's ability, it merely makes possible a production that is up to the 

 limit of her natural, inherited ability. The composition of the milk 

 cannot be permanently changed by any known method of feeding; the 

 composition is regulated by the udder of the cow, each cow having her 

 own characteristic quality of milk. By fattening dry cows, the fat 



