194 Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 



content of the milk is temporarily raised when the cows freshen. It 

 is known that cows fed cottonseed meal yield butter that is hard and 

 tallowy, with a high melting point, while linseed meal produces a soft 

 butter with a low melting point. In spite of these and other minor 

 exceptions, it may be said that improvement in the composition of 

 milk is a breeding, rather than a feeding, problem. The feeder can 

 only supply feed in such amount as will permit the cow to give a maxi- 

 mum flow of milk. But as we have seen, two cows may produce far 

 different quantities of milk when given the best of care, so that increase 

 in the quantity of milk is also a problem for the breeder. Cows are 

 born with certain inherent abilities; feeding can assist these inherent 

 abilities to reveal themselves, but cannot permanently alter them. 

 Great cows are born great. Their greatness will not be realized, how- 

 ever, unless they are given good care and plenty of the right kind of 

 feed to use in manufacturing milk. No matter how large and efficient 

 a factory may be, it cannot turn out much product unless it has avail- 

 able an abundant supply of the raw material, but an abundant supply 

 of raw material will not raise the output of a poorly equipped or ineffi- 

 cient p'ant above a certain low maximum. It is far more correct to 

 say that a well-fed dairy cow eats because she gives milk, than it is to 

 say that she gives milk because she eats. 



