GENERAL CARE OF CATTLE. 351 



seven quarts per day. But all the cows which 

 consumed as much as fifty quarts of water 

 daily were excellent milkers giving from 

 eighteen to twenty-three quarts of milk daily. 

 He gives a confident opinion that the quantity 

 of water drunk by a cow is an important test of 

 her value as a milker." 



These tests, it appears, were made on cows 

 much below the standard of first-rate milkers, 

 and they show that a large part of the water 

 consumed was demanded by the animal system. 

 Cows drinking upward of fifty quarts of water 

 gave only eighteen to twenty-three quarts of 

 milk. It will be readily seen that a much 

 greater amount will be demanded by cows giv- 

 ing from thirty-two to forty quarts daily. For 

 such cows a very large amount of water is re- 

 quired. 



In handling milch cows it must be borne in 

 mind that the mere mechanical act of milking 

 has not a little to do with a cow's production. 

 Every drop a cow will give must be taken from 

 her night and morning. A poor milker who 

 half milks the cows will let them go dry very 

 quickly. The calves having had their fill, every 

 cow should be carefully stripped, and the cows 

 that are not suckling calves should be milked 

 out carefully. This should be kept np till with- 

 in two months to six weeks of the next calving. 

 Of course there is a wide variation in the time 



