166 DAIRY HERD MANAGEMENT 



in about 100 pounds of grass per day, and will then calculate 

 the number of steps and bites the cow must take on a short 

 pasture to secure 100 pounds, it will readily be believed that she 

 does not continue to labor until the full amount has been 

 obtained, but rather that when the hunger is fairly satisfied she 

 ceases her search and lies down to rest. She has probably 

 already walked a greater distance than is really good for her 

 and yet has secured an insufficient quantity of feed. Her main- 

 tenance then would be above normal and the supply of feed 

 below normal, thus reducing the quantity of feed consumed 

 beyond maintenance, to an exceedingly small amount. 



Protection Against Flies. — The amount of harm done the 

 dairy herd by annoyance from flies is not at all a settled matter. 

 Two experiment stations, Connecticut and Missouri, conducted 

 tests to indicate the influence of the fly and, entirely inde- 

 pendently of each other, came to the conclusion that the damage 

 done by the fly had been overestimated and that the slacking off 

 in milk yield was due far more largely to a scarcity of feed and 

 short pasture. On the other hand, we find experienced and 

 keenly observing dairymen who attribute the falling off in milk 

 during fly season very largely indeed to the labor and pain 

 endured by the cows due to the flies. This is particularly the 

 case in some of our newer northern sections where various 

 " deer," " moose " and " night " flies are particularly abundant. 



It is possible, therefore, that the difference of opinion is in 

 part due to the difference in the sort of fly common in the section 

 considered. 



Supplementing the pasture by means of a crop (of Canadian 

 field peas and oats) to be cut and fed green when pastures are 

 short and dry, is often necessary in the maintenance of milk 

 flow. If this is contemplated, about one acre should be used for 

 every twenty cows to be fed. Canada field peas and oats sown 

 as early as the ground can be worked, and followed by a similar 

 quantity sown when the first has grown to a height of two or 

 three inches, makes a good soiling crop for the northern states. 

 A more reliable crop to be fed later in the season will be found 

 in fodder corn, drilled thickly, at the rate of thirty-five to forty 



