76 N. C. AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



fleshy shoulders and coarse withers. Such cows often use a large 

 portion of the food supplied them in putting flesh upon their own body 

 rather than for producing milk and butter economically. Figures 3 

 and 4 demonstrate clearly the difference between a Jersey heifer, 

 showing good dairy form, and another of the thick fleshy type which 

 shows considerable masculinity in having a short heavy head and neck. 

 The records of these two heifers brings out clearly the ability of the 

 one showing the dairy type to produce milk and butter, while the 

 record of the other is just about what we could expect considering her 

 conformation. Both heifers have been kept under favorable conditions 

 and have been well fed. While one has been making a splendid profit 

 the other has barely paid for her feed. 



Feeding Dairy Cows. 



The cost of keeping a mature dairy cow in the various States ranges 

 from $42, as reported by some of the Middle Western States, to $80 

 to $90 per year in some of the Eastern States. This wide range in 

 cost is due to the range in price of feeding stuffs in the various States 

 and to the length of time which the cows must be confined to the stable. 

 Good permanent pastures also greatly reduce the cost of maintaining a 

 herd. There is no phase of the dairy industry that requires more care- 

 ful attention than the feeding. Neglect and oversight on the part of 

 the feeder will often greatly reduce the profits if not make the herd 

 unprofitable. In feeding the dairy cow it must be borne in mind that 

 the feeding of the animal is for the production of human food and that 

 to secure best results she must receive foods she can handle economically 

 and produce a maximum amount of milk from them. 



The balanced ration which 1ms come to be quite generally known is 

 meant one from which the animal receives sufficient quantity of each 

 nutrient of the food so that it can maintain itself and do satisfactory 

 work in addition. The work in the case of the dairy cow is the pro- 

 duction of milk and butterfat. The work of the draft horse is haul- 

 ing. With the sheep, it is growth of fleece or flesh. For the pig growth 

 or fat production, and the beef steer meat production. In other words 

 a ration can be balanced so as to meet the requirements of any animal 

 or class of animals. 



It is a well known fact that plants in some form or other form the 

 bulk of the food of domestic animals. For plant growth certain con- 

 ditions are necessary, such as light, heat and the presence of available 

 plant food in the form of various combinations of elements in solution 

 in the moisture of the soil. The roots of the plant absorb this plant food 

 in the form of sulphates, phosphates, chlorides and nitrates, taking 

 it up through the stems until it reaches the leaves where, by the aid of 

 the sun and the peculiar structure of the cells of the leaf, it is broken 

 up, reuniting with elements which come in through the leaves and then 

 is stored as plant tissue which serves as animal food. Considering the 

 plant from a food standpoint, it is found that the elements have been 

 rearranged into what are known as the protein group, those containing 

 nitrogen which are used in forming muscle, milk, wool, etc. ; carbohy- 



