MANURE ON DAIRY-FARMS. Ill 



vent her losing flesh. If not supplied with the requisite amount 

 of food for this purpose, she will take enough fat and flesh from 

 her own body to make up the deficiency; and if she cannot get it, 

 the machine will stop in other words, the cow will die. 



We have, then, a machine that costs say $100 ; that will last on 

 an average eight years; that requires careful management; that 

 must have constant watching, or it will be liable to get out of 

 order, and that requires, merely to keep it running, say 20 Ibs. 

 of hay per day. Now, what do we get in return ? If we furnish 

 only 20 Ibs. of hay per day we get nothing except manure. 

 If we furnish 25 Ibs. of hay per day, or its equivalent, we get, 

 say half a pound of cheese per day. If we furnish 30 Ibs. we 

 get one pound of cheese per day, or 365 Ibs. a year. We may 

 not get the one pound of cheese every day in the year ; sometimes 

 the cow, instead of giving milk, is furnishing food for her embryo 

 calf, or storing up fat and flesh; and this fat and flesh will be used 

 by and by to produce milk. But it all comes from the food eaten 

 by the cow ; and is equal to one pound of cheese per day for 30 

 Ibs. of hay or its equivalent consumed ; 20 Ibs. of hay gives 

 us nothing; 25 Ibs. of hay gives us half a pound of cheese, or 

 40 Ibs. of cheese from one ton of hay; 30 Ibs. gives us one 

 pound, or G6J Ibs. of cheese from one ton of hay; 35 Ibs. 

 gives us li Ibs. , or 85 s / 7 Ibs. of cheese to one ton of hay ; 40 

 Ibs. gives us 2 Ibs. of cheese, or 100 Ibs. of cheese from one ton 

 of hay ; 45 Ibs. gives us 24- Ibs. of cheese, or 111 Ibs. of cheese 

 from one ton of hay ; 50 Ibs. gives us 3 Ibs. of cheese, or 120 Ibs. of 

 cheese from one ton of hay. 



On this basis, one ton of hay, in excess of tlie amount required to 

 keep up the animal heat and sustain the vital functions, gives us 200 

 Ibs. of cheese. The point I wish to illustrate by these figures, 

 which are of course hypothetical, is, that it is exceedingly desirable 

 to get animals that will eat, digest, and assimilate a large amount of 

 food, over and above that required to keep up the heat of the 

 body and sustain the vital functions. When a cow eats only 25 

 Ibs. of hay a day, it requires one ton of hay to produce 40 

 Ibs. of cheese. But if we could ^induce her to eat, digest, and 

 assimilate 50 Ibs. a day, one ton would produce 120 Ibs. of 

 cheese. If a cow eats 33 Ibs. of hay per day, or its equivalent 

 in grass, it will require four acres of land, with a productive 

 capacity equal to 1 tons of hay per acre, to keep her a year. 

 Such a cow, according to the figures given above, will produce 

 401^ Ibs. of cheese a year, or its equivalent in growth, A 

 farm of 80 acres, on this basis, would support 20 cows, yielding, 



