THE FEEDING AND MANAGEMENT OF CATTLE. 471 



their progeny. At last he has a means of measuring the true worth 

 of each cow in the herd, and there is no longer any excuse for keeping 

 and feeding unprofitable animals. 



THE QUALITY OF MILK A RESULT OF BREED RATHER THAN OF FEED. 



The opinion generally prevails among dairymen that the quality of 

 milk is directly due to the feed supplied, most of them holding that- 

 certain feeds will make milk rich in fat, while other feeds will make it 

 watery and thin. The results of carefully conducted trials in order to 

 study the effects of feed on the quality of milk have generally shown 

 that the composition is quite regular and little modified by the food, 

 though the total yield of milk of course varies greatly with the feed. 

 I think in this particular case popular opinion is largely in error. With 

 certain kinds of feeds the dairyman does increase the amount of 

 butter he receives, but it is because the total amount of milk has been 

 increased and not because a higher per cent 'of fat has been put into 

 the milk. 



And when we give the matter due thought the position here 

 advanced seems the tenable one. We do not expect a fruit tree to 

 change its variety of fruit through good or poor feeding. A Baldwin 

 apple tree always produces Baldwin apples, though the number may 

 be increased or diminished by the treatment of the tree. If feed \\v:r 

 the controlling factor, the strong characteristics of the dairy breeds 

 would all disappear with the art of the feeder. Is it not more reason- 

 able to hold that we must breed for quality and feed for quantity? 



PREPARATIONS OF FOODS AND METHODS OF FEEDING. 



We know that a horse standing idle in the stable in winter will live 

 on oat straw and a little grain and keep in very fair condition. His 

 -live lowers are untaxed and utilize the coarse material without 

 diliu'ulty, but as soon as the hard work of spring comes on he not only 

 u r ood deal more feed, but, if very hard worked, the hay should 

 he rhaffed and the grain ground. The labor he performs has made 

 sueh demands upon the body that there is not energy enough left to 

 work over the coarse food and get enough out of it to make up the 

 increased wastes of the Ixxly. We should always remember that our 

 dairy cow is really performing a very large amount of work when giving 

 a large How of milk, and her food should not only be in large quantity 

 hut put in the best form possible lor easy digestion. Even with an 

 abundance of food carefully prepared, so strong are the inherent ten- 

 dencies toward milk-giving that many rows will take from their own 

 bodies a large, amount of fat stored there and put it into tlie milk. If 

 we will only route to regard our good dairy rows as working very hard 

 while giving milk *vc are iu position to treat them pro]>erly. 



