FEEDING DAIRY CATTLE 129 



best made either by having green crops on hand that may be 

 cut for feed, or by feeding silage or alfalfa hay during this 

 period. The use of green crops cut and taken to the animals 

 is known as the soiling system. In recent years the use of 

 corn silage for summer feeding is meeting with the greatest 

 favor and promises to displace the practice of soiling to a 

 large extent, because it is much less expensive. For summer 

 feeding a silo of small diameter is recommended in order that 

 the silage may be fed fast enough to prevent spoiling. If the 

 silage is not needed it can be kept for winter use. 



120. Amount to Feed. One of the most common mistakes 

 made in feeding cows is in not feeding them enough. If a 

 cow does not respond in milk yield when well fed, she should 

 be ;-old. The cheapest production is obtained from a high- 

 producing cow well fed. The cow may be looked upon as 

 a milk-producing machine, which we supply with the raw 

 material in the form of feed. This raw material is manu- 

 factured into milk. The same rule holds as with any manu- 

 facturing plant; it is run most economically near its full 

 capacity. One should understand that, first of all, the animal 

 must use a certain amount of its food to maintain the body. 

 This is called the ration of maintenance and is practically 

 the same whether the animal is being utilized for full capacity 

 or merely being kept without producing any milk at all. 

 About 50 per cent of all the feed she can consume is used by 

 a medium dairy cow for this purpose. It is evident that 

 after going to this expense it is the poorest economy to re- 

 fuse; to give the other 50 per cent of a full ration, which would 

 be used entirely for milk production. Since only half of a 

 full ration is available for making milk, it is clear that if 

 through mistaken ideas of economy the cow is fed 75 per cent 

 of a full ration the amount she has available for producing 



