DAIRY CATTLE 



463 



stables. Where cows are kept in sheds, 

 the frequency with which the manure is 

 removed varies from once a day to once 

 a year. With two exceptions, the dairy- 

 men reported that the cows could be 

 kept sufficiently warm in sheds, even in 

 winter. Without exception, the dairy- 

 men reported that the cows kept cleaner 

 in sheds than if stabled; that the milk- 

 ing stable remained in a more sanitary 

 condition and that cleaner milk could 

 be produced by this method. The an- 

 swers returned by these eighteen dairy- 

 men to the question regarding the chief 

 advantages of keeping cows in the sheds 

 are particularly interesting. The dairy- 

 men reported that this method saves 

 labor in cleaning stables and in feeding 

 roughage; that the cows are kept more 

 comfortable and cleaner; that labor is 

 saved in handling manure and in bed- 

 ding stock; that a larger amount of 

 manure is made and preserved in a 

 better condition. 



Advantages of open shed — On ac- 

 count of the favorable report from 

 dairymen who had used the sheds, 

 Fraser conducted a test on this matter 

 at the Illinois experiment station. It 

 was found that there is less difficulty in 

 providing cows with fresh air; that 

 they remain more healthy and have bet- 

 ter appetites than when kept in stables. 

 A considerable saving was noticed in the 

 mnnure and a great saving in the labor 

 of caring for the cows. Fraser calls 

 .attention to the fact that on many dairy 

 farms the problem of getting sufficient 

 help is a serious one and the saving of 

 labor is therefore a strong point in fa- 

 vor of keeping cows in sheds. 



Effect of the ration on the milk — It 

 has long been the hope of the dairyman 

 to devise a ration and a system of feed- 

 ing by means of which the amount of 

 milk and particularly the percentage of 

 milk fat could be greatly increased. 

 The almost innumerable experiments 

 which have been made along this line 

 indicate that the quantity of the milk 

 can be greatly influenced by the amount 

 and character of the ration, but that the 

 percentage of fat in the milk is largely 

 an individual matter with each cow, 

 varying from time to time, but not much 

 influenced by the character or size of the 

 ration. Wheeler, in New York, found 

 that the milk flow was most increased 

 when the greatest increase in the total 

 nutrients of the ration was made with- 

 out regard to slight changes in its pro- 



tein content. The most striking shrink- 

 age in milk flow occurred when the re- 

 duction of total nutrients was greatest, 

 although this was usually accompanied 

 with a reduction of the amount of pro- 

 tein. An increase in the total amount 

 of nutrients in the ration resulted in a 

 maintenance of the milk flow without 

 diminution over a longer period than 

 would otherwise have been the case; 

 while a reduction of the amount of nu- 

 trients below a ration of normal size oc- 

 casioned twice the normal shrinkage in 

 milk yield. It was observed that when 

 the protein was increased, the milk 

 flow was maintained at a high level for 

 a longer period, while a reduction of the 

 amount of protein caused a great fall- 

 ing off in milk yield. In narrowing the 

 ration after feeding what may be con- 

 sidered a normal ration, the effectiveness 

 of the feed remained about the same, 

 while when the ration was made too wide 

 more feed was required for each pound 

 of butter fat. 



Feed and butter fat — Woll, in Wis- 

 consin, made extensive experiments to 

 determine the relation of feed to the 

 production of milk and butter fat. In 

 these experiments it appeared that the 

 production of milk and butter fat de- 

 pends upon a number of factors, but 

 chiefly the individual capacity of the 

 cow. Other factors worth mentioning 

 are the age of the cow, amount and 

 character of the ration and period of 

 lactation. On an average, in Woll's ex- 

 periments, cows consumed over and 

 above the amount of feed required for 

 maintenance, between 26 and 80 pounds 

 of dry matter for each 100 pounds of 

 milk and between Qy 2 and 18% pounds 

 for each pound of butter. The amount 

 of food required for a given amount of 

 milk or butter fat was nearly three 

 times as great toward the close of the 

 period of lactation as at the begin- 

 ning, and heifers required more feed a 

 100 pounds of milk than older cows. It 

 appeared that the ration of the dairy 

 cow influenced the quality of the milk to 

 the extent that the cow will produce 

 a maximum amount of milk of the 

 highest fat content of which she is ca- 

 pable on rations containing a relatively 

 high percentage of nitrogenous sub- 

 stances. 



•Source of mtlk fat — Jordan and 

 others in New York have attempted to 

 determine the exact source of milk fat 

 in the feed. It was found that decided 



