434 Feeds and Feeding. 



703. Preparation of feed. — The cow giving a large flow of milk 

 is working as hard as the horse ever does, and, this true, any grain 

 given her should be ground or crushed if not otherwise easy of mas- 

 tication and digestion. Corn and oats should generally, and wheat, 

 rye, barley, kafir, and milo always, be ground or "chopped," and 

 roots should be sliced or pulped. Because the cow takes kindly to 

 dry feed and everything which enters the paunch is quickly soaked 

 and softened, there seems no occasion for feeding slops, nor is there 

 any advantage from cooking ordinary feeding stuffs. (332) 



704. Generous feed and care. — Since it requires something like 

 73 per ct. of all the well-fed cow eats to support her body and man- 

 ufacture the milk she produces, how short-sighted is that dairyman 

 who would withhold any part of the remaining 27 per ct. of feed 

 that the cow can possibly eat ! (592) Having reached the point of lib- 

 eral feeding, the wise dairyman will next study the capacity and 

 needs of each individual cow in order that all may receive the largest 

 profitable allowance. 



During the heated periods of summer, cows are more comfortable 

 in darkened stables away from blood-sucking flies than in pastures. 

 In such cases soilage should be fed by day, and the herd turned into 

 the yard or pasture at night. Knowing the difficulties of bringing 

 cows back to their normal milk flow after a shrinkage caused by 

 scant feeding, the prudent dairyman provides at all times not only 

 abundant feed but also all possible comforts. (602) 



705. Water, salt. — Cows require a large amount of water for 

 their bodily needs and for the milk. Creatures of habit, they are 

 well content if once each day they have ample opportunity to easily 

 secure all the water they can then drink. Some devices for stall 

 watering are actually dangerous, for while the drinking basin may be 

 kept clean, the supply pipe coming into it from below retains any 

 saliva which may drop into it from the basin. Such material quickly 

 putrefies and steadily contaminates the water which rises thru the 

 pipe into the basin. The dairyman who boasts of a spring or creek 

 to which his cows must daily journey, often in inclement weather, will 

 usually find a conveniently located well with windmill or gasoline 

 lift far superior. (87, 452, 612) 



The studies of Babcock and Carlyle show that dairy cows must 

 have salt to thrive. (91) Near the sea, salt in addition to that con- 

 tained in the feeding stuffs may not be essential, but elsewhere it 

 should be liberally supplied, the allowance increasing with the amount 



