PRODUCTION, COMPOSITION AND CHARACTERISTICS 5 



milk are called by contrast beef-cattle. As examples of 



beef-cows look at the Shorthorns or the Herefords or the 



Polled Angus at the next State Fair you visit and notice 



the square, deep, smooth body with muscles and fat 



strongly developed in 



contrast to the loosely 



built, bony milk-cow 



with its tendency to 



turn all its food into 



milk at the expense of 



the body. There are, 



however, also among 



the Shorthorns, strains 



p 1 .„ I , hhorthorn, milk-strain 



ot good milkers, but as 



a rule these beef-breeds are not selected for the dairy 

 farm, and ''dual purpose'' cows are not usually profit- 

 able. 



Food and Water. — The natural food for the dairy 

 cow in summer is grass, and where rich, succulent grass 

 and clover grow in abundance, as on the fertile meadows 

 of Holland and the Channel Islands, or the Swiss Alps, 

 the highly cultivated Danish farms, the eastern and 

 middle-western states of America, etc., dairying early 

 reached its highest development. As the value of milk 

 and its products for human food became more gener- 

 ally recognized and all-the-year-round production was 

 forced, it was found necessary to feed the cows heavily 

 in winter too, not only hay, but also grain and succulent 

 food such as beets and corn-ensilage (green corn cut, 

 stalks, cobs and all, and packed in a silo), and science 

 was taken into play to formulate Balanced Rations con- 

 taining the proper amounts and proportions of the va- 

 rious nutrients — Protein, Fat and Carbohydrates. It 



