FOOD AND SIZE OF DAIRY COWS. 323 



just three-tenths of 780, each of his cows (omitting the 

 odd K lb. of butter per cow) produces annually three-tenths 

 of her live weight in butter." 



The conclusion here is based upon an assumption con- 

 tradicting his statement, that the food of support decreases 

 in proportion as the size increases. Had the food actually 

 consumed by these herds been noted, the results, compared, 

 would have been of great value. But, although we have 

 no carefully-tried experiments in this country to determine 

 the comparative economy in milk production of large and 

 small cows, and the opinions of those who keep the dif- 

 ferent breeds is in accordance with the size kept, yet this 

 question has received practical attention in Europe, where, 

 by numerous experiments, the relation of food to product, 

 in dairy cows of different weights, has been very well 

 settled, so far as to quantity of milk ; but as to quantity of 

 butter, we are not aware of any experiments settling it. 



Baron Ockel, of Frankenfelde, experimented with Ayr- 

 shires and Holland cows, with the following result : The 

 average weight of the Ayrshires was 806 Ibs., and of the 

 Hollanders 1,016 Ibs. The Ayrshires ate 3.3 Ibs. of hay 

 for each 100 Ibs. live weight, while the Holland cows con- 

 sumed 2.8 Ibs. Of the feed consumed, l-60th of their live 

 weight only was required as food of support to the Hol- 

 landers, while l-50th was required as food of support to 

 the Ayrshires. He then tested the effect of size on the 

 same breed. He took four Holland cows, the two heaviest 

 of which weighed 2,112 Ibs., on June 14th, and the lighter 

 two 1,537 Ibs. He then placed the two heaviest in one 

 stall, and the two lightest in another, and fed them sep- 

 arately for 16 days, the feed being weighed as fed to each 

 lot, and, if not all eaten, what remained was weighed and 

 deducted. Their live weight remained unchanged during 

 the time with the following result : 



