FOOD AND SIZE OF DAIRY COWS. 327 



cows per day, and he thus counted them as 9 to 10, in pro- 

 portion of food ; or the small cows consumed 45 Ibs. of 

 hay, or its equivalent, while the large consume 50 Ibs. 

 According to the specified yield, they severally require of 

 food for the production of one quart of milk : 



Holland cows, little more than 5.00 Ibs., hay value. 



Breitenburg cows, little more than 6.25 " 



Tondern cows, little more than 7.00 " 



Ayrshire cows, little more than 9 . 00 " 



The Holland cows weigh from 1,200 to 1,400 Ibs. 



The Breitenburg cows weigh from 1,100 " 1,300 



The Tondern cows weigh from 900 " 1,000 



The Ayrshire cows weigh from 800 " 900 



By this it appears that the large cows were the more 

 economical milk producers. Here Dr. Rhode, at the head 

 of the Eldena Agricultural School, found a pretty wide 

 difference between the Hollanders and Ayrshires ; and we 

 are quite inclined to think, if the food of each separate 

 class of animals had been accurately kept through the 

 year, the difference could not have been so large as he 

 makes the production from the same food 80 per cent. 

 in favor of the Holland cows. Dr. Khode remarks on this: 



" It cannot be questioned, from these results, to which 

 race belongs the advantage. They value none in Eldena 

 for milk but the Holland cows." 



It is to be regretted that at so celebrated a school of 

 agriculture the most careful record should not be kept of 

 the exact difference in the amount of food required for 

 cows of the different breeds and sizes, and also the com- 

 parative butter as well as milk yield of the cows, so that a 

 just conclusion might be arrived at as to the productive 

 value of the two breeds, fed under precisely the same 

 circumstances. Still the experiments have an important 

 bearing in the evidence as to the relative cost of feeding 

 large and small animals. 



So far, then, as the evidence is before us, we must con- 

 clude that size all other things being equal is favorable 



