FEEDING DAIRY CATTLE. 329 



the beet appetites and the largest digestive power are to be 

 sought for the best possible machines for turning food 

 into milk. 



FEEDING DAIRY CATTLE. 



We have treated of the selection of dairy cows, and the 

 effect of size upon the economy of milk production. We 

 are now prepared to discuss the effect of food and care 

 upon dairy stock. And here the author must be pardoned 

 for quoting a few paragraphs from a paper which he read 

 before the American Dairymen's Association, in January, 

 1878. If dairymen could only be impressed with the fact, 

 and firmly believe that whatsoever is produced in beef, 

 milk or wool, must come from the food which the animal 

 eats, what a great and salutary change would at once take 

 place all over the country ! 



There is not a movement made by any creature that 

 must not be compensated for by the food. How directly 

 this bears upon the profits of the dairyman ! If cows are 

 allowed to go two miles, or even one mile, to pasture, or 

 anyone is allowed to misuse them, it must be paid for in 

 food. If cows are driven hurriedly, or chased by dogs, the 

 quality of their milk is changed: it becomes poor defi- 

 cient in oil the nervous excitement uses it up. How evi- 

 dent, then, is it, that all exercise must be paid for in food, 

 and that the dairyman should most judiciously regulate 

 this exercise ! 



Again : there is not one degree of heat that is not pro- 

 duced by the food. The slightest change affects the food. 

 If cows are exposed to a temperature of 15 degrees below 

 zero, food enough must be consumed by the animal to 

 overcome the effects of this intense cold. 



We want to emphasize this great law of equivalence. 

 There must be something paid for everything. Something 

 cannot be produced from nothing. 



