SPECIAL FEEDING. 333 



stand long against an entire change of the food and sur- 

 roundings which produced them. 



That you can take an ordinary cow, of good constitution 

 and form, and greatly improve both the quality and quan- 

 tity of milk, we have demonstrated in several instances. 

 Let us take some examples : First, a heifer with her third 

 calf, at four years old, that had in her first and second 

 years given a very moderate quantity of milk ; and, on a 

 test during the fourth week of her second lactatfon, made 

 5 pounds of butter from 150 pounds of milk, and during 

 the fourth week of her third season made 5&$ pounds of 

 butter from 160 pounds of milk. At the close of this sec- 

 ond test we began the experiment of developing her. She 

 was a cow of rather spare habit. It was the latter part of 

 January, and her ordinary food had been timothy and 

 clover hay, with one peck of carrots daily. 



The additional food began with one pint of oil-meal and 

 three quarts of bran per day, which was gradually increased 

 during the first month to six quarts of bran ; the second 

 month, to one quart of oil-meal, six quarts of bran and 

 two quarts of corn-meal ; and this feed was continued till 

 grass came, when one pint of oil-meal and four quarts of 

 bran were continued through the summer. A test at the 

 end of the third month gave a yield per week of 6 pounds 

 of butter from 170 pounds of milk. A test in July gave 

 6K pounds of butter in seven days, from 165 pounds of 

 milk. During the whole of this season her yield of milk 

 was much more uniform, though there was but a small 

 increase in quantity or improvement in quality. Before 

 dropping her fourth calf, at five years old, she was fed 

 specially for six weeks with one quart of oil-meal and four 

 quarts of bran and one quart of corn-meal per day. This 

 had a remarkable effect in developing her udder. Had to 

 milk her a few days before coming in. Fed her, after 

 coming in, as the year before. Tested her milk during 14 



