CHAPTER XXIII 

 WINTER FEEDING OF DAIRY COWS 



Of all the problems confronting the keepers of the twenty- 

 two million cows in America kept for dairy purposes, adequate 

 and proper feeding is the most important at the present time. 

 Possibly because of the great variety of conditions and feed 

 stuffs, the knowledge of the best methods of feeding has been 

 very slow of development. Many discouraging statements have 

 been made regarding the productive capacity of the " average " 

 cow in the United States. It is true that the average yield is 

 far below the amount obtained by the good dairy cows and only 

 a fraction of that produced by the few outstanding leaders. 

 This difference is not by any means wholly due to the incapacity 

 of the cows themselves to do better work. The fact that many 

 of them are miserably under-fed and often housed in uncom- 

 fortable quarters has much to do with the situation. In an en- 

 deavor such as inducing cows to give more milk, one will not go 

 far vn'ong if one will study the cows' requirements on the basis of 

 what they receive when doing their best work and then imitate or 

 duplicate as nearly as possible those conditions the year round. 



Copy Nature.— Cows, while living under a more or less 

 wild condition, usually freshen in the early spring and produce 

 the greatest flow of milk during the latter part of May, June, 

 and the first half of July. By studying the conditions of this 

 season of the year and desiring to duplicate them at a season when 

 butter fat is most valuable per pound and when field work is light 

 or lacking altogether, we may find a way to more profit. 



Analyzing the question we note that there are several factors 

 influencing the returns. 



Time of Calving. — Althoiigh cows may be said naturally to 

 calve in the spring, they very readily adapt themselves to fall 

 calving. In this respect then we may arrange for a spring- 

 time flow of milk in winter. 



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