90 THE COW 



Good dairymen have always recognized that ease 

 and comfort and content on the part of the cows 

 are great factors in profitable milk production. 

 The ideal would be an individual box-stall, say ten 

 feet square, for every cow where she might freely 

 move around or lie stretched out at perfect ease 

 while she chewed her cud and manufactured milk. 

 Unfortunately this system occupies bam room so 

 lavishly and uneconomically and is so inconvenient 

 and extravagant of bedding if decent cleanliness 

 is to be maintained, that it is almost never fol- 

 lowed in large herds as a regular practice. How- 

 ever, nearly all breeders of pure-bred cows who 

 are making advanced registry records and wish to 

 secure the last possible ounce of milk without 

 counting the cost, find that they attain the maxi- 

 mum results by giving each cow the freedom of 

 her separate box-stall. Of course, on every dairy 

 farm there ought to be a few box-stalls for cows 

 needing particular attention and especially for 

 those about to calve. 



The cow is probably less sensitive to fairly low 

 temperatures than we have sometimes been led to 

 think. Thousands of years ago her ancestors 

 passed the fairly severe winters of northern Europe 

 with no shelter other than that afforded by the 

 forests. As long as she has a dry coat and a dry 

 bed, she probably prefers a cool rather than a warm 

 and stuffy stable. Eain worries her not at all until 

 the cold storms of autumn come on, when she 



