FOOD FOR MILCH COWS IN SUMMER 255 



be fed frequently that are possessed of less succulence 

 than would suffice at an earlier period, as in the autumn 

 the pastures are usually more succulent than in the sum- 

 mer. Where corn and sorghum are freely grown, they 

 furnish excellent food with which to supplement the 

 pastures. At that season the corn will be fed from the 

 shock, and the sorghum from the shock or cock, accord- 

 ing to the mode of harvesting. Corn grown for the 

 purpose, and which has produced leafy stalks and not 

 much coarse, and without great store of ears, furnishes 

 food that is highly suitable. The waste from feeding 

 corn will not be very much. It is important also that 

 the sorghum shall not be coarse, and it is especially 

 important that both shall be harvested promptly not 

 later than the early stage of the ripening. Both are 

 usually most conveniently fed in the pastures. 



Pumpkins are sometimes also fed at such a time by 

 strewing them over the pastures. To enable the cows 

 to eat them it is necessary that they shall be broken 

 open, but it is not absolutely necessary that they shall 

 be further cut into small pieces. The popular view that 

 the seeds, if consumed, are adverse to milk-giving is not 

 sustained by experience. The supply of pumpkins is 

 frequently limited. When on hand, much less labor is 

 involved in feeding them thus than if they were gath- 

 ered near the stables and fed at a later period. 



As soon as the cows are put into winter quarters 

 at night, the feeding of concentrates should begin if it 

 has not begun sooner. More commonly in practice it 

 will begin as soon as the cows are removed at night from 

 the pastures. The kind of meal to feed and the amount 

 will depend on the character of the grazing and the sup- 

 ply and nature of the soiling food, as the grazing then 

 furnished is usually furnished as grass, rather than by 

 leguminous plants, and as it is almost certain that the 

 soiling foods fed will also be non-leguminous, the meal 

 fed under such conditions should be rich in protein. The 



