256 THE MANAGEMENT AND FEEDING OF CATTLE 



quantities to be fed cannot be named, so varying are the 

 conditions, but they should be enough to maintain, first, 

 an undiminished milk flow, and, second, adequate flesh in 

 the cows. Any considerable loss from either source 

 would be more harmful at such a time than at other sea- 

 sons, occurring, as it were, on the advent of the most 

 trying season for the maintenance of undiminished vigor 

 and production in the cows. In winter dairying, the 

 maintenance of both at such a time is especially im- 

 portant. 



Carrying power of pastures. — The carrying power 

 of pastures is not of easy determination. That this is 

 true will be readily manifest, when the factors that lead 

 to variation in the nutrients as to kind and quantity that 

 the pastures furnish are considered. These factors in- 

 clude a difference in soil, variation in the varieties of 

 grass, a difference in climate and season, and a differ- 

 ence in the management of the pastures. Notwithstand- 

 ing, information that would throw light even approx- 

 imately on the carrying power of pastures in the 

 individual states, and on the production that may rea- 

 sonably be expected from them under normal conditions, 

 would be helpful to dairymen. 



Such a problem is certainly within the field of 

 experimentation. Considerable light has been secured 

 through experiment as to both the carrying and produc- 

 ing power of pastures when growing beef, hence it should 

 be possible to work out the same when producing milk. 

 The information would be valuable that told which 

 grasses in certain states could be relied upon to bring 

 maximum production in milk. It is probable that 

 medium red clover would be found king among the 

 grasses in milk-producing power, because of its high 

 protein content and its continuity in growth through 

 the growing season. In the judgment of the author, 

 the production in milk from an acre of clover pasture 

 on irrigated land in the mountain valleys of the West 



