FOOD I'OR MILCH COWS IN SUMMER 257 



would be, in a sense, phenomenal. It would be a guess 

 to state the area of pasture that would properly carry 

 a cow in milk through the season, the elements that may 

 lead to a variation are so many. In areas northward, 

 the opinion is common that two to three acres of Ken- 

 tucky bluegrass are necessary to carry a cow properly 

 through the summer. It would seem reasonable to ex- 

 pect, however, that where permanent pastures mixed in 

 character can be grown, they could be so managed that 

 one acre would sustain a cow through the grazing sea- 

 son. Where this can be done with cows well chosen, a 

 rich return would result to the dairyman. 



Because of the great variations in the carrying 

 power of pastures in different seasons, the aim should 

 be to have them in excess of the needs rather than short 

 of them. If the assumption is true that grazing under 

 existing conditions can be more cheaply furnished than 

 other food to cows in milk, the importance of such an 

 aim is emphasized. A shortage in the grazing means a 

 lessened producing power in the pastures and a needless 

 expenditure of energy on the part of the cows when 

 grazing. An excess in such grazing is by no means all 

 lost. It serves as mulch, which usually tends to in- 

 crease subsequent growth. Happily the shortage may 

 be met by furnishing soiling food. But, unless the 

 latter can be furnished more cheaply and more suitably 

 than grazing, it would not be prudent to grow it with 

 a view to reduce beyond a reasonable limit the area 

 of grazing. But, as labor becomes cheap, relative in- 

 crease in soiling food and decrease in the grazing area 

 becomes justifiable. 



The producing power of pastures for cows in milk, 

 as for other stock, may be greatly increased by the way 

 in which they are managed. Their power to produce is 

 decreased by close grazing, by the increase of weeds, and 

 by the loss of succulence. The first and second of these in- 

 fluences may be almost entirely prevented by the exercise 



