FOOD 135 



For summer feeding good sheltered pastures are de- 

 sirable, so situated that the animals have no distance to go 

 before reaching their sheds, and where they are free from 

 interruption and shaded from the sun. There are some 

 who prefer to keep their cows housed during the day and 

 turned out at night, and others who keep them out con- 

 tinuously so long as the weather is suitable. 



During the summer they may be grazed or soiled accord- 

 ing to convenience. There is nothing like grass for im- 

 proving milk,_ but it is desirable to give in addition daily a 

 certain amount of linseed cake or crushed beans, three or 

 four pounds of either, bearing in mind the great drain on 

 the sj'stem which heavy lactation represents ; it may in fact 

 be regarded as equivalent to a daily blood-letting. Other 

 green food than grass can also be given, such as clover, 

 vetches, or tares, though the latter is not generally cared 

 for as it is considered to render milk ' ropy.' 



For winter keep hay, roots, cake, beans, or peas are used ; 

 cabbage and turnips give a taste to milk, but are otherwise 

 good articles of diet. For methods of preventing them 

 tainting milk see ' Eoots.' 



In the winter feeding, linseed prepared by boiling is 

 frequently given in place of cake, and this is the practice 

 of a large dairy company, which allows each cow 1 lb. 

 linseed during the winter and | lb. during the summer, 

 the mucilage being poured over the food. In addition the 

 cows receive 5 lbs. to 6 lbs. of crushed oats, and 1 lb. of any 

 other meal daily, besides hay-chaff, roots, and occasionally 

 silage. 



In the use of silage it should be borne in mind that its 

 presence in the milking shed may easily impart a taste to 

 milk, which of all fluids is one that most readily takes up 

 any smell in its vicinity. 



The production of milk represents, as we have said, a great 

 drain on the system of some of its most valuable constituents. 

 It is the proteid tissues of the mammary gland which supply 

 both the proteid and fat found in milk ; milk is simply the 

 product of the liquefaction of the cells of the gland, so that 



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