CHAPTER XXVI 

 FACTORS INFLUENCING MILK PRODUCTION 



The dairy cow as a producer of food occupies a very liigli 

 place in animal economy. As a producer of meat she is of 

 secondary importance, Ijut her milk furnishes the most easily 

 digested food and, under fair conditions, she returns in it 

 a pound of nutriment at less cost than comes from an equal 



Figure l'J7. — Ttie dairy cow as a producer of food. This cow made nearly 

 2U.UU0 pounds of milk in a year. Pliotograph by the autlior. 



amount of food from beef cattle, sheep, or swine. This fact 

 has been brought out in an interesting way by Dr. C. H. 

 Eckles, in his feeding experiments at the Missouri 

 Experiment Station.* A comparison was made of the milk 

 produced by a Holstein-Friesian cow in a year and the car- 

 cass of a fat steer weighing 1,250 pounds. The cow gave 



♦Dairy Cattle and Milk Production. Kill. 



300 



