114 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



complaining that there is no money in cows anyway. Of course 

 not. The man was wrong, the selection was wrong. The 

 breeding has been wrong; the feeding was wrong. The only 

 correct thing is the result, a burned up, dried up, beefy cow. 



Many dairy writers say that a cow is a machine, and returns 

 you a profit only after she has appropriated enough food daily 

 for her own support. Well, that is not my idea of a dairy cow. 

 A. true dairy cow will return to you a certain proportion of milk 

 if yoa feed a milk ration. So the point is, to combine the foods 

 in a proper manner to contain the standard amount of protein 

 carbohydrates and fat. Then feed all the cow will safely con- 

 sume, but see that she eats it up clean and is greedy for the next 

 meal. Corn, oats and bran each one third by weight make an 

 ideal standard ration if you desire to feed ground grain. 



Now the question of profit is affected greatly by the manner 

 in which we make this food combination. 



The usual way is to plant corn three or four kernels in a hill, 

 husk it in the fall, put it in the crib. Sow the oats, thresh 

 them and put in the granary. 



Feeding time comes on. You go to the crib and fill the 

 Avagon box with corn, fill a number of sacks with oats and 

 take the load to the nearest grist mill, which is anywhere 

 from one to five miles. Probably you must wait an hour 

 or more for your turn to unload, and possibly by waiting 

 another hour or two you may get your grist, or you may 

 have to go home without it and return the next day. You pay 

 Mr. Miller $1.25 per ton, leave your cobs and take your chances 

 on a hundred pounds shrinkage. Thus it goes for a few years; 

 then you make a heroic resolve to buy a mill and power of your 

 own, and do this grinding yourself. Very well, that is a long 

 step in the right direction. 



You buy a mill that costs seventy-five dollars and a power 

 costing as much more, and you think that you have solved the 

 problem. But alas, the cold, stormy weather of winter soon 

 presents the disagreeable features of that system; for if you have 

 ever dug a power out of a snow bank, thawed out the oil can 

 with a fire from a bunch of hay, and endured a stiff north easter 



