194 ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



It is not all in the handling of feed either. We keep the 

 cows in a warm place, don't let them out at all, to speak of, 

 unless the day is very nice. We do not dry any of our feed and 

 we do not buy any feed. We feed all we can raise to the cows 

 in almost the same condition as the feed is harvested. And, by 

 the way, I want to say right here, while I admit that the question 

 about ensilage has come up, I have not been able to use it, as we 

 are making butter to some extent, but part of our milk has been 

 used for filling physicians' perscriptions, and they object to the 

 use of ensilage — so I cannot say anything on the ensilage subject. 



We have cut our fodder in the fall or early in the winter, 

 stack it the same as you would wheat or oats, cover it sometimes 

 with straw and sometimes no covering at all, and we did shred 

 that fodder, but we cannot find any advantage in that. We have 

 been cutting it until this year, but now we are feeding it whole, 

 not even taking the corn off — feeding the corn fodder entire as 

 it comes from the field. We find so far that we have just as 

 good results as when we ground our feed, put it in and gave the 

 cow every inducement possible to eat. She eats it and she seems 

 to be just as hungry for it and I know, so far as my bank book 

 is concerned, that she is just as productive and we are at a great 

 deal less expense. 



Now you will say " There is a waste in feeding cattle in 

 this manner." I say there is no waste. We have about one 

 hundred hogs that follow the cattle, the same as the beef man 

 allows his hogs to follow his cattle. We ship the hogs out and 

 we figure that what we save there is clear gain to us. Having 

 arrived at this conclusion, I could speak only on this one particu- 

 lar point today, the feeding of the cow. My time is limited ; I 

 have not had time to prepare anything, but as this was upper- 

 most in my mind, it was impossible for me to speak on anything 

 else. 



There is a man in the audience who has had a great deal 

 of experience along that line and I have made arrangements with 

 him to help me out a little along this line, as I believe more can 

 be gained by discussion of any question than can be learned by 



