FIFTY-FIRST ANNUAL CONVENTION G7 



ently, there is something wrong with the herd that tests so 

 low. In our section of the state, we have Holsteins testing 

 as low as three per cent. 



As I said, when the cattle grazed over virgin soils, 

 crops were high in minerals, but we have depleted the soil 

 fertility, also in the mineral element, and as a result the 

 average crop on our farms today, unless given extreme care, 

 is not as high in mineral matter as it should be. 



The practice of limeing the soil in Southern Illinois is 

 going to make a great correction in the mineral matter of 

 the feed grown on that soil. That feed is most certainly 

 going to yield you larger returns. The crop, after it has 

 yielded a feed for the cow, is going to yield you more than 

 the same quantities grown on again. 



I am trying to i)rhi:.^ your minds around to the point of 

 v*^hy cattle need minerals. 



A dairy cow is a most unusual manufacturer. Usually 

 a manufacturer, if he is short one material in llie making 

 up of his product may make it up some other way. With 

 a dairy cow, not so. She is a very bright creature. If she 

 makes milk, she is going to make standard milk. as nearly 

 as she can. But she may be short of minerals. 



Very, very interesting results have been uncovered in 

 late years on the problem of minerals. We have all had 

 before us from time to time speakers discussing various 

 vitamines, their presence in various food products, etc. 

 Vitamine "D" was one of the most recently discovered. The 

 first investigators thought that Vitamine ''D" was a peculi- 

 arity of certain products which seemed to enable an animal 

 to digest minerals and found particularly in cod liver oil. 

 The University of Wisconsin must be given a very great 

 deal of credit for determining what Vitamine "D" really is. 



You take a dairy cow or a child, for instance. Put her 

 in a room such as this, put in a ventilating system, keep 

 the windows down and the blinds up so the sunlight may 

 come in, and feed her every conceivable food — and that 

 child within a very short time, no matter how much exer- 

 cise, no matter how much food, that child will develop 

 rickets. 



