THIRTY-FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION. 195 



taken from the ration. This means reducing her feed to take 

 off the amount used for storing fat on the body ; in other words, 

 to feed her only what she will utilize for milk production. This 

 means feeding enough to maintain a practically uniform body 

 weight. In every large herd where the amount fed is not care- 

 fully regulated, we find errors made in both classes. We find the 

 heavy producing cows being under-fed, and we find the light 

 producing cows over-fed and allowed to accumulate fat. 



Relation of Live Weight to Proper Feeding. — The live 

 weight of a cow is a good index of whether the cow is being fed 

 a proper amount or not, but good judgment must be used in regu- 

 lating the ration by observing this condition. We must expect 

 that a cow will lose weight in the first few weeks of her milking 

 period, but after this period is past there is no reason why she 

 need change much in weight for several months, and this is the 

 period when the greater part of the milk production is secured. 

 It will not mean of course, that the animal should not be allowed 

 to gain in weight during the latter end of the milking period, 

 as this is necessary on account of the development of the foetus, 

 and since it is natural for the animal to carry some fat on her 

 body at carving time. 



It does mean, however, that in order to feed a herd of cows 

 economically it will not do to feed all the same quantity of grain 

 whether they are giving a gallon of milk a day or whether they 

 are giving four gallons, and it means that when a cow in the 

 middle part of her lactation period is putting on weight that she 

 is being fed more than she needs and will give just as much milk 

 if the feed is cut down somewhat. It also means that if a cer- 

 tain animal is losing weight that sufficient feed is not being given, 

 and if the deficiency is not supplied it will not be long before the 

 milk production will come down to correspond with the amount 

 of feed available. 



Feeding as Individuals. — In connection with this subject of 

 the amount to feed cows it needs to be pointed out that it is only 

 possible to feed a bunch of cows economically when they are fed 

 as individuals and not as a herd. A too common practice, even 



