FIFTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONVENTION 171 



We have here a bluegrass, side-hill pasture in the 

 month of June. The bluegrass is knee high; upon the side 

 of the hill is the big maple tree, and under that maple tree 

 stands a well bred, high producing dairy cow. Down at 

 the bottom of the hill runs the sparkling brook, and under 

 that tree the old cow lies chewing her cud. When you 

 drive her home at night to milk her, you usually get the 

 most milk you get any time during the year. 



Let us analyze conditions surrounding that cow out 

 there, and try to reproduce them in the barn in the win- 

 ter time, and see if we can get the same results. First of 

 all she has had out in that pasture the most unusual thing 

 for a dairy cow to have. What is that? That is all she 

 can eat. The most unusual thing there is on the dairy farm 

 or on the average farm is to find a dairy cow really full 

 fed. Professor Van Pelt several years ago went to, I be- 

 lieve, Arkansas, wasn't it? and got a bunch of Arkansas 

 calves and brought them up to an Iowa state county, and 

 they ran a test to determine something as to the effect of 

 under-feeding and full feeding, on a number of ordinary 

 cattle, a number of ordinary stock such as these, which 

 is extremely ordinary, also the effect of pure-bred breed- 

 ing, and they found that you can practically double the 

 production of ordinary farm cows or of cows of that cali- 

 ber, by a proper feeding and full feeding. So the first 

 point to keep in mind in keeping dairy cattle is to feed 

 them all they will eat. 



That is what this old cow had. Her belly was full 

 of lucious bluegrass. What was the next point? She had 

 water at proper temperature, and convenient. Next point, 

 the water was neither too hot nor too cold. She wasn't 

 bothered with flies, she had shade, a soft place to b'e down, 

 and she was at peace with the world in general. 



Let us reproduce that in the barn, on a day like to- 

 day. All right. We must first of all give her a barn that 

 is comfortable and has plenty of straw on the floor, so she 

 can lie down and be comfortable. We must keep her clean 

 and not put stuff all over her hips as you find so many dairy 

 cows. You know there is really no crime against currying 



