FIFTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONVENTION 189 



When cows are on good pasture during the month of 

 June, conditions are ideal for economical milk production. 

 Grass is the natural food for the cow. It not only contains 

 all the necessary nutriment the cow needs for maintenance 

 and milk production, but it also furnishes succulence with- 

 out which no cow can produce very much milk. Another 

 important factor in milk production is contentment and 

 comfort of the cow. To secure the largest production it 

 is necessary to provide the ideal conditions, that the cow 

 enjoys when on good pasture during the month of June, 

 the year around as nearly as we can. Succulence for the 

 ration can be supplied either in silage or roots. The barn 

 during the winter must be comfortable. It must have 

 plenty of sunlight, fresh air and must neither be too hot 

 nor too cold. 



The feed the cow gets must have the required nutri- 

 ents in the right proportions. It must have milk, be diges- 

 tible and palatable so that the cow will consume a large 

 amount of food. 



It is just as necessary that a cow drink a large amount 

 of water in a day as it is that she consume a large amount 

 of feed, if she is to produce economically. Eighty-seven 

 per cent of milk is 'water. A cow that produces a large 

 amount of milk necessarily needs to drink a large amount 

 of water. Limit the water supply and the cow will drop 

 in milk production in the same proportion. 



During the summer months it is not difficult to get 

 the cow to drink all the water she needs. All that is nec- 

 essary is to give her free access to clean water. It is dur- 

 ing cold weather when she is compelled to drink out of a 

 tank that is frozen with ice that she refuses to drink all 

 that she needs. The water for the cow should be warmed 

 to about fifty degrees Fahrenheit during cold weather. 



The cow should be milked quietly and quickly. A 

 cow is largely a creature of habit. If usually fed at the 

 time of her milking, she cannot be milked satisfactorily 

 until she has her feed. Special care should be taken to 

 get all of the strippings. The first milk drawn may con- 



