124 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



In your equipment you must strive to provide feed for your 

 cows such as nature supplies them in May and June. You can 

 do that by the use of the silo that furnishes you the green and 

 succulent material throughout the winter months just as grass 

 does in the most favorable months. Of course, it is a foregone 

 conclusion that no man can produce a suitable winter ration with- 

 out silos; he must have a silo in order to feed his cows profitably. 

 We are rapidly coming to the point where we are going to real- 

 ize that when the grass dries and insects become pesky, the sum- 

 mer silo is just as necessary as the winter silo. We have found 

 it easier to care for the cows without a silo in the winter time 

 than it is in the summer time. A little summer silo, probably 

 one-half as large as the winter silo, properly filled, and the con- 

 tents judiciously fed in the summer when the grass becomes 

 scarce and dry, will insure continued, large, persistent, profitable 

 milk production. The summer silo is part of the dairy farm 

 equipment. 



After we have our silos, let us look to our fields. All dairy- 

 men should grow clover, alfalfa hay, or other legumes. Until 

 we learn how to raise alfalfa hay let us raise clover hay, soy beans 

 and cowpeas, for if we have plenty of clover hay, alfalfa hay 

 and cowpea hay or soybean hay we will find that we have a very 

 excellent foundation for dairy rations. We will find that if we 

 give the cow all she desires of these, we are giving her a well 

 balanced ration. If she is not giving over from lo to 15 pounds of 

 milk we are giving her all that she needs to keep her in good 

 condition and to produce 10 to 15 pounds of milk. When we 

 advance in dairying we will not be satisfied with 10 to 20 pounds 

 of milk daily per cow, we will want more, so we will go ahead 

 and do like nature does in May and June, we will give our cows 

 an abundance of feed and surround her with comfortable con- 

 ditions. We will then realize that about 60 percent of all the 

 cow can eat is used for maintaining her body and not for giving 

 anything back to produce milk, so we will start giving them an 

 abundance of feed. We realize that a cow is not a mysterious 

 being. Some people believe that cows have some mysterious 

 power that no other animals have. A cow is not a mysterious 

 being, she never made a pound of milk out of anything else but 

 from the feed that she consumed. Although the balanced ra- 



