ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



59 



care and the class of cows had their bearing upon the yield of 

 the herd. The external appearances of the cows indicated that 

 they were capable of producing larger yields than the records 

 show. The tenant did not realize the importance of giving the 

 herd a liberal allowance of grain, but tried to make milk econo- 

 mically by feeding only a little grain. 



The cows were kept in a comfortable barn during the win- 

 ter and were fairly well cared for. During the summer months 

 the dairy received no grain, blue grass pasture being the only 

 ration that was given. It was October before the cows received 

 any green corn with the grass pasture. From Decembei lO the 

 completion of the test the herd received a ration of about lO 

 pounds of corn ensilage, 5 pounds of bran, corn stover and a 

 little timothy hay. There was some alfalfa hay raised on the 

 place, but this was covered up with timothy hay. The tenant 

 did not realize the alfalfa was worth three times as much for feed- 

 ing as timothy hay. 



There were thirty shoats that ran behind forty-five co\\'s 

 and received no other grain besides the droppings from the 

 cows, and they grew very well. Wliile the practice of allowing 

 hogs to run in the barn twice a day to gather the droppings from 

 the dairy cannot be recommended from a sanitary standpoint, 

 yet this instance indicates that considerable feed goes to waste 

 even though our corn is fed in the form of silage. 



Yearly Record of Best and Pccrest Cow in Herd " O," and Average for 



Entire Herd. 



Milk, It). Fat, %. Fat, lb. Butter, Tt- 



Best cow, Cherry 6606 3.84 254 296 



Poorest cow, Speck 2496 4.09 102 119 



Average record of entire herJ 4233 3.C5 163 190 



