ILLINOIS DAIBYMBN'S ASSOCIATION. 85 



Q. How do you fasten your cows? 



A. By stanchions ; I have tried the chains, but think the stanchions 

 best. 



Q. What length of plank or floor do you use behind your stanchions ? 

 A. When I first built I had Durham cows, and I built four feet four 

 inches. I now have Holsteins, and grades of Holsteins, and it takes a five- 

 foot floor ; it is none too long. It wants to be just so a cow can stand com- 

 fortably on her hind feet, a little forward of the drop. 

 Q. How much of a drop have you ? 

 A. My drop is four inches. 



Q. Do you know how much an acre it costs you to cut and cure your 

 fodder ? 



A. It costs $1 an acre to set it up, and the husking something more. 

 They don't bind it. I have heard it argued that it is better to feed corn in 

 the ear, but I cannot see why. It is apt to derange the alimentary canal ; it 

 acts as an irritant as it passes through. The corn should be ground for feed 

 because the cow don't grind it herself, and she cannot get the nutriment out 

 of it. A horse will chew ground feed all up, but a cow will not. 

 Q. Do you feed meal wet or dry? 



A. Dry, invariably. I prefer corn and oats ground together to any 

 other feed ; bran makes very good feed, mixed with corn and oats. 

 Q. What proportion of corn and oats do you grind ? 

 A. I would grind two bushels of oats to one of com, and I would mix 

 just about an equal bulk in bran. 



Q. Do you use coarse or fine bran ? 



A. I take the second put of bran, that is, the inner bran, and of course 

 it is finer— called middlings. There is a difference in the outer and the 

 inner coat which is distinguishable under the microscope ; the outer coat is 

 a darker color, and that comes in large flakes in the roller mill process ; the 

 inner coat contains more phosphates. 



Dr. Mills : In feeding large quantities of bran, there is only one difii- 

 culty; bran is rich in mineral points, which often give rise to concretions 

 which may endanger the life of the animal. It will often form concretions 

 in the stomach, so called hair balls. These hair balls are only formed when 

 the animal licks its own hair; but they can only be accumulated when there 

 is a proper nucleus. The bran should always be mixed with corn meal and 

 then there is little danger of trouble. 



Dr. Tefft : Mr. Gurler spoke of the diflaculty of keeping seed corn. 

 That is probably because it is not properly picked and cured ; and the same 

 thing applies to fleld corn. If the corn is picked when it is m the stiff dough, 

 tied up two and two and hunar up ; when it is dry you will have no trouble. 

 I learned that in the factory, where they put up sweet corn. Corn that was 

 too far advanced to put up, was thrown aside and I noticed that that invari- 

 ably grew which was in full dough— in stiff dough. A friend of mine, 

 planted some corn this spring, about as soon as the snow was off, and that 

 corn grew. 



Prof. Morrow : I want to give my most hearty approval to the posi- 

 tion taken here, and especially commend to our friends in this part of the 



