34 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



tenance, a cow giving 4 per cent milk requires one pound of available pro- 

 tein for 22 pounds of milk containing .88 of a pound of butter fat, while 

 a cow giving milk containing 5.3 per cent butter fat returns .92 of a pound 

 of butter fat to one pound of available protein. But cows will make 

 such returns when they are fed only up to their limit of production. 

 When a cow for some reason has fallen below her normal flow there is 

 little if any use in giving her more protein than she needs for the de- 

 creased yield, for she will not, as a rule, respond to a larger ration. A 

 cow should be fed according to the quantity and quality of the work she 

 is doing. 



Q. What would you think of a set of 100 cows that consume a ton 

 of grain a day, half and half corn and bran? What do you think of that 

 for a ration? What do you think of that to make milk of? 



A. That would ruin mine. 



Mr. Goodrich: I can hardly keep still when you talk of feeding. 

 This gentleman has put that question of 20 younds of corn and bran. 

 Now, he does not say anything about what other feeds are used; that 

 makes all the difference in the world; what the other feed is. I must 

 tell you a little bit of a story to illustrate it. I have spent nearly four- 

 teen years in talking with farmers in the Farmers' Institute in Wisconsin 

 and other states, and I am asked almost every day what is the best kind 

 of grain to feed a cow. I tell them I don't know, and then they want to 

 know what I ,am talking about feed for all over the country. I say I 

 don't know because I don't know what other feed they have. Not long 

 ago there were two men, I will call their names. Horace and Louis 

 Horace says he don't know what kind of grain to feed a cow. Louis 

 says, "But I know." Horace says, "What is it?" It is corn meal. Well, 

 I say I don't believe you. I believe you are lying. Well, I know better. 

 I followed your plan and dropped off the other feeds, and then went' 

 right down by corn meal. You are telling a story. I took your fee"d 

 and changed from corn meal, and my cows did not do so well, i says, 

 "Now, Horace, what are you feeding besides your corn meal?" "Why, 

 hay of course. "But what kind of hay? You know to have alfalfa and 



