46 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



dairy products 20 less 8, or 12 pounds. Ethel takes 22 pounds 

 of dry matter per day, uses 13 herself and has 9 pounds left, 

 or only three-fourths as much as the other one. Conseciuently, 

 we find, other things being equal, the light cow can producjs 

 dairy products the cheapest. So you see that the general 

 idea among farmers that they must have a big cow is all 

 wrong from the dairy standpoint. 



Let us take up the case of Leggetta, the Shorthorn cow, 

 weighing 1,325 pounds. She eats in round numbers 25 pounds 

 of dry matter per day, deducting the 18 pounds of dry matter 

 that she uses for herself, 12 pounds is left that she can con- 

 vert into dairy products. On the other hand, Fortune, eating 

 the same amount of food, 25 pounds of dry matter per day, but 

 weighing only 900 pounds, has 16 pounds left for converting 

 into dairy products. Consequently, she converts 16-25 of the 

 food that we give her into dairy products, while the large 

 cow gives us only 9-25 of the food that she eats. Or, we 

 might divide this up into digestible nutrients, and get the 

 case a little clearer. We can measure the digesting capacity 

 of a cow by the distance through the middle. It always 

 proves true; the space between the shoulders and the hips 

 and between the back and the bottom line simply represents 

 the size of the mill, the larger the mill the more grist it is 

 capable of grinding per day. On the other hand, we find that 

 the other parts of the body of a cow must be supported by this 

 middle, consequently the lighter the quarters the less this 

 middle has to support. Note the difference in the two cow^, 

 Dora and Ethel, how much larger is the relative size of the 

 hind quarter and the shoulder to the middle in one than in 

 the other. Now, we find that a cow with the deeper middle 

 will digest 16 to 18 pounds of digestible nutrients per day. 

 In some of our experiments it is shown that a pound of 

 digestible nutrients is required for the support of 100 pounds 

 of cow, and a cow weighing 800 pounds would use 8 for 

 herself, but, being able to digest 16 pounds, we are equal part- 

 ners in the business, she is able to convert 8 pounds to her 

 own use and 8 pounds for dairy products. But you take a 

 cow of the type of Dido or Ethel and she will use about two- 

 thirds of the digestible nutrients per day for food support 

 and one-third for dairy products, or, in other words, she is 



