50 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



tliat I can apply, but I would like to ask you a few questions. 

 I want to get at the actual cost of milk by the one hundred 

 pounds. 



Prof. Haecker: I gave that; it was 61 cents per hundred 

 when bran was |11 a ton, oil meal |26 a ton, oats 30 cents, etc. 

 I find that the style of cow, represented by Dora will produce 

 milk as cheap as any cow; that is, per hundred pounds weight. 

 The moment that we get one of these large cows that give 

 a large qaantit^^ of thin milk, it requires so much food support 

 that the net cost per hundred pounds of milk is fully as much 

 as one of these small cows that gives a less quantity. The 

 reason why I do not use the hundred pounds of milk as the 

 standard, is because there is such a variation in milk. Some 

 of our cows give milk that contains two and a half per cent, 

 of fat; other cows give milk that contains five per cent, of fat, 

 normally, when they are comparatively fresh; consequently, 

 it would not be fair to place a cow that has 17 pounds of solids 

 in her milk with a cow thai only gives about 13; so, by meas- 

 uring the milk by its fat contents, we get at a better result. 



Mr. Larkin: In determining the ration of a cow, you ob- 

 jected to turning her out and allowing her to run to ^the straw 

 or the corn stalks. Now, in determining the ration of these 

 cows, how did you do it? 



Prof. Haecker: We have tables. 



Mr. Larkin: What do you think of the practical idea of 

 feeding the cow richer food; that is, the grain food, and then 

 allowing her to eat all the coarse fodder that she wishes? 



Prof. Haecker: But she has no judgment; she will fill 

 herself up with husks and with corn stalks and she is travel- 

 ing, every step of which is at your expense, and it is a greater 

 expense than you have any idea of. The average horse ex- 

 pends all the energy in his food simply by muscular action. 



Mr. Larkin: But in my own case, for instance, I do not 

 allow my cows to go out except for a bit of an airing; now, 

 would it be good policy to feed them their grain ration and 

 then put in such coarse fodder as I may have — straw, hay or 

 corn fodder — and allow them to eat what they want? 



Prof. Haecker: I do that w^ay exactly. I feed the grain 

 in the morning before they are milked, and after milking they 

 ^et their hav, but I only give them just their share, as much 



