5(> ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



Mr. Soverhill: Would you like to run a dairy without 

 bran? 



Prof. Haecker: No, sir; bran is the cheapest food that we 

 have. 



Mr. Johnson: After all that is said, wouldn't you advise 

 us all to depend considerably upon the taste of the cow as to 

 the ration? 



Prof. Haecker: I do not find any cows that dislike this 

 ration and never, have found any in my five years' work. I 

 do not think it would be safe to leave it to the cow, because 

 she would fill herself half full during the day with corn 

 stalks. 



Mr. Ford: While I fully appreciate the value of bran, 

 I am milking fifty-five cows at the present time, and I am 

 getting twenty-five eight-gallon cans of milk, and I am not 

 feeding a mouthful of bran. 



Prof. Haecker: That doesn't show anything. What are 

 you feeding? 



Mr. Ford: I am feeding ensilage, a little corn and cob 

 meal, brewers' grains and beets, twice a day. The brewers' 

 grains are wet and are rich in protein, I believe. 



Mr. Hostetter: What do you do with the calf? 



Prof. Haecker: I let that calf suckle once, than I take 

 it away from the , cow, and if the cow gives very rich milk 

 I do not let it suck at all, because there is too much solid 

 in the milk and the little stomach cannot digest it, and by 

 the second day the, calf will lie down and by the third day 

 it will be dead. So, if the cow gives ordinary milk, I let it 

 suckle once, take it away from the cow, skip one meal, and 

 then the next meal I give it three to four pints of its mother's 

 milk, and for a week I give it mother's milk, three or four 

 pints at a time. The next week I give half whole milk and 

 half skim milk and, the next week I give skim milk and a 

 teaspoonful of ground flax seed meal, and from that on it 

 has nothing but skim milk and flax seed and a little roughage 

 when it is old enough. 



Mr. Hostetter: How does that calf compare with the 

 mother after it grows to be a cow? 



Prof. Haecker : I have cows that I raised that way which 

 are twelve years old and very fine. 



