46 ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



best results. In fact the interior of the dairy cow is a very dark 

 place, and so intricate the silent working machinery that our 

 search lights have failed to disclose many hidden secrets. How- 

 ever, from experiments and scientific research we are able to 

 make many valuable deductions and have found that certain 

 kinds of food are used by the animal to make milk, bone and 

 muscle, while other varieties tend to product heat and fatty tissue, 

 all of which give rise to the great subject of economic and scien- 

 tific feeding. Much has been written concerning the compound- 

 ing of well balanced rations for dairy cows and much valuable 

 literature is available upon this very important subject that merits 

 the most careful consideration of the dairy farmer of today, 

 so there can be no plausible excuse for him not becoming a 

 student in his profession if he has the inclination. 



The dairyman of the middle west, and everywhere for that 

 matter, can better existing conditions by better feeding and care 

 taking, by closer selection and by better breeding. By better 

 feeding I mean the more liberal use of a well balanced milk 

 producing ration. The cow utilizes her food either for the 

 elaboration of milk or the taking on of flesh, and she yields 

 nothing in either direction except by food taken in at the mouth. 

 If of a dairy temperament it is used for the secretion of milk, 

 and, up to the limit of her capacity, she will respond in the milk 

 pail in proportion to the amount supplied at the feed rack, hence 

 if it pays to feed at all it pays to feed liberally, quite to the limit 

 of her capacity, and it will be generally noted that it is the persis- 

 tent and not the spasmodic liberal feeder that scores the best 

 results. But there is another point involved in this feeding 

 problem that necessitates the feeder in knowing the different 

 individuals in the herd. No two cows are constituted with 

 exactly the same dairy temperament. If some become too much 

 reduced in flesh, the remedy will not necessarily be more feed, but 

 a reduction in the amount of protein and an increase in the amount 

 of carbohydrates, and on the other hand, if some become too 

 fleshy, an increase in the amount of protein and a reduction of 

 the carbohydrates is advisable. Many cows will be found, how- 



