FORTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONVENTION 53 



The next step emphasized was the feeding of protein. There 

 was a time in connection with our dairying, and we are just get- 

 ting over it, when we thought it essential to feed the cow plenty 

 of protein, but there is an additional step and that is to feed the 

 cow the thing she wants ,the thing she needs, in the form in which 

 she can handle it and wants it. 



Protein is an absolute essential to all types of animals and 

 particularly to our dairy cow. An animal will not live unless it 

 receives its supply of protein, and a cow cannot make milk un- 

 less she receives protein out of which to make the milk. Protein 

 is necessary for the purposes of life, to keep up the activities of 

 all the cells of the body, but here is an interesting thing in re- 

 gard to it and with that I shall dismiss it : the cow cannot use 

 more than so much protein, and if you feed her more than she 

 can use, she cannot store nitrogen in the body so it is excreted. It 

 being your highest priced article of food, it is bad practice to 

 overfeed on it. In addition to that it is a stimulant to all the cells 

 of the body. We have found this everywhere in the country, 

 that when a man overfeeds with cottonseed meal he has trouble 

 with the udders of his cows. What is the reason? When he is 

 feeding three or four pounds of protein a day, it is more than the 

 cow can use, it is a high stimulant and it overworks the active 

 cells of the body, — and the udder is nothing else than a mass of 

 active cells. 



I have a friend in Massachusetts who makes one of the high- 

 est grades of milk going into the Boston market. He has over 

 a hundred Jersey cows. He was having trouble; ten per cent of 

 his cows were giving pussy milk. He had been feeding them 

 alfalfa hay, ensilage and a high protein feed. I said, ''In my 

 opinion you are feeding them too much protein and you are over- 

 working those cells to the point of breaking them down, and my 

 recommendation would be to make the ration 50% of carbohy- 

 drate material." In three weeks the entire group of. cows had 

 cleaned up and were free of pussy milk. 



While one swallow does not prove the spring nevertheless 

 there are many such cases to show that the overfeeding of pro- 

 tein is often the cause of trouble with the udders of cows ; there is 



