PEAR FOR MILK PRODUCTION. 21 



might be cited here. Mr. Albert Ingle, of Eagle Pass, Tex., keeps 

 one Jerse} T cow to supply milk and butter for family use. The cow 

 has the run of the commons about town, but the pasturage is very 

 short the greater part 01 the time. In addition to what she can pick 

 up in this way she is fed 3 quarts of bran, 1 quart of cotton-seed meal, 

 and all the singed and chopped pear she will eat. Mr. Ingle was feed- 

 ing when his place was visited. The quantity chopped that morning, 

 he stated, was an average one, and weighed 35 pounds, which amount 

 was fed twice each day. The cow at the time was raising a calf and fur- 

 nishing milk for the family, and was in good milking condition. This 

 shows that the amount of pear fed was large. The ration each day 

 was 6 quarts of bran, 2 quarts of cotton-seed meal, 70 pounds of 

 chopped pear, and what the animal was able to pick up on very short 

 range. This ration is kept up during the year, except when the 

 mesquite beans are abundant, when no pear is fed. 



The experience of Mr. Alexander Sinclair appears to be exhaustive 

 and intelligent. He does not claim for pear any great feeding value, 

 but he uses it entirely, he sa} T s, for the succulence. So far as feed is con- 

 cerned, even roughage of some other kind could be fed cheaper, but as a 

 succulence for milk production there is but little that can be secured 

 during the winter. Attempting, as he does, to maintain an equal milk 

 and butter production during the entire 3 7 ear, green feed is essential 

 for winter use. This is furnished by the prickly pear, which is fed 

 during that portion of the year when there is no green feed. During 

 a portion of the summer, succulence is secured from the native grasses. 

 When these dry up green sorghum is fed, and during the remainder 

 of the year prickly pear. In spite of the fact that the range feeders 

 taboo the pear after it begins to grow, Mr. Sinclair has fed it well into 

 May with good results. 



The ration of a cow during the winter is about as follows: Cotton- 

 seed meal, 3 pounds; brewers' grains, 9 pounds; pear, 100 pounds. 



Besides the above, the cows have the run of brustry pastures and are 

 able to pick up much in the form of dry grass and browse. The 

 quantity of pear fed is only an estimate, but is thought to be very close 

 to the amount which an average cow gets. Even with this apparentl} r 

 large amount of pear the animals never get all they want of it. With 

 this feeding the milk production is greater in the winter than in the 

 summer when the cattle are on good grass. This, however, is not 

 considered to be due to any peculiar advantage of the pear over the 

 native grass, but rather to the unfavorable temperature and the annoy- 

 ance of insect pests in summer. 



Original^ it was the custom to chop the pear with a pear cutter, 

 but during the past winter it was hauled a distance of six miles, 

 unloaded in long rows in the feeding lots, and singed with a pear 

 burner. 



