Feed the Heifer well.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 5 November 1913, Page 4

Feed the Heifer well.

The bost forecast of the future dairy cow is the number of pounds of feed received from weaning time until two years of age. Tho ratio between the productive capacity of the cow and the euro givtn her during tho growing period is quite constant. Constitution and capacity can only be gutten by supplyilly the necessary building requirements. ' Large, strong- cows are the result of care while heifers. The dairyman must be both a breeder and feeder. Improper feeding defeats the very object sought In breeding. The dairy cow is a highly specialised animal, and, like all specialised animals, there is a tendeucy toward reversion, this ten~ deney inci-easing with the niore highly developed and improved animal. Scant feeding causes as rapid reversion to. ward the unimproved type as does careless breeding. Tho animal must adapt itself to its surroundings, and reversion is no more than adaptation ; so if the food supply is not suiiicient the greatest develop^ ment, which means the greatest efficiency, is not possible.—W. A. Barr, in "Kimball's Dairy Farmer,"