FEED AND MILK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18388, 2 May 1923, Page 12

FEED AND MILK.

; There' can be no disputing the fact that the good ' feeder gets larger returns from his cows than does the poor feeder, states Mr.'- H. Marks in- Hoard's Dairyman. We know that it takes a certain amount of feed to support the body; and only as a cow! is fed beyond her bodily requirements can she devote feed to producing milk. It is usually acknowledged that good feeders have bettor cattle than do poor feeders. The reason usually assigned is that unless a': cow is well fed it is hard to know what "she will do at the pail; so 'good feeders, aside from, theii larger profits, have been able to breed to better advantage. We urge weighing and testing each cow's milk for two. reasons; first, because ;only .by' so doing can £ we surely recognise the unprofitable cow. and eliminate her. ; Second, only by .knowing our best, producers can we hope to make a success in our breeding operations. > : There in one phase of good feeding that has been 1 . 1 ; little / considered. We have often nuticod that after fa, few :/ years '.; a poor feeder's herd seems to haVe "run out." This : deterioration ; always seems to have arrived sooner than would have been indicated by a 1 mere inability to select. The reason of this rather sudden slump in the herd of the poor feeder is explained by the word "atrophy." Atrophy works in ; two ways. ■ First, in the individual, if muscles and organs are not used to ihs&v their full capacity they; fail to develop. After maturity, no matter: how we train ■ and strive to develop, no great capacity is :: attained ; if the •: organs ■ have ... been-; aeglected /during their; normal time •of growth./ The second way in which atrophy works is . through inheritance.. < In the r, dairy cow, even /with high producers :as foundation stock, ;we have to overcome the tremendous drag of untold generations / during" which the ■% cow /produced only enough ; milk for her calf. It does ? not, take; much neglect in '.; feeding, -breeding, or weeding to give the herd a tendency to produce less. ,/ .-•• We all know that.animals have' organs that, through; generations of- disuse, be- ... come /■'; nearly rudimentary and are inherited ; as" such. If ; such is f. case, i; then : we have a reason why the poor' feeders herd '•runs out. Ho feeds, generation after generation, without stimulating the milk- ; producing; organs to their full: capacity/ ,The organs fail to develop in the ~ individual, . and the low capacity ■ has ! become '-. . "fixed"' as an integral part of the herd. Norman can "breed or weed" intelligently /unless he feeds intelligently.