2

and the residue, carbon dioxide or C O, is expelled from the lungs together with an uncertain amount of organic matter. Scientists are of the opinion that the organic matter expelled from the lungs of animals is more detrimental to the health of animals if inhaled even than the carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide does not contain sufficient oxygen to maintain life, hence no animal can live for any considerable length of time in a close room. There must be a change of air, or ventilation.

Carbon dioxide is heavier than air and tends to settle to the floor of the stable. When exhaled from the lungs of animals it is inflated by heat and consequently lighter than in normal condition, and some of it is diffused through the air in the stable, but the tendency, nevertheless, is to settle to the floor of the stable. The colder air in the room also settles to the floor of the stable because it is heavier than the warm air, while the warmest air in the stable, which is also the purest air, rises to the ceiling. The problem of ventilation then is to get rid of the cold, impure air near the floor of the stable and save the warm pure air next to the ceiling. In ventilating living rooms in houses the saving of the warm air next to the ceiling is not so important because dwellings are supplied with artificial heat. In the cow stable we have no artificial heat and must depend wholly for warmth of the stable upon the heat generated by the bodies of the animals. We can get a change of air in the stable by lowering the windows at the top but we get a change of air then at the expense of the temperature of the stable, because when we lower the windows the warm air next to the ceiling passes out as cold pure air passes in. We can also ventilate the stable by using the hay shute which comes down from the storage part of the barn above through openings in the ceiling. This will give a change of air because the air of the stable coming in contact with the bodies of the cows is warmed, made lighter, and rises to the ceiling and goes out the hay chute and cold pure air comes in around windows and doors and through the very walls and ceiling of the stable itself if it can get in nowhere else, and takes the place of this warm air and that gives us a change of air or ventilation. But it is done at the expense of the temperature of the stable. This question of ventilation is one that does not concern us except in cold weather. In mild weather, or in summer time, when we have the windows and doors open almost constantly there is a free change of air and the question of ventilation is of little moment. In the winter time, however, in cold weather when we want to keep the stable warm at the same time we ventilate it, the problem is more perplexing.

The King system of ventilation solves this problem. Prof. King argues, and correctly too, that pure air should be admitted into the stable up next to the ceiling and the impure, or foul air, should be drawn off from the stable near the floor. He realizes, however, that if openings are made through the walls of the stable up near the ceiling that the warm pure air will pass out as the cold pure air comes in. But, however, if these holes were boxed in, as it were, and the box extended down on the outside of the barn to say within a foot of the ground, that the cold pure air could still come into the stable yet the warm air could not go out, because being lighter than cold air, it could not go down through a column of cold air. These openings are called pure air intakes and they should be of small dimensions rather than large to prevent draft and

should be numerous enough on all sides of the stable to supply a sufficient amount of pure air. If the pure air intakes are put in when the stable is being constructed instead of having a box on the outside, a flue can be constructed in the hollow wall which opens at the top on the inside of the stable and at the bottom on the outside. The cold impure air on the floor of the stable is removed by building at any convenient place in the stable, a ventilating shaft which is no more or less than a tall chimney. This is open at the bottom a foot from the floor and is built up through the stable, through the storage part of the barn and above the roof. The higher above the roof the better because the taller a chimney is the better it will draw. It should be made tight by double boarding with tarred paper between, because a good chimney is always a tight one. The fresh air from outdoors now comes in the pure air intakes and is gradually diffused or mixed with the warm pure air in the stable next to the ceiling and this forces a circulation. The cold impure air near the floor moves along the surface of the floor to the ventilating shaft and up this out of doors. Thus a constant change of air is taking place in the stable. This removes the foulest, most impure air in the stable and at the same time preserves the temperature of the stable.

CONCLUSION.

It is not necessary to construct expensive barns in order to have ideal cow stables. The ordinary barn on the average farm in the State of Michigan can, with very little expense, be remodeled so that it can be made into an ideal dairy barn. In most of the barns the stalls would have to be rearranged so the cows will face the outside in two rows. All stables can be made warm by properly ceiling them on the inside and double boarding with tarred paper between on the outside. Sufficient windows can be put in without any trouble at all. Cement floors can be put in so that the barns can be kept in a sanitary condition and the King system can be installed with very little expense. Any farmer who has any mechanical ingenuity about him at all can do the whole job himself, with no extra outlay of expense for hired help. There is nothing difficult about ceiling up stables on the inside or putting in windows. There is nothing difficult in putting in pure air intakes and in constructing the ventilating shaft so that the barn can be properly ventilated. As has been intimated in this article, two things are sure to make this question of cow stable a very important one for dairymen in the near future. In the first place, the question of tuberculosis is an all important one. Whether we shall have a state law which compels dairymen to have their cows tested for tuberculosis or not, it is only a question of time when dairy herds will be tested universally for tuberculosis. This is a barn disease. Cattle that are brought up in the open air do not have it. Cattle when put into well ventilated and well lighted dairy barns will not contract it. There is little or no danger from keeping cattle almost constantly in the barn if the stable is only properly lighted and properly ventilated. You can eradicate tuberculosis among the dairy herds of the State of Michigan quicker by properly ventilating and properly lighting the cow stables than by any other means.

Then again, the question of clean dairy products is one that dairymen will be compelled to think about seriously. People are demanding better

articles of food. The time will come when milk produced from unhealthy cows and handled in unsanitary stables will not be allowed to be sold on the market. These two things will in the near future make the proper construction of dairy barns a question for the careful consideration of all dairymen.

FEEDING DAIRY COWS.

To obtain maximum profits from the dairy there is no one phase of the business more important than that of proper selection, and compounding of the feeds in the rations; and the time and manner of feeding them. Owing to the great difference in the individuality of cows, there are no hard and fast rules of feeding that will apply with equal force to all of them, nor is there any one ration that need necessarily be the best for all of them. But there are certain general principles that all who are striving to feed cows so as to produce the largest possible net profit should have in mind.

THE MAINTENANCE RATION.

While one cow may have the natural capacity to profitably convert a much greater amount of feed into milk, and while one cow may require more feed to maintain her than another, all cows require a considerable amount of feed to keep up their body heat, supply new tissue to take the place of that which is broken down, and to furnish the necessary energy to do their work. This will require from six to eight pounds of digestible nutrients per day, and it will take from 12 to 17 pounds of the feed of our ordinary air dry ration other than straw to supply these digestible nutrients. This 12 to 17 pounds we call the cows maintenance ration, and the value of it is what it costs just to run our milk machine. This is for a cow weighing a thousand pounds and a heavier cow will require more. The point we wish to make is that it costs us considerable just to run the machine, and if we get a profit from running it, we must furnish it enough feed to convert into milk so that the value of the milk will more than equal the cost of the food required to make it and the cost of running the machine.

FEED LIBERALLY.

After furnishing the food to run the machine (and we must do this or lose in cow value) manifestly it is wise to furnish that machine with something to do, and the man who makes the most profit from his dairy is the one who furnishes his cows with enough digestible nutrients to enable them to operate their milk giving machinery up to full normal capacity. The cow that for at least eight months after calving will not take a liberal ration and convert it into milk rather than wasting it or gaining much in weight is as a rule an unprofitable cow and should be disposed of. The greatest mistake being made by cow owners and feeders in Michigan is in not furnishing their cows with enough food. Many cows are given all the straw and corn stover they will eat, but there

After the cow sub

The

is a difference between being fed or just filled up. tracts from the digestible nutrients of a feed of straw the energy it took to digest it she has very little left. A cow can't eat and digest enough of even the best kinds of roughage alone to enable her to give anything like a full flow of milk for any great length of time. average cow should have, in addition to all the good roughage she can consume, from six to eight pounds of good digestible concentrates, and many cows possessing dairy quality, will produce much more profitably on twice this amount. To get the best results, the feeder must know the ability of his cows and feed each individual up to her economical capacity. The sort of economy that prompts a man to withhold from his cows a liberal feed each day, is waste, waste of time, waste of feed, and waste of opportunity.

WINTER FEEDING.

Most of our best farmers have come to realize that the greatest profits come from winter dairying. One is usually not so crowded with other work and has more time to care for and milk his cows, it furnishes an income in the winter, the milk and butter is worth more per pound, and if the cow is well fed and cared for she will give more pounds of milk when freshening in the fall than in the spring. It requires a higher order of intelligence to make a decided success of winter dairying than of summer. One must have made some study of the feeding problem to be able to furnish his cows with an efficient and economical ration and he must know what she requires in the way of care.

WHAT TO FEED.

I believe the most valuable attribute of a liberal winter ration is palatability, i. e., that it shall taste good to the cow. Provide such foods as good sweet ensilage, roots, early cut, well cured clover hay, corn fodder, and most of the good grains. Avoid over ripe hay, very dry or old corn stalks, very sour ensilage, and musty and mouldy grain. Fur nish a variety of foods. All animals relish their food better and consume more of it when furnished a variety. Furnish them some succulent food. The best and cheapest form of succulence for winter feeding is ensilage. Very few who have six or more cows that give milk in the winter can afford to be without a silo. Lacking silage one should provide himself with roots, probably the large mangels are the most practical root to grow. The plant juice in the silage or roots is a natural tonic, stimulates digestion, it is also a laxative and keeps the animal's bowels in a good condition.

FEED A BALANCED RATION.

A balanced ration is simply a ration that contains all the elements that a cow needs to maintain herself and to make milk; and contains them in just the proportion that she needs them for this purpose. The principal elements that cows must have in their food are protein, carbo-hydrates, and fat. Our common cattle foods contain all these elements, but they generally do not contain them in the proportion that the cow needs them. They are lacking in protein and a cow consuming a full feed of them

would not get enough protein to enable her to give a maximum flow of milk.

Scientists, after years of experimenting, are able to tell almost exactly how much of these different elements an animal needs to maintain itself, and in the case of the dairy cow, how much more of each is required to enable her to produce different quantities of milk. Knowing the composition of our feed, and just how much of these different elements the animal requires, we are able to select our feeds so as to furnish the animals the elements they need in just the proportion they need them. The ration that would be just balanced for a cow giving ten pounds of milk a day, would not be properly balanced for a cow giving thirty . pounds of milk a day. The more milk a cow gives and the richer that milk is, the more protein she needs in her ration in proportion to the carbo-hydrates. Dr. Jordan, an eminent authority on feeding animals, says: "A cow giving eleven pounds of four per cent milk requires eleven and nine-tenths pounds of digestible dry matter. This should contain one and six-tenths pounds protein, ten pounds carbohydrates and threetenths of a pound fat. For twenty-two pounds of milk she would require two and one-half pounds of protein, thirteen pounds carbohydrates, one-half pound fat. For thirty pounds of milk, she would require three and one-half pounds protein, fourteen pounds of carbo-hydrates, fourfifths pound fat."

Prof. Jordan's estimate of the amount of protein required may be somewhat high, but it serves as a guide to the student or to the inexperienced feeder. We submit here a short table of the cow feeds most commonly used, showing the amount of digestible protein, carbo-hydrates and fat in a pound of each.

To illustrate, using a ration for a medium sized cow, giving a good flow of milk, let us take ten pounds of clover hay, and ten pounds of corn stalks, forty pounds corn silage, four pounds of gluten feed, and two pounds of cotton seed meal. Referring to the above table, we find these would contain the following digestible nutrients: