Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1875-04-08
Feeding OF Stock.

| CHEMICAL investigations of feeding
| substances are of great interest and of
| very considerable practical value, but the
| difficulties of availing ourselves imme-
| diately of all the advantages they are
capable of atlording us arise from the
| fact that we have to deal with living or
| ganisms, that will often introduce con
tlicting variety of circumstances to mod
| ify our deductions. If the chemist tells
us that under certain circumstances a
| certain number of materials will COM
| bine and form certain substance, he
may be perfectly true so far as the re-
suits in the laboratory go, but we have
in the barn very different set of circum-
stances. We have "the living being with
all its fine adjustments of nervous and
| muscular organization" and we cannot
predicate with the same degree of GER
tainty the effects which any particular
combination of feeding substances will
have. If it were not so, if practical re-
suits would always come out as we are
led to think they ought to, the whole art
of feeding would be reduced to a very
simple set of rules of easy application
and of invariable results.
But we find in practice a great variety
we have to consult in our animals. They
have their " likes and dislikes," and over
them we have comparatively little con-
troll. Even the food which at one time
they relish may be turned from at an
other with positive dislike, and the re-
suits which one kind of food produce at
one time may produce the very OPP
posite results at another. And I'M
der the same circumstances of feed
ing, shelter and management, the
yield & of milk in the same COW
| Will be all the time varying, and while
one COW thrives on particular course of
| treatment another may not. Many of
these points constantly coming up In
practice are well calculated to puzzle
even the observant farmer. But there
are others that we can more readily I'M
dcrstand We know that bad or stormy
Weather, the want of proper ventilation
in the barn, the irritation of excessive
heat and the attacks of insects in the
field, the worrying by dogs, sudden thun-
der-storms or other causes of excitement,
will materially reduce the production of
milk. We know, too, that it is not mere
~ the kind of food, but the condition in
nhach IL IS gtren has powerful influence
upon the product of the COW; and so we
have variety of questions upon the
cooking and preparation Of food, the
mixing of varieties, and Others OF a
practical character to consider In fact,
the whole subject of feeding is not with
out its difficulties, but fortunately many
of them are of such nature that one
can reasonably hope to surmount them.
On this point of the difficulties attending
investigations into the nature and prac-
teal values of food for stock, and the
circumstances which modify the milk
producing qualities of foods, some very
sensible views are appended, taken from
the journal of the Central Agricultural
Society of Belgium, from the pen OF its
late able Secretary, NJ. LeDocte, and the
following is translation from the orig
inal:
Every farmer knows that the milk of
dairy cows is liable to remarkable phe-
nome ma, which occur frequently during
different periods of the year. Thus, II
is not uncommon 10 see the milk on a
farm increase or diminish, according 10
the seasons and without any apparent
cause, always affecting the milking IN
similar number of cows. After that the
milk is BY and by OF good quality, while
| a little later il has mixed taste and Is
soon spoilt or liable 10 morbid changes.
/ In one farm this substance is bitter,
/ Initiated and incapable of coagulating;
/ in a neichboring farm it is sweet, soft,
rich in buttery substances. Is Gaseous
/ and agreeable to the taste. Here II Is OF
/ a dull tint, gray or whitish; there It Is
| strongly colored with blue, with red, or
/ even with a shade of lead color else.