The milk supply from my herd started out at a tremendous rate, considering the age of the cows.  It must be borne in mind that none of the thoroughbreds was within three years of her (probable) best; yet they were doing nobly, one going as high as fifty-two pounds of milk in one day, and none falling below thirty-six as a maximum.  The common cows did nearly as well at first, four of them giving a maximum of thirty-two pounds each in twenty-four hours.  It was easy to see the difference between the two sorts, however.  The old ones had reached maturity and were doing the best they could; the others were just beginning to manufacture milk, and were building and regulating their machinery for that purpose.  The Holsteins, though young, were much larger than the old cows, and were enormous feeders.  A third or a half more food passed their great, coarse mouths than their less aristocratic neighbors could be coaxed to eat.  Food, of course, is the one thing that will make milk; other things being equal, then the cow that consumes the most food will produce the most milk.  This is the secret of the Holsteins’ wonderful capacity for assimilating enormous quantities of food without retaining it under their hides in the shape of fat.  They have been bred for centuries with the milk product in view, and they have become notable machines for that purpose.  They are not the cows for people to keep who have to buy feed in a high market, for they are not easy keepers in any sense; but for the farmer who raises a lot of grain and roughage which should be fed at his own door, they are ideal.  They will eat much and return much.

As to feeding for milk, I have followed nearly the same plan through my whole experiment.  I keep an abundance of roughage, usually shredded corn, before the cows all the time.  When it has been picked over moderately well, it is thrown out for bedding, and fresh fodder is put in its place.  The finer forages, timothy, red-top, clover, alfalfa, and oat straw, are always cut fine, wetted, and mixed with grain before feeding.  This food is given three times a day in such quantities as will be eaten in forty-five minutes.  Green forage takes the place of dry in season, and fresh vegetables are served three times a week in winter.  The grain ration is about as follows:  By weight, corn and cob meal, three parts; oatmeal, three parts; bran, three parts; gluten meal, two parts; linseed meal, one part.  The cash outlay for a ton of this mixture is about $12; this price, of course, does not include corn and oats, furnished by the farm.  A Holstein cow can digest fifteen pounds of this grain a day.  This means about two and a half tons a year, with a cash outlay of $30 per annum for each head.  Fresh water is always given four times a day, and much of the time the cows have ready access to it.  In cold weather the water is warmed to about 65 deg.  F. The cows are let out in a twenty-acre field for exercise every day, except in case of severe storms.  They are fed forage in the open when the weather is fine and insects are not troublesome, and they sometimes sleep in the open on hot nights; but by far the largest part of their time is spent in their own stalls away from chilling winds and biting flies.  In their stables they are treated much as fine horses are,—­well bedded, well groomed, and well cared for in all ways.