| OCR Text |
Show HEAT REDUCES FLOW OF MILK Poor Pastures and Flies Also Contribute Contrib-ute to Loss Main Thing Is to Feed Cows Well. (By C. H. ECKLE8, Missouri Agricultural Agricul-tural Experiment Station.) During hot weather the milk flow of the average herd drops down nearly half. The heat and the condition of the pastures common at that time of the year are the muln causes of this drop. The flies generally blamed are of much less Importance than other conditions. The real cause Is the failure fail-ure of the animals to eat sufficient feed. Poor pastures, heat, the flies may all contribute to this result. It will be observed that during the hot weather the cows will graze but little and come to the barn at night evidently evident-ly hungry. To produce three gallons of milk a day a cow has to gather at lost 100 or 125 pounds of grass. If the pastures are short and the weather hot, generally this much grass will not be gathered and soon the milk flow goes down. The Influence of these summer conditions con-ditions cannot be removed, but may be Improved. The main thing is to see I Results of Good Management. that the cows do not lack food. They should be in the pasture at night and during the earliest, coolest part of the day. If the pasture is short, feed silage or green crops. It is well known to all experienced with dairy cattle that when the milk flow goes down once for lack of feed it is impossible to bring it back to where it was before be-fore by better feeding later. To get ft high production of milk during the year the cow must be kept at a high level of production all the time. For this reason do not neglect the cows during the hot weather and expect them to come back strong again when conditions become better in the fall. Keep them going all the time. |
