Show esst wasse Wt P DAIRYING dr L D legear LeG earV V S st loui louis mo dr legear is a graduate of on ontario veterinary college thirty eight years e rs of vet veterinary gif work eminent authority on di diseases ases and rals raising ing 57 of na d dairy naL i cows other livestock and poultry nationally known lecturer writer and author 11 flimen SCIENCE STUDIES THE COWS STOMACH modern feeding methods are the result of experimenting to find the proper combinations the expression Is frequently used that we are living in a laboratory age nearly everything we eat and and wear and use must first go through several experimental stages A few years ago I 1 visited the factory of a well known high priced automobile and was told that every part of the engine waa was inspected every forty five minutes during the process ot of manufacture finally the engine was placed ion on a testing block and run at full speed contina bously for tour four hours before it was ever put into the finished car the average public la Is not aware of the tact fact that similar methods have been emp employed toyed for years in the study of the care and feeding of cat eat tie tle recently I 1 visited a well known state experimental station As we went vent through one barn I 1 was showta shown a newborn new born calf and informed that within twenty tour four hours it would not be alive in tact fact it was doomed to die before it was ever born the reason tor for this was that its mother had been ted fed a certain ration fior FIOT twenty years cows fed this ration had not produced a single calf that lived in every case the offspring would be undersized abnormal and in many cases blind the ration was wheat I 1 eat straw wheat meal 1 wheat gluten and common salt the interesting thing about the experiment was that in this same barn the cows fed with the same ra tion plus the bone meal and cod liv p er pr r oil produced healthy calves that later became large producers of milk all through this experiment sta tion similar tests were being made on various combinations of food by this means the correct feeding of dairy cattle was being reduced to a science the results of this eclen title knowledge are now available to every farmer and there is little excuse woiday for the owner of dairy cattle not knowing how tid tol keep his herd on a profitable production ba sis we have already referred to the dairy cow as an example ot of a mod ern machine perfected throughout the years tor for the manufacture of milk I 1 think we twe will have a great er regard tor for the humble cow and will be far more considerate of her comfort and surroundings if we know a little more about the me by which she produces milk how many times for instance alq we neglectful in cold weather of water tor for the cattle we do not realize that their bodies consist of from 70 to tol 90 per cent liquid water performs Ver forms many important functions in the tody body it dissolves the food acts as a carrier of food and waste land is a most important element in the chemistry of the body any in interference ler Iter terence ference with the normal amount of drinking water may be serpoui and it should be supplied to live stock in large amounts in all seasons of the year in the winter time drinking water sl mid not be too cold the digestive organs of the cow are extremely interesting As most of us know the dairy caw COW chews her food just long enouf to moisten it before she swallows it it is held in the paunch until she is ready to bring it back in the form of a cud when she masticate it and mixes it with saliva this is the first step in the mantu of milk A cud I 1 will weight from three to tour four oune es each one is chewed about a minute before it la Is returned tor for dl di A cow in reality has tour four belts each one of which performs a certain function the first stomach acts as a churn where further mas akes lakes place the second apparently has no digestive juices but la Is a sort of policeman to the food removing stones nails and other foreign objects which may happen to be in it the third stomach has powerful muscles squeeze the mod moisture sture out of the food and prepare it tor for entering the true stomach from there on the groces ses sea are very much similar to rhotee in other animals it Is 1 a fact that this is a more complicated procedure than the dl kit cestive processes in other animals therefore it Is very necessary that the cow be quiet and comfortable during the period when she Is trana trans forming her food into milk A cow when disturbed immediately ceases chewing her cud which means that at the next milking period her sup ply will be greatly reduced it the disturbance continues copyright 1930 by dr L D le gear V S st louis mo |