in plant food. This consists
of the oil stored up in the seeds and other parts of the plant. The
grains contain most of the oil. Fat is used by the animal to make heat
and energy or to be stored away in the body.

The next animal food in the plant that we are to think about is the
mineral matter. The ashes of a burnt plant furnish a common example of
this mineral matter. The animal uses this material of the plant to make
bone, teeth, and tissue.

The last thing that the plant furnishes the animal is water--just common
water. Young plants contain comparatively large quantities of water.
This is one reason why they are soft, juicy, and palatable. But, since
animals get their water chiefly in another way, the water in feed stuffs
is not important.

WHAT THESE COMPOUNDS DO IN THE BODY

_Protein_

1. Forms flesh, bone, blood, internal organs, hair, and milk.
2. May be used to make fat.
3. May be used for heat.
4. May be used to produce energy.

_Carbohydrates_

1. Furnish body heat.
2. Furnish energy.
3. Make fat.

_Fat_

1. Furnishes body heat.
2. Furnishes energy.
3. Furnishes body fat.

_Mineral Matter_

Furnishes mineral matter for the bones in the body.

_Water_

Supplies water in the body.

CHAPTER XI

FARM DAIRYING

SECTION LX. THE DAIRY COW

Success in dairy farming depends largely upon the proper feeding of
stock. There are two questions that the dairy farmer should always ask
himself: Am I feeding as cheaply as I can? and, Am I feeding the best
rations for milk and butter production? Of course cows can be kept alive
and in fairly good milk flow on many different kinds of food, but in
feeding, as in everything else, there is an ideal to be sought.

[Illustration: FIG. 268. MILKING-TIME]

What, then, is an ideal ration for a dairy cow? Before trying to answer
this question the word _ration_ needs to be explained. By ration is
meant a sufficient quantity of food to support properly an animal for
one day. If the animal is to have a proper ration, we must bear in mind
what the animal needs in order to be best nourished. To get material for
muscle, for blood, for milk, and for some other things, the animal
needs, in the first place, food that contains protein. To keep warm and
fat, the animal must, in the second place, have food containing
carbohydrates and fats. These foods must be mixed in right proportions.

[Illustration: FIG. 269. A DAIRY]