DAIRY MEETING. 99 



Before closing I wish to speak of another class of feeds 

 which seem to be gaining quite a foothold in some sections and 

 these are molasses feeds, so-called. There is no question but 

 that molasses is a valuable food for man or beast and the use of 

 the lower grades as feed for cows is certainly to be commended. 

 Recent work done at the Massachusetts Experiment Station, 

 however, shows that it must be fed with care and judgment to 

 secure good results. When fed with hay it seemed to depress 

 digestibility and when compared with corn meal a smaller yield 

 of both milk and butter was obtained. This was probably due, 

 however, to a lack of protein in the ration, as the molasses car- 

 ried practically none and the corn meal 1 1 per cent. Molasses, 

 of course, is a carbohydrate material carrying 50 per cent or 

 more. of sugar and should be fed with grains rich in protein 

 as cottonseed meal, linseed meal, distillers grains, etc., to secure 

 the best results. It can be used to render unpalatable feeds more 

 palatable and sometimes effect a saving in that manner. 



The advisability of buying the molasses feeds upon the market 

 depends on their price and composition. If they were made of 

 pure materials such as one would compound for his own use 

 with an admixture of about 20 per cent of molasses, no objec- 

 tion could be made to them on the score of feed value, but as 

 many of them have been found to contain large amounts of 

 screenings, weed seeds, and materials of doubtful feeding value, 

 they should be purchased with caution. The best manufacturers 

 now, however, claim to treat all screenings so as to kill the weed 

 seeds, which, if true, is an improvement over old conditions. It 

 is still a question, however, if it would not be better for a dairy- 

 man who wishes to feed molasses to compound his own grain 

 rations and buy the feed molasses which we can obtain at from 

 12 to 15 cents per gallon by the barrel. He would then know 

 what he is feeding and could add the molasses to the grain 

 ration in quantities to secure the best results. 



Ques. Have you made any figures on the gluten feeds? 



Ans. When gluten feed is bought for just protein alone, the 

 cost of the protein would be 6.4 cents per lb., but you must re- 

 member that gluten feed is made from corn and contains con- 

 siderable material which is valuable besides the protein. It sells 

 about as high as cottonseed meal and if you are going to make 

 up a ration you can probably make it up cheaper with a mix- 

 ture of cottonseed meal and corn meal than by using gluten feed. 



