228 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



quantity and quality of the feed to the quantity and quality of the 

 milk were brought together into tables too long and complex for publi- 

 cation here. They were published in Bulletin 149 and reprinted in the 

 Report of the State Board of Agriculture for 1898, pages 269 and 275. 



A variety of feeds was used in studying the question of a normal 

 standard. Most of these feeding stuffs were analyzed at this station. 

 In other cases the analyses published in reports of the Department of 

 Agriculture or in bulletins of experiment stations were used. 



Silage formed the bulk of the ration. With the silage was fed a 

 mixed hay composed of determined proportions of timotliy and clover. 

 Other coarse fodders, such as cornstalks, millet hay, alfalfa hay and 

 small amounts of other fodders were occasionally used. 



The grain ration consisted of various mixtures of corn, oats, bran, 

 linseed meal, cotton seed meal, gluten meal, and occasionally small 

 amounts of other commercial grains and by-products. The main grain 

 ration for one winter consisted of one-half of a mixture of linseed meal, 

 bran, oats, and corn, in the proportion of one part of linseed meal to 

 two of bran, three of oats, and four of corn, and one-half of a mixture 

 of bran and wheat, half and half. During another winter the usual 

 grain ration consisted wholly of one part linseed meal, two of oats, 

 three of bran and four of corn. In a third winter the grain ration 

 was made up of one part linseed meal, two parts corn, three of bran 

 and four of oats. 



To give variety to the ration, roots were fed almost continuously dur- 

 ing the winter months. These roots were for the most part mangolds, 

 sometimes sugar beets or carrots. 



The composition of the feeding stuffs being known, and the amounts 

 fed daily having been carefully weighed, it Avas not difficult to deter- 

 mine the composition of the average daily ration of the various cows. 

 This method of feeding differed somewhat from that generally used by 

 experiment stations, but was the one adopted after considerable 

 thought, and is one which is approved by farther experience. 



The coarse fodders were weighed daily to each animal, the quanti- 

 ties given being gauged by the judgment of the feeder. Weights are 

 taken on scales that read to half a pound. Variations of a less quan- 

 tity in these cheap and relatively heavy fodders are not material. It 

 was found, after trying the method for a year with a large herd, that 

 to weigh the grain for each coav involved so many delicate weights and 

 permitted so many errors that some other scheme had to be devised to 

 insure accurate results. Therefore, a box large enough to hold two 

 hundred pounds of the grain mixtures was provided for each cow. Into 

 this box tliere was Aveighed weekly enough grain to more than last a 

 week. At the close of the week the box and the grain remaining in it 

 were weighed and that Aveight subtracted from the Aveight of grain and 

 box at the beginning of the week. In this Avay the amount of grain 

 consumed by the coav during the Aveek has been accurately determined. 

 This method is not applicable to experiments where results depend upon 

 a knoAvledge of tlie amount of grain consumed each particular day, but 

 recommends itself to conditions Avherc the record of food consumption 

 for a long time is contemplated. 



