120 



THE VALUE OF FISH MEAL 



The foregoing tables clearly show the great differences there 

 are in some cows, and what would be the ultimate value of a 

 milk record. The actual value of each cow's produce could thus 

 be put down in figures of which there is no doubt, whereas 

 just now only the average of stocks can at all be guessed at, 

 and hardly even that itself The effect of the feeding is, how- 

 ever, more prominently shown in the table showing the weekly 

 averages of each lot. There the good or bad qualities of each 

 cow are counterbalanced by the opposite qualities in some 

 other, so that the results obtained are more to be depended on. 



The cows selected to be fed in the ordinary way, on an 

 average weighed 28 lbs. less than those which were to get 

 herring meal, but they were cows which looked likely to be 

 better milkers, and during the preliminary week's trial they 

 gave on an average 2"7 lbs. of milk j^er week more than the 

 others. This difference in weight of milk is not great, but it 

 acts as an offset against the slight increase of weight of the 

 others, so that the two lots might, practically speaking, be 

 considered on an equality. Very little dependence can, how- 

 ever, be placed on the live weights of milk cows gorged with 

 food, as a retention in the stomach of any extra quantity is 

 calculated as increase of flesh, which it is far from being. 

 In the table of weekly averages I have therefore done away 

 with the live weights, as they really contain nothing of any 

 importance. 



The first week, while the preliminary trial was going on, the 

 food used showed an albuminoid ratio of 1 to 4. By many this 

 is considered too concentrated. It, no doubt, is the limit of 

 judicious feeding, and may border on that where risk begins ; 



Table of the Food of hoth Lots of Cows during the First Week. 



•76 of oi is equal to 1-9 of starch, so we have 1-9 -t- 11-04 of starch = 12^94, 

 which -T- 3 '073 of albuminoids = a ratio of 1 to 4. 



