DAIRY MEETING. 129 



for home grown fodders. If he has silage made from well 

 matured corn, and mixed English hay. he has a good supply 

 of carbohydrates and needs to buy little else than protein. This 

 can be most cheaply supplied in cottonseed meal, but such a 

 concentrated grain cannot safely be fed alone and a little bran 

 should be added for bulkiness, also to supply ash materials. If 

 the silage is not well supplied with ears of corn (as it is likely 

 not to be after a cold summer like the one just past) some 

 corn meal should be added to the grain ration. I am not 

 specifying absolute amounts as that is something the feeder 

 must determine with each animal, but would not feed over 

 3 1-2 lbs. cottonseed per day in any case. If more protein is 

 needed it can be supplied by adding distillers' grains or gluten 

 feed to the grain mixture. For a general guide I would suggest 

 a very satisfactory ration for a looo lb. cow giving 30 lbs. of 

 milk containing 4 per cent fat would be : 



35 lbs. corn silage (ears glazed) 



7 A " mixed hay 



3 ' ' cottonseed meal 



2 ' ' com meal 



2 ' ' bran 



This will give a ration carrying 2 lbs. digestible protein and 

 13 lbs. digestible carbohydrates, fats included, and gives nutri- 

 tive ratio of i :6.5. If the silage is made from immature corn 

 and carries few or no ears then the corn meal should be in- 

 creased at least one pound. 



I regret to say many of our farmers have no silos and de- 

 pend wholly on dry fodder for roughage. If no succulent food 

 is fed then we must be more careful in our grain mixture, and 

 it is better to use mixtures that are somewhat laxative and 

 some of the cottonseed meal should be replaced by oil meal. 

 Bran is also laxative but is expensive at present prices. For 

 a grain ration in such cases I would suggest the following 

 mixture : 



Cottonseed meal 2 



Oil meal 1 



Gluten feed 1 



Com meal 2 



Bran 2 



This mixture fed with 20 lbs. hay gives 2.1 lbs. digestible 

 protein and a nutritive ratio of i :6.3. 



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