The Question Box. 39 



bran,, but any mixed feed should bear on its tags its analysis; and 

 . I should not buy a pound of any mixed feed except I had an analy- 

 sis of it. Every cattle food dealer in the State has been served with 

 a copy of the law ; but, if you do not compel the manufacturer to 

 live up to it, you will get no benefit therefrom. 



Question. — ■ What would be the proper ground ration for dairy 

 cows, not giving milk, which will freshen in March, the coarse 

 foods being oat straw, pea straw, timothy hay, cut green, and corn 

 fodder cured in the shock ? 



Mr. Lillie. — Without figuring the ration, I should put in corn 

 meal and wheat bran for Michigan. I figure that there is no food 

 so cheap as good corn for furnishing carbohydrates. So, if one 

 feeds corn stalks, he should add some corn. When the cows are 

 dry, they do not require so much protein. That would be fur- 

 nished by the wheat bran. There would also be some in the other 

 foods. 



Mr. Smith/ — The question of palatability in food ought to be 

 considered in selecting or combining foods ; but it is not quite as 

 necessary with dry as with milch cows. 



Question. — Which is the better for a cow, corn or barley ? 



Mr. Smith. — There is not much difference in their analvses. 

 Both are starchy foods, but there will be more value gotten out of 

 the corn than the barley, because so much more may be grown on 

 an acre. 



Question. — Can gluten food be safely fed when dry, if mixed 

 with wheat bran or corn meal? 



Mr. Rice. — Certainly; much of it is being used. It is a very 

 dry feed and rich in protein. Fed with good corn ensilage it makes 

 a nicely balanced ration. It is much richer in protein than is 

 wheat bran. But there are two forms of gluten, one is meal, the 

 other gluten feed. The former is much the richer in protein, and 

 the price should be higher for it; but both are often sold by 

 dealers as gluten meal. 



Question. — How does it compare with corn meal? 



Mr. Rice. — It does not compare, there being more than three 

 times as much protein in it. Corn meal contains about seven per 

 cent., wheat bran 11, and gluten meal 25 per cent. 



Question. — Is rape a good fodder for cattle, when cured like 

 hay? 



Mr. Rice. — I should not think that rape was a good food for 

 cattle, but it is wonderfully good for sheep. 



