42 Bureau of Farmers' Institutes. 



Question. — Does it pay to raise oats for feed when they can 

 be bought for 32 cents per bushel? 



Mr. Smith. — No man can say what another man should do. 

 It is one of those things every man must decide for himself. 

 Probably, if you can trade them for bran, it will pay. 



Mr. Woodward. — That would be $20 per ton for the oats. So 

 it would be better to trade the oats for wheat bran, as that may 

 be bought for $14 per ton. 



Question. — Is rape a good food for cows ? 



Mr. Smith. — It will do for dry cows, but I should not feed 

 much of it to milch cows, as it taints the milk. But for sheep, 

 when fed properly, it is an excellent and cheaply grown food. 



Question. — My cows are fed bean fodder once a day and corn 

 stalks twice, with three quarts — by measure — of corn meal and 

 bran, morning and night. "What is lacking in the ration ? 



Mr. Goodrich. — That ration is deficient in protein, because the 

 cow cannot get the quantity she needs — at least two pounds per 

 day — from it. I should put in some oil meal, gluten or cotton seed 

 meal, in place of the corn. I should estimate a ton of well-cured 

 and preserved bean fodder as nearly equal to one of clover, although 

 I have not the analysis with me. The chemist knows much, but 

 we must submit his report to the old cow. I think much, of the 

 chemist, but fully as much of the cow. She is the umpire. Re- 

 member, the cow must have a variety of foods, and they must be 

 palatable to produce best results. 



Question.— How does barley meal compare as a ration for milch 

 cows, with other feeds ? 



Dr. Smead. — There must be palatability in a food to make it 

 digestible. If it is distasteful, it will not digest so well. Barley 

 has a nutritive ratio of 1 to 8 ; oats, 1 to 6 ; timothy, 1 to 14 or 

 15; clover, 1 to 5 or 6. The proper ratio should be 1 to 4, 5 or 

 6, according to the individuality of the animal, something which 

 the farmer must study for himself. Barley is not as good a ration 

 as oats, but wheat bran and barley, half and half, will make a 

 fairly good balanced ration. If I had good hay, a silo and wheat 

 bran, I should not feed barley at all. 



Question. — Shall we food meal dry or wet? 



Dr. Smead. — Dry. Digestion begins in the mouth. The cow 

 will wet it enough through her saliva, of which she secretes about 

 five gallons every 24 hours. All experiments I know have de- 

 cided that grain fed dry is best assimilated and digested by the 

 animals. 



