112 



parison between the velvet beans and a mixture of the 

 other two feeds, and still have the cottonseed meal 

 predominate in the latter. Hence the proportion of 

 seven parts corn meal to eight parts cottonseed m.eal. 

 The prices of the feeds were as follows: 



Cottonseed meal $38.00 per ton 



Corn .85 per bu. 



Velvet bean?, in pods 18.00 per ton 



Silage 2.50 per ton 



Method of Feeding and Handling the Cows 

 Throughout the experiment the cows were confined 

 to a small wooded lot so that the only feed they re- 

 ceived was that given them. They were put in the 

 Station barn morning and evening at regular intervals 

 for feeding and milking. The cows were weighed ev- 

 ery two weeks during each test period. The rations 

 of the two lots were reversed at the close of the first 

 period to eliminate the effects of individual variation 

 between the two lots. 



Table No. I. — Showing Total Amount of Feed Coi:- 

 sumed and Amount of Milk and Bntterfat Pro- 

 duced. - (56 Days) . 



Table I shows that more feed was consumed by the 

 cows while on the cottont,eed meal and corn ration, 

 and that more milk was produced by that feed. The 

 beans were first fed in the pod with no preparation, 

 but the cows did not seem to relish them in this form. 

 They were then ground into a coarse meal, but even 

 with this treatment the results were not altogether sat- 

 isfactory, as none of the cows relished the beans suf- 

 ficiently to consume their entire ration. However, 

 some of the cows seemed to develop a liking for the 

 beans towards the close of the experiment. A great 

 deal of difference was observed betewen individual 

 cows in this respect. The maximum cosumption was 

 eleven pounds per day, while the minimum consump- 

 tion was nearl}^ four pounds per day, per cow. The 

 cows consuming a heavy ration kept up their milk flow 

 as well on the beans as on the cottonseed meal mixture. 



