ISTo. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 201 



a little over-emphasized the fact of a protein supply. I do not mean 

 to say that we can feed a dairy cow successfully on timothy hay and 

 corn meal. We need a certain supply of protein and we need more 

 protein than is contained in a good many farm crops. I feel from 

 the testimony of these experiments that if we take care to make our 

 ration palatable and keep the cows in good condition — because if 

 you feed the wide, nutritive ration and keep the cow out of condi- 

 tion so that her hair stands up this way (indicating) — it is not fair 

 to ascribe her condition to the lack of protein. I believe your ration 

 should be made palatable, and I believe we do not need to be quite 

 as anxious about protein as we have been. 



With comparatively wide, nutritive ratios in skillful, practical 

 hands^ in this last experiment of 1898-9, leaving out the middle 

 period where it was very wide, all the others had a ratio of 85 or 83 

 and gave practically as good results as the ratio of 65; and if you 

 trace that back, you can't get any very different result between a 

 ratio of 165 and 135. This does not mean that our dairy farmers do 

 not need to buy protein foods, but it does mean that a balanced ra- 

 tion is of importance. It means simply that perhaps we do not need 

 quite as much protein as we thought. If a man who has good, pala- 

 table feed, if protein is high, if oil meal is high, he need not feel that 

 he can't possibly produce milk because he cannot afford to buy those 

 feeds. I think the indications are, if he gets to that point or a lit- 

 tle beyond, he will be doing fairly well. It will obviously depend on 

 the character of his herd; the more milk that herd is capable of giv- 

 ing, the more protein he has got to give them to produce it, and he 

 has got to give more in the earlier stages of lactation than when the 

 cow is drying off. He has got to have something like a sliding-scale. 

 It comes back after all to the practical judgment of the feeder in the 

 application of these principles. 



I had intended to say just a few words on the sources of protein 

 supply, principally as between the purchasing of feeds and the rais- 

 ing of feeds, but I see my time has expired. 



The CHAIRMAN: We will now call upon Dr. Armsby to take 

 charge of the Round Table. 



ROUND TABLE— SECTION A. 



A Member: What form of protein is best for farmers to use, or 

 what should a farmer buy, when he is a raiser of corn, oats and 

 wheat? Can we feed two pounds of protein per cow per day with 

 safety and profit? 



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