^o. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 299 



material- and 2.5 pounds of digestible protein. For many years 

 this was accepted as the standard and has probably been used 

 more than all other standards combined. The great corn producing 

 states of the Union, when they turned their attention to dairying, 

 found that under their conditions protein was the most expensive 

 ingredient of the ration and many experiments were conducted 

 for the purpose of ascertaining how much this daily allowance of 

 protein could be reduced, without decreasing the milk How, or di- 

 minishing the protein in the. animal's body. Woll collated the 

 ration of many of the best dairymen of the United States, and as 

 a result of his investigation, he concluded that the dairy cow could 

 do well on a ration containing 17.3 pounds total digestible of which 

 only 2.15 is protein. This last standard — called the Wisconsin 

 standard— has been advocated for the use of those who can raise 

 starch cheaply, but would have to buy the protein if they fed it 

 heavily. Both the above rations are faulty in that, they are sup- 

 posed to be the proper rations for a medium sized cow giving a fair 

 flow of milk, but they make no allowance for variations in size 

 or milk flow. In 1897, Lehman published his standards for the 

 dairy" cow, in which he varied the ration according to the amount 

 of milk produced. His ration for a cow giving twenty-two pounds 

 of milk daily contains 10.7 pounds of total digestible of which 2.5 

 pounds are digestible protein, thus agreeing very closely with Wolfl:'s 

 published thirty years earlier. 



The latest standard ration for the dairy cow is that proposed by 

 Dr. Armsby of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Experiment Station. 

 His ration is obtained in the following manner: It is known that a 

 thousand pound farrow cow that is not producing milk will keep up 

 the protein need of the body on a daily allowance of 0.5 pounds of 

 protein. A pound of milk contains about 0.3 pounds of protein. 

 Dr. Armsby believes that an addition to the maintenance ration of 

 0.05 pounds protein for each pound of milk produced will be amply 

 sufficient for the needs of the cow. On this basis the standard ration 

 for a cow giving twenty-two pounds of milk daily would contain 15.2 

 pounds of total digestible material of which only l.G pounds would 

 be digestible protein. It is thus seen that the various standards 

 differ widely — the two German standards being the highest in pro- 

 tein and Dr. Armsby's the lowest. 



Several years ago I had occasion to study the rations fed by many 

 dairymen in Vermont. I found that the dairy cows near the towns, 

 whose milk was sold in town for use as whole milk, were of a better 

 grade than the average, and were fed more protein than was called 

 for even by the German standard. Three years ago in the best dairy 

 districts of Kew York State I found the same state of affairs. In 

 each case the rations fed were the result of long years of careful 

 feeding with reference to net ijrofits. These dairymen had become 

 convinced that the extra cost of the heavy feeding was more than 

 counterbalanced by Ihe increased yield of milk. On the other hand 

 whenever I examined the rations fed on dairy farms that were 

 remote from the railroad and where the milk was used for the pro- 

 duction of butter or cheese I found a relatively small amount of 

 protein in the daily ration and a much smaller average milk yield 

 per cow per year. On such farms, the bringing in of grain or of 

 by-products rich in protein was expensive, and experience had 



