BUEEAU OF AXIMAL INDUSTRY. 123 



milked at the same hour each day as compared with milking at 

 random. It was found with cows of average production that ir- 

 regular milking was not detrimental to milk and butterfat produc- 

 tion. 



An experiment conducted during the winter shows that cows of 

 average production and under weather conditions prevailing on the 

 farm at Beltsville. Md.. gave practically the same milk yield when 

 the drinking water was cold as when warmed. The experiment will 

 be continued on a farm in a colder climate. 



In an experiment to determine the effect of exercise on produc- 

 tion it was found that while the production was about the same 

 whether the cows were exercised or kept in the barn, the cost of 

 production was considerably higher with the cows which were exer- 

 cised to the extent of being driven 3 miles a day. It was found, too, 

 that exercise increased slightly the fat content. 



FEEDING INVESTIGATIONS. 



The feeding of cactus to dairy cows causes a decrease in the butter- 

 fat percentage in the milk. lExperiments so far made show that 

 neither the water nor the calcium in the cactus is the cause of the 

 decrease. The next step will be to find out the effect of magnesium. 

 Other feeds which were found to influence the per cent of fat in 

 milk are linseed-oil meal and cottonseed meal. Linseed oil in- 

 creased the test the same as the linseed-oil meal, which indicates that 

 it is the oil rather than the protein which affects the test. Work is 

 still being done to determine whether the results observed are per- 

 manent or only temporary: also to find out whether high-protein 

 feeds which are not rich in oil Avill have an effect similar to the 

 linseed and cottonseed meals. 



The work with milk gruels and special feed mixtures for calf feed- 

 ing has been mainly along the line of reducing the cost of the mix- 

 tures prepared at this station. 



A considerable number of calves have been fed with a nipple as 

 compared with drinking from a pail. The results show no advan- 

 tage in feeding with a nipple. 



Pectin pulp, a by-product in the manufacture of pectin from apple 

 pomace, was found to be less palatable and less valuable as a dairy 

 feed than beet pulp. 



Results of feeding experiments in which cows were fed according 

 to ordinary feeding standards for production in comparison with 

 certain amomits above those standards indicate that feeding at stand* 

 ard holds the cows at approximately stable body weight and prob- 

 ably produces milk at lowest cost of production per milk unit, but 

 that under certain conditions higher feeding might be more profit- 

 able. 



An experiment was conducted with a view to finding out whether 

 there was any advantage in the use of molasses in the dairy ration. 

 In one experiment molasses was fed to test cows in comparison with 

 hominy feed, with the result that cows fed hominy produced 3 per 

 cent more milk. In another experiment a group of cows that were 

 given molasses in addition to the regular ration produced slightly less 

 than the group that received the regular ration only. 



