CATTLE FOODS. 37 



duction of beef. The figures are offered rather as a key to the 

 comparative commercial values of the different feeds based on the 

 nutrients contained in them. Thus if corn meal is worth ioo, 

 Quaker oat feed would be worth 85 ; or if wheat bran is worth 

 85, cottonseed meal would be worth 152. These figures can be 

 easily converted into dollars. Thus if" corn meal is worth $16 

 per ton or 100, Quaker oat feed would be worth 85 per cent of 

 $16 or $13.60, the amount the farmer can afford to pay for the 

 oat feed. Again with cottonseed meal worth $23, what can the 

 farmer afford to pay for old process linseed meal ? Cottonseed 

 meals equals 152, or $22, and linseed meal 135 or $19.60. We 

 have a case in simple proportion. 152 : 135 : : $22 : x =$19.60, 

 the value of a ton of linseed. It must not be forgotten that 

 these figures do not take into consideration the mechanical con- 

 dition, or the particularly favorable effect which some feeds are 

 supposed to exert upon the general health of the animal. 



Is it possible for us as dairymen to get along without feed- 

 ing concentrated feeds? In attempting to answer this question 

 we shall be led to consider the amount of protein, fat and car- 

 bohydrates needed daily by the dairy cow. 



A very large number of experiments have been made to 

 ascertain the amount and proportions of protein, fat and carbo- 

 hydrates necessary to enable the cow to do her best at the pail 

 and churn. Some twenty years ago, Wolff, a German investi- 

 gator brought together all experiments that have been made, 

 and concluded that the dairy cow of one thousand pounds live 

 weight, yielding ten to fourteen quarts of milk, needed the fol- 

 lowing amounts of digestible matter daily. 



Protein Fat Carbohydrates Total Proportion of 



protein to 

 carbohydrates 



Pounds 2.5 .4 12.5 15.4 1:5.4 



Many later experiments have been made since Wolff ex- 

 pressed his opinion as to the quantities and proportions needed. 

 We have at the Massachusetts station given a good deal of 

 attention to the problem ; and the longer we experiment, the more 

 we are convinced that Wolff was right. Now if we feed a milch 

 cow all the hay she will consume, we know that even though 

 she has been given enough to satisfy her appetite, she will not 

 yield a maximum amount of milk. She will have eaten per- 

 haps twenty-six to twenty-eight pounds of hay, which contained 

 essentially the following amounts of nutrients : 



Protein Fat Carbohydrates Total Proportion 



or ratio. 



Pounds 1.4 .4 12.2 14.2 r: 9-5 



