260 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



sin Experiment Station. In this bulletin the author compiles the feeding- 

 rations used in over a hundred dairies scattered from the Pacific to the 

 Atlantic ocean. After a study of the results, he wrote as follows: — 

 (Wis. Bulletin 38, page 46.) 



"Combining all of the above 128 rations which have been fed by success- 

 ful dairy farmers and breeders in the various parts of our continent we 

 have the following average American ration, as it may be called, as 

 against the rations published by German experimenters, and heretofore 

 largely used in this country." 



American standard ration for dairy coivs. 



Nutritive- 

 ratio. 



Average for 128 herds. 



1:6.9 



"This ration is practically the same as the one published in Bulletin 

 33 and in our 9th report; it is believed that it will be found correct for 

 our American conditions, except perhaps for those of the Rocky 

 Mountains and the Pacific States. While local conditions or the business 

 methods of farming in some places may make a ration desirable which 

 contains more protein than this and has a narrower nutritive ratio as a 

 consequence, we feel confident that in the large majority of cases its- 

 adoption will give satisfactory results, and that it is preferable to the 

 German standard ration so long placed before our stock feeders as the 

 ideal one, the nutritive ratio of which is 1:5.4. It is the result of Amer- 

 ican feeding experience; the majority of our most successful dairymen 

 feed in the way indicated by the ration and we shall not go far amiss if 

 we follow their example." 



Later in this bulletin some calculations will be given of the rations 

 fed at this Station and the deductions that are warranted therefrom. 



Knowing the composition of the feeding stuffs which he has on hand 

 or which he can purchase, and knowing the amounts of dry matter and 

 digestible protein, carbohydrates and fat they each contain, the dairy- 

 man is prepared to decide how much of the different materials his herd 

 will require, which fodders he will feed, what he will sell and what he 

 shall buy, since he knows the amounts of protein, and other nutrients his 

 cows will require per day during the season and the amounts of the same 

 which a given weight of each of his fodders will supply. 



CALCULATION OF RATIONS. 



A dairy herd is to be fed during the winter and there is on hand on the 

 farm the following list of materials which are worth in the market the 

 prices indicated. The dairyman can purchase in the local markets the 

 feed stuffs given in the latter part of the table at the prices mentioned. 

 The problem to be solved, as an illustration of the methods used in com- 



