264 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



wheat middlings would be rated at $9.61 per ton, malt sprouts at 

 |9.12, cotton seed meal at $10.63 and linseed meal, old process, at 

 $ 10.78. These figures, however, would be entirely misleading as indi- 

 cating the relative value of these different grain feeds for the use 

 of the farmer. He can supply the carbohydrates and fat much more 

 cheaply in the form of hay, corn stalks, silage and straw than he can 

 purchase them in these expensive by-products. 



A very little experience in calculating rations will emphasize the 

 fact that protein is the one element which he will have to look for 

 in the feeding stuffs he buys. A comparison of these by-products as 

 to their content of protein and relative prices may give some light 

 as to which furnishes protein most cheaply. If the price per ton be 

 divided by the number of pounds of protein in a ton the result will 

 be the cost of a pound of protein in the given material if the value 

 of the other constituents be not regarded. At the prices assumed in 

 this bulletin cotton seed meal would supply protein at $.027 per pound, 

 gluten meal at $.0295, linseed meal at $.034, malt sprouts at $.038 and 

 pea meal at $.044. These prices of the protein in the different mate- 

 rials do not give an accurate indication of the relative values of those 

 materials as a whole, but will aid us in selecting the ones to purchase 

 to go with our cheapest fodder, characteristically poor in protein. 



Having at his command a lot of corn stalks, millet hay, clover hay 

 and mangolds besides the silage he must choose between them tbe one 

 which he will use for the basis of his ration. If sheep are kept and 

 young stock of the cattle kind, he will naturally devote his silage 

 to the milk cows and the bulk of the remaining coarse materials to 

 the other stock. With the silage he will feed some kind of hay. Let 

 us suppose that he should decide to feed thirty-five pounds of silage 

 and ten pounds of clover hay per cow. Table 1 shows the amounts 

 of dry matter and digestible nutrients in one pound of these mate- 

 rials. Multiplying these amounts of dry matter, protein carbohydrates 

 and fat in one pound of silage by 35 and the amounts of dry matter 

 and digestible nutrients in one pound of clover hay by ten, we have 

 the amounts shown in the following table: 



35 pounds silage 



10 .'pounds clover hay 



In both 



Cost. 



$0.0438 

 .03 



JO. 0738 



As we have seen, the combined experience of practical feeders and 

 the investigations of the Experiment Stations have shown that a cow 

 needs not far from 24 pounds of dry matter per day if she is in the 

 middle of her period of lactation, is of medium size and is giving 

 an average flow of milk. In this dry matter there should be fully 

 2.2 pounds of protein and as much of the carbohydrates and fat as 

 we can get the ration to encompass and the cow to eat, which will 



