270 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Victoria B. was a Shorthorn not belonging to the dairy herd, and her 

 records for successive periods of lactation cannot for that reason be 

 given. Jersey and Milla were grade cows, temporarily in the herd 

 for use in an experiment. Their behavior was normal, however, and 

 although their records cannot be given for the months preceding, a 

 note was taken of their yields at the time the feeding recorded in the 

 table below was made. 



The Feed. — Silage formed the bulk of the ration. With the silage was 

 fed a mixed hay composed of undetermined proportions of timothy and 

 clover. Other coarse fodders, such as cornstalks, millet hay. alfalfa 

 hav and small amounts of other fodders were occasionally used. 



The grain ration has consisted of various mixtures of corn, oats, bran, 

 linseed meal, cotton seed meal, gluten meal, and occasionally small 

 amounts of other commercial grains and by-products. During the win- 

 ter of '94-95 wheat was very cheap and limited quantities of it were 

 fed. The main grain ration for that winter consisted of one half of a 

 mixture of linseed meal, bran, oats and corn, in the proportion of one 

 part of linseed meal to two of bran, three of oats, and four of corn, 

 and one half of a mixture of bran and wheat, half and half. During 

 the winter of '95-96 the usual grain ration consisted wholly of one part 

 linseed meal, two of oats, three of bran and four of corn. In the winter 

 of '96-97 the grain ration was made up of one part linseed meal, two 

 parts corn, three of bran, and four of oats. 



To give variety to the ration, roots were fed almost continuouslv dur- 

 ing the winter months. These roots were for the most part mangolds, 

 sometimes sugar beets or carrots. 



The composition of the feeding stuffs being known, and the amounts 

 fed daily having been carefully weighed, it was not difficult to deter- 

 mine the composition of the average daily ration of the various cows. 

 The method of feeding differed somewhat from that generally used 

 by experiment stations, but was the one adopted after considerable 

 thought, and is one which is approved by farther experience. 



The coarse fodders are weighed daily to each animal, the quantities 

 given being gauged by the judgment of the feeder. Weights are taken 

 on scales that read to half a pound. Variations of a less quantity in 

 these cheap and relatively heavy fodders are not material. It was 

 found, after trying the method for a jear with the large herd, that 

 to weigh the grain daily for each cow involved so many delicate weights 

 and permitted so many errors that some other scheme had to be devised 

 to insure accurate results. For the years L895, 1896 and 1897, therefore, 

 a box large enough to hold two hundred pounds of the grain mixture 

 has been provided for each cow. Into this box there is weighed weekly 

 enough grain to more than last a week. At the close of the week the 

 box and the grain remaining in it are weighed and that weight sub- 

 tracted from the weight of grain and box at the beginning of the week. 

 In this way the amount of grain consumed by the cow during the 

 week is accurately determined. This method is not applicable to exper- 

 iments whose results depend upon a knowledge of the amount of grain 

 consumed each particular day. but recommends itself to conditions 

 where the record of food consumption for a loug time is contemplated. 



