278 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, 



amount or kind of feeding stuffs that should be given a certain cow at 

 a certain time. It can supplement and partially guide the judgment 

 of the feeder, but it cannot take the place of judgment. Up to the 

 present time no advice seems better supported by experimental evi- 

 dence and more to the point than that of Prof. Julius Kiihn in his 

 article on "Feeding Standards for Domestic Animals" on page 11, Vol. 

 4, Experiment Station Record. He says: "For milch cows it is advis- 

 able first of all to determine the quantity of nutrients which repre- 

 sents the minimum requirements per thousand pounds live weight of 

 the animals; that is, the quantity which covers the needs of the cows 

 which are dry or nearly dry, and which while producing little or no 

 milk are usually more or less advanced with calf. This minimum amount 

 may be designated as the basal ration. It will naturally be more liberal 

 for breeds of high productive capacity and those which keep up their 

 milk yield well in the latter part of the lactation period and only go 

 dry a short time, than for those of inferior milking qualities. For the 

 latter the basal ration need not contain more than 1.5 to 1.7 pounds 

 of digestible albuminoids, while with the former up to 1.8 pounds % and, 

 with breeds of exceptionally high capacity even more will be needed." 

 A sufficient number of records are not submitted in the third division 

 of the table, which gives the food consumption of the cows nearly dry, 

 to warrant the statement of a definite conclusion. In each case there 

 is a very evident increase in live weight, as there should be, when cows 

 are approaching parturition. It is significant that the amount of digesti- 

 ble carbohydrates suggested by our cows does not vary greatly from 

 the requirements suggested by Kiihn in a part of the article follow- 

 ing the section quoted, while the digestible protein is very markedly 

 less in the case of the 3Iichigan cows. The fact that our cows gained 

 regularly in live weight is good, but perhaps insufficient evidence that 

 the ration here suggested is a sufficient basal ration to be used as 

 Kiihn suggests, as representing the amounts of dry matter and digestible 

 nutrients required by the cow to sustain the vital functions. 



Whenever the ration is to be calculated for a growing cow in the flush 

 of the early months of the milking period, the feeder will fix in his 

 mind the proper standard ration having regard to the feeding capa- 

 city of the cow, her past history, the quantity of milk and fat she is 

 secreting, and finally her size. 



While the reason may not be altogether clear, the work of the cows 

 points to the strong probability that a less amount of dry matter should 

 be fed larger cows per thousand pounds live weight than smaller ones. 

 This fact cannot be adduced from the feeding standard suggested above 

 and the facts submitted to sustain it, because, while the 1400 pound 

 cows require but 22.11 pounds of dry matter and the 1000 pound cows 

 23.57, the former were on the average in the sixth month of the milk- 

 ing period while the latter were at the beginning of the fourth. Between 

 the fourth and sixth months a considerable fall in the milk production 

 might be expected, and a corresponding decrease in the food supply 

 would take place. This decrease in the food supply by reason of the 

 fall in yield would at least partly account for the lower weight of dry 

 matter and digestible nutrients reported by the 1400 pound cows. 



