224 Missouri Agiicultural Report. 



2.50 pounds of digestible protein, 12 to 13 pounds of digestible 

 carbohydrates and .75 pounds of digestible fat. The next winter 

 I visited many of the same places and I found from the questions 

 that were asked, and through the discussions, that very few farm- 

 ers had increased the flow of milk by feeding the ration that I 

 had proposed to them the preceding year. What was the trouble? 

 After investigation and considering the subject, I discovered that 

 the cows to which this ration was fed were not dairy cows nor 

 kept under dairy conditions. It was a waste of good feed for men to 

 give much to a class of cows that were not bred for dairy purposes, 

 nor cared for,by men who had no knowledge of handling dairy stock. 

 If I had told them first to put their cows in a warm, well lighted 

 and ventilated stable and give them all the hay they would con- 

 sume and from four to five pounds of ground feed, I would have 

 given them some information that would have started them on th'j 

 way to become successful dairymen. But a ration containing 

 from 10 to 12 pounds of concentrates, and roughage accordingly, 

 was altogether too much for a cow housed in a poor barn and giv- 

 ing from five to ten pounds of milk per day. A balanced ration 

 is correct enough, but it must be balanced to meet the condition 

 for which it is fed and according to the amount of work that the 

 animal is doing. 



FEEDING ACCORDING TO YIELD OF MILK. 



There is no better system of feeding the dairy cow than to 

 give her a ration according to the work she is doing and to nourish 

 properly her body. Let us be specific in order to illustrate clearly 

 this point; supposing we have a 1,000-pound cow that is giving 

 25 pounds of 4 per cent milk daily, or is capable of doing this with- 

 out crowding, and there is on the farm clover hay, silage and corn, 

 which is worth $13.00 per ton, and barley worth $18.00. In the 

 market we can purchase bran for $15.00 per ton; gluten feed for 

 $25.00; oil meal for $30.00. 



In calculating the amount of feed necessary, we first refer to 

 our table to see what kinds and amounts of nutrient are required 

 on the average for a dairy cow weighing 1,000 pounds, and pro- 

 ducing one pound of fat per day. We find it requires 1.8 pounds 

 of digestible protein, 12 pounds of carbohydrates and .5 pounds of 

 fat. The next question: What combination of the named feeds 

 will supply these nutrients the cheapest? We know from experi- 

 ence that corn silage and clover hay are good feeds for dairy cows, 

 and they supply a large part of the nutrients at a reasonable cost. 



