260 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



they are too expensive. How is he going to succeed in economy 

 of production? If he believes in a liberal allowance of feed (quan- 

 tity and not quality considered) his ration will likely be about as 

 follows: 15 lbs. of timothy hay; 10 lbs. of corn stover, and 8 lbs. 

 of corn-and-cob meal. This ration will furnish enough protein 

 for only 4 or 5 pounds of milk although there are carbohydrates 

 and fat enough for 30 or 35 pounds of milk. We cannot, there- 

 fore, expect a cow receiving this ration to yield much more than 

 4 or 5 lbs. of milk unless she does it at the expense of her body. 



This ration at present prices will cost about 11^4 cents per 

 day; and if the cow produces 6 pounds or % gallon of milk it will 

 cost 15 cents per gallon of milk. 



Now, suppose we substitute wheat bran for corn-and-cob meal, 

 using the same weights of grain and roughage as before. This 

 ration of 15 lbs. of timothy, 10 lbs. of corn stover and 8 pounds 

 of wheat bran will furnish protein enough for about 12 pound.- 

 or 11/^ gallons of milk. The ration will cost 15 cents per day but 

 will produce milk at 10 cents per gallon. 



The carbohydrates are still in excess of the protein, so let us 

 ^^ubstitute 15 pounds of clover hay for the timothy, which is not 

 much of a dairy feed, anyway. This gives us a ration good for 

 about 20 lbs. of milk. It will cost 15 cents per day the same as 

 before but produce milk at 6 cents per gallon instead of 10 cents. 

 Why, then, wouldn't it pay to sell that timothy and invest the 

 mxoney in clover hay? And some of the corn and invest the money 

 in wheat bran or cotton-seed meal? 



This does not mean that if a cow is fed 15 pounds of clover 

 hay, 10 pounds of corn stover and 8 pounds of wheat bran she will 

 give 20 to 25 pounds of milk. That depends on the cow and the 

 time in the period of lactation, but it does mean that a cow yield- 

 ing 20 to 25 pounds of milk should receive digestible protein, 

 carbohydrates and fat in about the proportion furnished by this 

 ration if she is expected to keep up her milk flow. One great 

 mistake of dairymen the country over is to feed all cows in the 

 herd the same am.ount of grain regardless of milk production. To 

 produce milk economically, the dairyman must know how many 

 pounds of milk each cow is giving and feed her accordingly. 



It requires a certain amount of feed to maintain the body and 

 the cow should receive sufficient feed above this amount required 

 for maintenance to enable her to produce a full flow of milk. If 

 she is not given sufficient feed to maintain her body weights and 

 to produce a full flow of milk she will convert her surplus flesh into 



