304 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



palatable feed that is unbalanced, as far as the different elements are con- 

 cerned than to have a perfectly balanced feed that is unpalatable. 



I think of a little incident Dr. Babcock told me of. He had some 

 young chemist under him who became interested in a kind of feed. Now 

 the Doctor knew that it was a feed of no value, that the stock would not 

 eat it and he said: "Boys, my old shoes will analyze, but what use are 

 they for feed?" We must not follow one trail and ignore every other. 



You should study the cost of your feed. You should know what 

 it costs to keep your cows. It costs you less in Missouri than it does 

 in Illinois. It costs me on an average forty dollars per year to keep my 

 cows. I have to buy coarse fodder and ground feed. 



Mr. What do you feed ? 



Mr. Gurler — For coarse fodder a roughage of corn silage and sor- 

 ghum. We have very little hay this year and my clover is all knocked 

 out. The time my alfalfa was killed, my clover was killed also and it 

 caused me to re-plant the whole farm practically. My clover did not stand 

 a bit better than my alfalfa did. For roughage we feed corn silage, and 

 until recently we have had the sorghum to feed in the middle of the day ; 

 but recently we have fed the silage and fed ground feed. We have alfalfa 

 and wheat bran and corn and cob meal, and we are feeding Buffalo 

 gluten feed. I had been feeding the cream gluten meal, but they have 

 stopped making it and we have taken to gluten feed, which analyzes a 

 high per cent of protein. 



At times we feed oats instead of bran, it depends upon the price of 

 the oats. As a rule we can buy other feeds and get more for our money 

 than with oats. If a man has oats, he can afford to sell them and buy 

 something else to feed in their place. 



Mr. Do you grind your oats? 



Mr. Gurler — Yes, we grind all our grain feed. 



Mr. How often and what time of the day do you feed? 



Mr. Curler — Ground feed twice a day and roughage three times a 

 day. We feed after milking in the morning and then the cows go out 

 and the stable is renovated, scoured and cleaned up. They get warm 

 water and are put back in the stables. Before noon they have a small 

 feed of silage and after dinner whatever is left is thoroughly cleaned and 

 the cows are watered in their cement mangers and they get no more 

 rougliage until after milking time. 



Mr. ,^^ They would like to have some hay. 



Mr. Gurler — I believe that is true, but I have not got it and cannot 

 buy it because there is none. This year there is no clover hay to buy 

 and the timothy hay that I can buy was cut so late it is not palatable and 

 I did not get good results with it. 



