460 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



cows. It would also perhaps be wiser, until we have more light than we have at 

 present upon this matter, to muke our rations larger, so far as their total energy is 

 conuerned, than those of the German standard. The size of the ration suggested by 

 the Wisconsin Station [E. S. R., 5, p. 884^] as a standard ration may, when it is meas- 

 ured by its fuel value, not be too large for the demands of our conditions. Feeding 

 stuffs rich in carbonaceous foods (fats and carborhydrates) are abundant and cheap 

 with us, and it is difficult to utilize the foods ordinarily produced on the farm with- 

 out making our rations larger in total energy than the German standard calls for." 



These considerations lead the authors to suggest tentatively the fol- 

 lowing ration for cows per 1,000 lbs. live weight: Organic matter 25 

 lbs., digestible protein 2.5 lbs., digestible fat 0.5 to 0.8 lb., digestible 

 carbohydrates 13 to 12 lbs., fuel value 31,000 calories, nutritive ratio 

 1:5.6. This contains the same amount of i^rotein as Wolff's standard, 

 but rather more fat or carbohydrates, furnishing 1,100 calories more. 



In conclusion, the 16 rations are discussed individually and changes 

 suggested in each case, usually cheapening the ration. The educa- 

 tional value of such tests is likened to that of cooperative field exper- 

 iments with farmers. 



Feeding winter dairy cows, J.Wilson {Iowa 8t<i. Bid. 25, pp. 3-16). 



Synopsis. — A trial of feeding cabl)age, maugel-wurzels, turnips, corn fodder, and 

 silage to 20 cows. The butter produced when corn fodder or mangel-wurzels 

 were fed scored the highest, and that when cabbage was fed the lowest. The 

 latter did not keep well. When turnips were fed the butter scored a little 

 higher, but was colorless. 



Twenty cows w^ere fed for 97 days to test the effect, in separate periods, 

 of cabbage, maugel-wurzels, turnips, corn fodder, and silage on the milk 

 and butter. Of the first three materials about 30 lbs. was fed per cow 

 daily, in connection with a basal ration of 12 lbs. of corn meal, 5 lbs. of 

 bran, and 20 lbs. of hay.' When com fodder and silage were fed the 

 corn meal was reduced to about 3 lbs. and the bran increased to 7.5 lbs. 

 per head. It is not stated whether the hay was continued unchanged, 

 and no mention is made of the amount of corn fodder or silage given 

 further than that "the corn fodder and corn meal had the equivalent 

 of the corn meal fed during the previous periods.*' Ten of the cows 

 had been giving milk, on an average, 209 days at the beginning of the 

 trial, and 2 were rej)laced during the trial by fresh cows. . The sejia- 

 rate periods lasted from 2 to 3 weeks, and the changes of food were 

 gradual. The 20 cows gained 2,000 lbs. in weight during the trial. 



Composite samples were taken of the milk, which were tested for fat. 

 The results of these tests, the yield of milk, and scoring and analyses of 

 the butter are tabulated for each period, together with the analyses of 

 the cabbage, mangel-wurzels, and turnips. Some conclusions as to the 

 effect of the different coarse fodders on the yield and composition of the 



'This basal ration would furnish per cow approximately 31.4 lbs. of dry matter, 

 2.12 lbs. of digestible protein, 19.2 lbs. of digestible carbohydrates, and 0.77 lb. of 

 digestible fat, with 42,900 calories of heat and a nutritive ratio of 1:9.87. The ratio 

 would be little, if at all, improved by the addition of more coarse fodder in the form 

 of cabbages, turnijis, or maugel-wurzels. — Ed. 



