DAIRY FARMING DAIRYING. 283 



DAIRY FARMING- DAIRYING. 



Feeding tests and their methods, J . L. Hills ( Vermont Sta. Rpt. 

 1899, 2U^- 253-296, 310-351). — Experiments, partl}^ in continuation of 

 work previovisly reported (E. S. R., 11, p. 382), were made to com- 

 pare various rations and to test ditferent feeding stuffs, to determine 

 the eflect of feeding liquid fat to cows, to compare methods of water- 

 ing- cows, to test the effect of grooming on production, and to deter- 

 mine the extent of experimental error in feeding tests. Fifty -six cows 

 in all were used in the series of experiments which lasted from Octo- 

 ber 25 to June 6. Each experiment covered 1 or 5 weeks, one-third 

 of which was considered preliminary. The number of cows used in 

 the different tests varied from 1 to 11. In addition to hay and silage, 

 and in some cases sugar beets or artichokes, the following mixed feeds 

 were employed: (1) Cotton-seed meal, linseed meal, corn meal, and 

 wheat bran (3:3:4:6); (2) cotton-seed meal, linseed meal, corn meal, 

 and wheat bran (3^:3^:3:6); (3) buckwheat middlings, corn meal, and 

 wheat bran (1:1 :3) ; (1) equal parts of corn meal and wheat bran ; and (5) 

 corn meal and wheat bran (8:1). Eighteen different rations were fed. 



Tables give complete data for the experiments, including weights of 

 cows, barn temperatures, anal3'ses, and digestible ingredients of the 

 fodders and feeds, records of the individual cows, and results of experi- 

 mental feeding on ditferent rations. The author summarizes the 

 details and results of the investigation as follows: 



" The relative feeding values of rations of equal balance. — (a) Medium nutritive ratios. — 

 The fodders and feeds used were hay, silage, and Buffalo gluten feed — nutritive ratio 

 averaging 1:5.7, and the same roughages with mixed feed No. 1 — nutritive ratio 

 averaging 1:5.6. The former ration yielded to the unit of total dry matter eaten 

 from 4 to 5 per cent greater product, and the quality of the milk remained unchanged. 



" (6) Wide nutritive ratios. — The fodders and feeds used were hay, silage, and corn 

 and bran, and the same roughages with Quaker oat feed — nutritive ratio in each case 

 averaging 1 : 8.9. The former ratio yielded to the unit of total dry matter eaten from 



2 to 3 per cent greater product, the quality of the milk remaining uniform. 



"In the one case production to the unit slightly favored the ration which was fed 

 the more liberally; in the other case 2 rations equally balanced and containing the 

 same amounts of the sundry nutrients were of equal feeding value. The outcome of 



3 years' trials of this kind indicates that uniform production is not to be expected of 

 necessity when there are eaten equal amounts of digestible nutrients derived from 

 divers sources. 



" The effect of adding raiv or emulsified fat to a ration. — Unemulsitied cotton-seed oil 

 and emulsified cotton seed, corn, and linseed oils were fed with bran or corn meal 

 and bran, hay, and silage, as against the same rations without the oil. Milk yields 

 to the unit of dry matter eaten were always increased when oil was fed, the increase 

 amounting from 3 to 9 per cent. The amount of total solids and fat were increased 

 by the cotton-seed oil feeding from 2 to 15 per cent, on linseed oil feeding 2 per cent, 

 and on corn oil feeding not at all. The quality of milk was always improved at the 

 outset of this class of feeding, but quickly returned to normal quality or became 

 poorer than usual when corn or linseed oils were fed. The increased fat percentage — 

 unaccompanied by rise in the percentage of solids-not-fat — was fairly permanent, 



