544 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



FEEDING DAIRY CATTLE FOR GREATEST 

 MILK PRODUCTION 



By Prof. C. L. Blackman 

 Dairy Husbandry Department, Iowa State College 



At this time as never before conditions demand that every individual 

 shall produce a maximum to compensate for the great losses sustained 

 in war and what is true now is more or less true at all times. The dairy- 

 man then who is feeding and breeding cattle should see to it that the 

 individual cows in his herd are producing a maximum of product at a 

 minimum of cost. 



This result can only be attained by good breeding practices, careful 

 thoughtful feeding and intelligent selection based on reliable records. 

 All of these items should be well considered and any one of them left out 

 weakens the rest of the work done. 



Good feeding may be considered equal to either of the other two 

 phases of Dairy Herd Management in realizing the greatest production 

 and profit from the individual cow. 



The feeding of dairy cattle, while reputed by some to be a great 

 secret known to but few, is in reality merely one of those farm problems 

 which can be readily solved by giving the matter some serious and 

 thoughtful consideration. A great amount of technical knowledge is not 

 necessary, but merely an understanding of wants of the cattle and the 

 feeds which may supply these demands. 



A brief discussion of the form of the digestive apparatus may serve 

 to explain why a ration to be most efficient should have certain 

 characteristics. 



The cow is a ruminant and is preeminently a user of rough feeds 

 such as grasses, hays, and silage, and for that reason is equipped with 

 a very capacious digestive apparatus different from other types chiefly 

 in that it contains three stomachs, besides the regular digestive stomach 

 common to other animals not ruminants. 



The first stomach of the cow is chiefly a storage place where food, 

 which has been but little masticated, is stored. The second stomach 

 readily communicates with the first and acts as a catch basin for foreign 

 materials. When a cow eats roughages she swallows her food rapidly 

 after little chewing. When at rest she returns this food to her mouth 

 about four ounces at a time and rechews this food completely and then 

 swallows it again and this time the food goes to the third stomach, or 

 (manifold), where the water is partly pressed out and the food then 

 passes on to the last stomach where it meets with the digestive juices 

 of the stomach. 



