504 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Ofl. DOc. 



It may be A quattei* of a pound of protein more than she needs, but 

 it is not as expensive as two or three of the robber cows that most 

 of us have been keeping. 



Now when we come to making up a grain mixture, I believe it is 

 advisable to make the mixture of at least three or four different 

 kinds of feeds. We want to stimulate the appetite of the cow, and 

 experiments of the New York Experiment Station show that the ani- 

 mal does host on a variety of feeds. Tlie four things then we want 

 to remember in studying what would be a reasonable ration for 

 the cow are: 



The relative economy of two feeds is not measured by their cost 

 price, but is measured by the cost at which they furnish the needed 

 energy. The cottonseed meal is to-day almost the highest priced 

 feed per ton on the general market, and yet it Is one of the cheapest 

 feeds we buy, because it furnishes a larger amount of the needed 

 energy per dollar than any other feed we buy. Now a lot of you 

 have a mistaken notion that you can pay a low fjrice for some of the 

 cheap hull feeds, but if you divide the cost of one hundred pounds 

 by the therms of energy it furnishes, and the cost of the one hundred 

 pounds of protein by the amount of energy it produces, you will 

 find that the cheap hull feeds are not so cheap after all. I would 

 ask you to use the best feeds you can get; it will pay you. The 

 cheapest feeds are the ones that produce energy the cheapest. That 

 at this present time will be corn meal or corn and cob meal. The 

 feed that will furnish protein the cheapest will be cottonseed meal. 

 Next, it will be gluten, or Ajax or brewery grain. Wheat middlings 

 is one of the cheapest feeds we can buy at the present time in our 

 Middle states. All are good, so we will take the one that has the 

 best effect on the system of the animal. Some animals are individually 

 constipated and some are individually lax. We want to counter- 

 act the one by the other. If we don't have any silage or roots, or 

 beet sugar meal feed, we put a little oil meal into the mixture about 

 once a day. If we have any of the other feeds, we do not use the oil 

 meal, because it is expensive. Most animals can be taught to eat 

 anything that is desirable. Boys can't, because they were spoiled 

 in their bringing up. Start small ; put in a teaspoonful if neces- 

 sary, and then bring up the amount. But it is usually desirable to 

 feed them what they want, if it doesn't cost too much. 



Next, comes bulk. The cow's machinery is usually built to hold 

 a large amount of feed. But we can overdo it; a cow cannot eat 

 all clover hay and do her best work, therefore we want that bulk 

 composed of something that will increase her energy. I would mix 

 with the hay, some corn and cob meal or distillers' grain, or gluten. 

 If you have to use only heavy feeds, I would chop some of the hay. 



Next, comes variety; I don't know how important this is, but 

 most of our men who do experimenting believe that cows work better 

 when they get a good variety of feed; and from the results of these 

 experiments, I believe that this is true. 



