472 Feeds and Feeding. 



The rule should be to feed nearly as much roughage as the cow 

 will consume without overtaxing her 5 then supply sufficient con- 

 centrates to bring the digestible matter up to the required stand- 

 ard. About four-tenths of the digestible nutrients should be 

 given in the form of concentrates and six-tenths in the roughage. 

 It will not do to feed all grain in expectation of better returns. 

 A satisfactory ration must possess a certain bulk or volume in 

 order to properly distend the abdomen. Without this the pro- 

 cesses of digestion cannot proceed normally. This should never 

 be forgotten, even when forcing cows in dairy contests. (Chapter 



vn.) 



714. Concerning the various feed stuffs. In general, the vari- 

 ous feeding stuffs used by dairymen have been fully considered 

 in earlier chapters, so that only some of the more common ones 

 need be here taken up, and these only in a brief way. 



715. Corn. To this grain is due in no small measure the 

 pre-eminence of the great dairy district of the West, in which 

 Indian corn flourishes. No article is more palatable to the cow 

 than corn in almost any form, and her fondness for it has often 

 led to its abuse. Milk production calls for a large amount ot 

 protein in the ration, and this protein constituent is not abundant 

 in corn; for this reason corn should not form more than one-half 

 or three-fifths of the concentrates. 



Where labor is high priced and corn cheap, it will be found 

 economical to feed corn without husking. The simplest way is to 

 use shock corn, throwing the long stalks with the ears into the 

 feed mangers. The cows at first search for the ears, and having 

 consumed these strip off the leaves, even eating the finer portions 

 of the stalks. By supplying corn on the stalk for the evening feed, 

 so as to allow the cows a long period for working them over, all 

 will be consumed before morning except some of the coarser por- 

 tions of the stalks, thus reducing the labor of removing the waste. 

 Dairymen, however, will generally prefer to run their shock corn 

 through the feed- cutter or shredder, which leaves the material in 

 a form relished by the cow and easily handled. The broken ears 

 of corn are then easily masticated, the cobs also being consumed. 



With unhusked corn care must be taken to supply only the 

 requisite amount of grain, which can be determined by selecting 



