366 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



582. Exnmer. This grain closely resembles oats in composition and in 

 feeding value for dairy cows. In a trial by Wilson and Skinner at the 

 South Dakota Station 11 in which eminer was compared with corn as the 

 only concentrate, 13 per ct. more emmer was required than corn per 

 pound of butter fat produced. Emmer should be ground for cattle. (233) 



583. Grain sorghums. These grains are of great importance to dairy- 

 men in the semi-arid Southwest, usually being the cheapest concentrates 

 available. Ground kafir or milo closely approaches ground corn in value 

 for milk production, being worth only 5 to 10 per ct. less per 100 Ibs. 

 When fed as the only concentrate with prairie, timothy, or sorghum hay 

 or with corn fodder, the grain sorghums tend to dry up the cows, and 

 if fed abundantly to fatten them, as would be expected from such an 

 unbalanced ration. (235-240) 



584. Sweet sorghum seed. The seed from the sweet sorghums is not as 

 valuable as kafir or milo, as it is more astringent and constipating. 

 However, it may be fed satisfactorily as part of the concentrate mix- 

 ture. 12 (241) 



585. Dried beet pulp. This bulky carbonaceous concentrate has be- 

 come popular with dairymen, especially those feeding cows on forced 

 test, on account of its slightly laxative and cooling effect. It is rated 

 at 10 per ct. below corn or barley in feeding value in the Scandinavian 

 feed-unit system, but in a brief trial by Lindsey at the Massachusetts 

 Station 13 it was equal to corn meal when fed with a basal ration of 

 wheat bran, cottonseed meal, and mixed hay. Since dried beet pulp often 

 sells for a higher price than corn or other grain, it is important to bear 

 in mind that merely as a source of nutrients for economical production, 

 it is worth no more per ton than corn, or even less. As a part of the 

 concentrates for cows on official test, or when a limited amount is fed 

 with heavy feeds to make the concentrate mixture more bulky, it may 

 be worth more per ton than corn. (276) 



Where silage or other succulent feed is not available, dried beet pulp 

 is a satisfactory substitute, tho usually much more expensive than 

 silage. 14 When a large allowance is used, it should always be moistened 

 before being fed. 



586. Molasses; dried molasses-beet pulp. In the Gulf states blackstrap 

 molasses and in the western states beet molasses are often cheap car- 

 bonaceous feeds. They are suitable for dairy cows, as has been pointed 

 out in Part II. (277, 280) In other districts a limited amount of molas- 

 ses, usually blackstrap, is often used as an appetizer or is diluted and 

 poured over rather unpalatable roughage to induce the cows to eat it 

 with less waste. Tho the actual nutritive value of molasses is probably 

 lower rather than higher than that of corn, pound for pound, it may 

 be worth more than corn when thus fed in limited amounts. 



"S. D. Bui. 81. 13 Mass. Rpt. 1913, Part I, pp. 129-140. 



12 Cook, N. J. Rpt. 1882. "Billings, N. J. Bui. 189; Foster, N. Hex. Bui. 122. 



