402 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



This ration meets the requirements in an entirely satisfactory man- 

 ner. Hence, it will not be necessary to modify the concentrate mixture 

 at all for this herd. In case the digestible crude protein in the ration 

 had fallen too low, it would have been advisable to increase slightly the 

 proportion of cottonseed meal or wheat bran in the concentrate mix- 

 ture. On the other hand, if the protein had come above the amount 

 advised in the standard, the proportion of these protein-rich feeds 

 could have been correspondingly reduced. 



652. Water. Often the production of good cows is lessened merely be- 

 cause they can not conveniently get plenty of fresh, pure water. There 

 is no greater folly than this, for feed and labor are expensive, while 

 water is abundant and cheap. Of all the farm animals, dairy cows 

 require the largest amounts of water, due to the fact that it forms 

 87 per ct. of the milk they yield. The amount of water they will drink 

 depends on the yield of milk, and also on the amount of water in their 

 feed and on the air temperature. Cows in milk require on the average 

 about 100 Ibs., or 12.5 gallons, of water a head daily, and high producing 

 cows even more. Eckles 2 found that cows in milk drank 4 times as much 

 water as when they were dry and farrow. In one instance a Hoist ein 

 cow, producing 100 Ibs. of milk a day on a ration of 18 Ibs. alfalfa hay, 

 10 Ibs. corn silage, and 14 to 20 Ibs. of concentrates, drank from 216 to 

 307 Ibs. of water daily. 



When cows are fed succulent feeds, they will naturally need less water 

 to drink than when they receive dry feeds exclusively. In trials covering 

 3 years Collier found at the New York (Geneva) Station 3 that cows on 

 the average consumed in feed and drink 468 Ibs. of water for each 100 

 Ibs. of milk they yielded. Of this, about one-third was in their feed and 

 the rest in the water they drank. In a trial by Armsby* a cow drank 

 234 Ibs. of water for each 100 Ibs. milk produced when fed fresh grass, 

 and 421 Ibs. for each 100 Ibs. of milk when fed hay made from the same 

 grass. At the Iowa Station 5 McCandlish and Gaessler found that cows 

 fed soiling crops and grain in summer consumed about 350 Ibs. of 

 water in their feed for each 100 Ibs. of milk produced, and in addition 

 drank about 200 Ibs., making a total of about 550 Ibs. water per 100 Ibs. 

 of milk. Cows drink more water when fed a protein-rich ration than 

 when given feeds low in protein, 6 and they require more water in warm 

 weather than in cold weather. 



There has been much discussion as to the number of times a day cows 

 should be watered, and as to the advisability of installing automatic 

 watering devices for providing water at all times in the stalls. High- 

 producing animals should have water at least twice a day, and their 

 production will usually be increased if automatic water bowls are in- 

 stalled in the barn so they can have a drink whenever they wish one, 



'Dairy Cattle and Milk Production, p. 242. 



N. Y. (Geneva) Ept. 11, 1893. 'Jour. Dairy Science, 2, 1919, pp. 4-8. 



4 Penn. Bpt. 1888. 'Arinsby, Wis. Ept. 1886. 



