DAIRY MANAGEMENT, THE MILK TRADE, ETC. 87 



Ground oats — whole oats are not digested — are an admirable diet, 

 and from their composition well suited for milk production, 

 either on a butter or a cheese farm. Beans and peas cannot be 

 estimated too highly ; both are believed by cowkeepers to 

 " force " milk ; they are well adapted for use where milk is sold 

 or cheese made, and in conjunction with potatoes, roots, grass, 

 and soiling. Malt coombs are nitrogenous, closely resembling 

 peas and beans in this respect, and they have an especial value 

 in a ration on account of their agreeable flavour and sweetness. 

 Grains are valuable as a substitute for roots or any other succu- 

 lent food, but while stimulating in the production of milk, 

 they are deleterious when given in large quantities, or for a 

 lengthened period, and they are moreover an improper food for 

 cheese or butter-making dairies. We have distinctly found that 

 foods which have undergone a thorough fermentation have pro- 

 duced cheese which will not properly mature, and this is the 

 experience of French cheesemakers who, in cases known to us, 

 absolutely prohibit grains and distillery refuse from consump- 

 tion by their stock. Butter made from cattle fed upon grains 

 will not keep so well as that made from ordinary foods. The 

 following will be found a useful ration for medium-sized cows, 

 for a milk selling or cheesemaking dairy : 



81b. Oat Straw l^d. 



81b. Hay, at 60s 2id. 



481b. Mangels, at cost (10s. ton) 3d. 



lib. Malt Dust, at 100s ^d. 



21b. Cotton Cake,at 130s.) l^d. 



31b. Maize Meal l^d. 



lO^d. 

 The ration is based upon the scientific formula of five parts of 

 carbohydrates or fat and heat giving foods to one part (not less 

 than 2|lb.) of albuminoids or flesh formers. For cows of large 

 size it would simply be necessary to add 41b. each to the hay 

 and straw ration, when they would be satisfied both in bulk and 

 in necessary feeding value. Various changes could be made by 

 substituting bean or pea meal for the cake, and malt dust or 

 palm-nut meal and ground oats for the cake and maize meal. 

 Silage of good quality could be used instead of mangels, taking 

 care to add a little more straw chaff to equalise the properties of 



