A PASTURE HANDBOOK 73 



SUPPLEMENTARY FEEDS 



Cows on good pasture will gather about as much roughage as they 

 can well handle. Grain, therefore, should be the material used in 

 supplementing such pasture. Since good pasture alone will provide 

 the nutrients for cows producing a pound of butterfat a day, grain 

 need be given only to those cows producing more than that quantity. 

 As a general rule, grain shoidd be fed to Holstein cows producing 

 more than 30 pounds of milk a day, to Jersey cows producing more 

 than 20 pounds, and to the other breeds producing intermediate quan- 

 tities. From 0.4 to 0.6 pound of gram will provide the nutrients for 

 1 pound of milk, depending on the percentage of butterfat. An 

 advisable plan, therefore, is to give Holstein cows 0.4 pound of grain 

 for each pound of milk produced above 30 pounds and Jersey cows 



FiGURK 19.— A closely grazed pasture. Dairy cows on short pastures such as this need to be fed much the 



«amp QC in «7infor 



same as in winter 



0.6 pound of grain for each pound of milk above 20 pounds. Other 

 breeds should receive intermediate quantities. 



Tliis plan has been used successfully at the Department's farm at 

 Beltsville, Md., for a number of seasons. Cows so fed wliile the pasture 

 was at its best maintained their weight and production as well as those 

 that received more grain. The grass, however, was at its best for only a 

 month or so in the spring. When the predominating grass, Kentucky 

 bluegrass, began to head out the cows declined in both body weight and 

 production, indicating the need for more supplementary feed. 



Pastures vary so much in quality that no definite rule for supple- 

 mentary feeding later in the season is possible. The farmer must be 

 guided by the condition of liis cows and by the way the milk flow is 

 being maintained. Any marked falling off of either means that the 

 cows need more feed. 



Most permanent pastures become so short in midsummer that cows 

 will not obtain their fill of roughage (fig. 19). When tliis happens, 



