OBSERVATION BY HAECKER 139 



In adjusting rations for cows fresh in milk note 

 should be taken of surplus nutriment stored in the 

 body during the time that a cow goes dry. If she 

 gained rapidly in weight and is well rounded out 

 with fat she will be able to do normal work during 

 the first few weeks of her lactation on a light grain 

 ration, for she will use the stored fat in generating 

 body heat and energy and may also use some in the 

 elaboration of milk solids. So as this milking-down 

 in' body weight takes place the concentrates should 

 be gradually increased so that she will be on full 

 feed by the time she reaches her normal working 

 weight. From then on the amount of concentrates 

 should be as constant as the flow of milk will per- 

 mit until after the sixth month of gestation, when it 

 should be gradually decreased so she will go dry 

 during the seventh, when a couple of pounds a day 

 will suffice. 



The deduction from the data indicates that the 

 Wolff feeding standard for dairy cows is fairly cor- 

 rect in the average amount of total nutriment re- 

 quired, but faulty in that it prescribes an excess of 

 protein and in the assumption that cows need nutri- 

 ents in proportion to their weight. 



That the Wolff-Lehmann standard is faulty in 

 that it prescribes an excess of protein and other 

 nutrients, does not designate the nutrients required 

 upon a basis of a unit in weight of milk ; does not 

 recognize the fact that quality of milk yielded should 

 be considered as well as quantity, nor that heifers 

 require more nutrients for a given flow of milk than 

 mature cows. 



