FARMERS' MONTHLY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



fed than where the roughage is poor 

 or the quantity is limited. Cow test 

 records show that few cows are eating 

 as much hay and silage as they could. 

 Poor quality and limited amounts are the 

 reasons for this. 



The main reason that cows are fed 

 less liberally when fresh than produc- 

 tion wan-ants i.s the past experience of 

 cows going off feed and developing gar- 

 get when put on full feed. Fear of 

 spoiling good cows by too liberal feed- 

 ing is what holds a lot of men back. 

 There is no question that it takes more 

 skill and attention to keep a cow produc- 

 ing over fifty pounds of milk a day than 

 it does to have her produce twenty. The 

 increased skill pays, however, in in- 

 creased profits. Anything that is easy 

 to do is seldom, if ever, profitable. 



Fresh Cows Need More Than Protein 



When a cow freshens, her udder is usu- 

 ally caked. Grain cannot be fed in any 

 appreciable amount until this swelling is 

 removed. For this reason alone it is 

 necessary for the dairy farmer to have 

 his cows in good flesh before they fresh- 

 en. This gives the cow something to 

 draw on until she can be put on full 

 feed. After the cake is gone, grain can 

 be safely fed. Protein has been talked 

 so much that .some men believe that it is 

 the only part of the feed that makes 

 milk. This belief has ruined a lot of 

 good cows. A cow that gives 40 pounds 

 of milk when fresh does not need a 24 per 

 cent protein gi'ain with the kind and 

 amount of roughage usually fed. A 

 grain carrying 20 per cent protein is the 

 upper limit. A 24 per cent grain, if fed 

 in sufficient amounts to keep the fresh 

 cow in fair flesh, furni.shes too much pro- 

 tein. The result of feeding too much of 

 this grain is garget, cows off feed and in 

 bad cases the loss of quarters. If only 

 enough of the grain is fed to supply the 

 needed protein, the fre.sh cow will get too 

 thin and will not hold up in production. 

 Ten pounds of a 24 per cent grain will 

 .supply all the protein that a cow giving 

 40 pounds of 4 per cent milk will need. 

 It does not supply enough total digestible 

 nutrients to keep her in flesh so that she 

 will keep up. It takes about 12.6 pounds 

 of a 20 per cent grain to supply the same 

 amount of protein. This will come near- 

 er to keeping the cow in flesh. If the 

 cow is not in as good flesh as she should 

 he, an 18, or even a 16 per cent grain 

 fed in larger amounts, would give better 

 results. The above figures are based on 

 the usual amounts of roughage being fed, 

 not on maximum amounts that the cows 

 are capable of eating. 



The Kind of Grain Needed for Results 



The mixed grains on the market for 

 the most part run 20 to 24 per cent total 

 protein, or 17.5 to 21.5 per cent digestible. 

 If a man does not want to do any mix- 

 ing, he can feed equal parts by weight 

 of the following combinations to get an 



18 per cent grain: 24 per cent plus 12 

 per cent; 20 per cent plus 16 per cent. 

 The best home mixture, not the cheapest, 

 that runs a little less than 20 per cent 

 protein is as follows: 



100 Hominy or corn meal, 100 Bran, 

 100 Ground Oats, 100 Gluten Feed, 100 

 Cottonseed Meal (43 per cent) plus salt, 

 bone meal and ground limestone. This 

 is a foundation ration. It runs about 

 17.5 per cent digestible protein. The 

 materials cost $40.52 ration on the re- 

 tail market, the first of January. This 

 combination will give as good results as 

 any 20 per cent ration we have ever seen 

 fed. Substituting half Oil meal for the 

 cottonseed, increases the price and de- 

 creases the pi'otein. It may be desir- 

 able for the Island breeds or where hay 

 is fed. By doubling the hominy, bran 

 and the ground oats the mixture will run 

 15 per cent digestible pi'otein. This 

 would be a good mixture for fresh cows 

 with usual amount and kind of rough- 

 age. As the amount of clover or alfalfa 

 hay is increased on the farm, the percent- 

 age of protein in the grain mu.st be de- 

 creased. There are farms where the cows 

 are fed a lot of alfalfa. One of these 

 herds was fed a grain combination large- 

 ly of corn and cob meal, a little bran, 

 ground oats and oil meal. The diges- 

 tible protein in this grain ran about 9 

 per cent! The cows in this herd aver- 

 aged over 10,000 pounds of milk for the 

 year. With this low protein grain, 

 enough could be safely fed to keep the 

 cows in good condition all of the time. 

 Other dairymen in the county have 

 brought the quality of their roughage up 

 to the point where they have to feed a 

 grain with less than 18 per cent total pro- 

 tein. These are the exceptions, not the 

 general practice. 



How Much Grain to Feed 



How much grain should be fed, often 

 puzzles dairymen. If cows are eating 

 maximum amounts of roughage, Hol- 

 steins should get about 1 pound of grain 

 to 3.5 pounds of milk up to 30 pounds 

 production, 1 pound grain to 4 pounds of 

 milk when producing from 30 to 50 

 pounds a day and 1 pound to 4.5 pounds 

 milk for higher production. Jerseys and 

 Guernseys should get 1 pound grain to | 

 3 pounds milk up to 30 pounds produc- 

 tion, and 1 pound to 3.5 pounds milk for 

 higher production. Unfortunately few 

 cows are getting maximum amounts of 

 roughage. Cow test records show that 

 the following are common amounts of 

 roughage per cow: 5 pounds hay plus 50 

 pounds silage; 10 pounds hay plus 40 

 pounds silage; 15 pounds hay plus 30 

 pounds silage; 20 pounds hay plus 3 

 pounds beet pulp; 25 pounds hay. The 

 following table gives approximate 

 amounts of grain needed to supply the 

 protein called for by feeding standards 

 for cows weighing 1000 pounds and giv- 

 ing 4 per cent milk. 



Lbs. milk Lbs. grain and % protein 

 per day 24'/, 20% 18% 



20 5 6 6.7 



30 7.5 9.2 10 



40 10 12.4 13.8 



50 12.6 15.6 17.3 



These figures show that with smaller 

 amounts of roughage than the cow is 

 capable of eating, the ratio of grain to 

 milk is about 1 :3. The 24 per cent grain 

 will not supply enough digestible nutri- 

 ents to keep the cow giving 40 and 50 

 pounds of milk a day in flesh. Then in 

 the latter part of lacation she has to be 

 fed 1 pound of grain to 2 or 2.5 pounds 

 of milk. The mistake then is to use a 20 

 or a 24 per cent grain, and again the cow 

 is getting too much protein and not 

 enough total digestible nutrients. The 

 condition of test cows making over 70 

 pounds of milk a day shows that it is 

 not necessary to have cows thin. In short, 

 we believe that feeders would do far bet- 

 ter to use a lower protein grain and feed 

 enough of it to keep their cows in better 

 flesh through the whole lactation period, 

 than to feed sparingly of a higher pro- 

 tein feed, and have their cows too thin 

 for best results. There is less danger of 

 digestive disorders and in the long run 

 we believe there will be more net pi'ofit. 



POULTRY NOTES 



Winter Molt 



Winter molt in pullets is usually asso- 

 ciated with loss of weight in the birds. 

 The common system of feeding dry mash 

 in hoppers and scratch feed in litter will 

 get results if one appreciates the fact 

 that egg production in the winter period, 

 November-February, is directly propor- 

 tional to the amount of scratch feed con- 

 sumed up to the maximum. At the New 

 Jersey Experiment Station is was found 

 that Leghorns would eat 15 pounds per 

 100 birds a day. Steele and Wheelock, 

 in this county, have found that their 

 Rhode Island Reds will clean up over 

 twenty pounds per 100 birds a day. These 

 two flocks have been consistantly at the 

 head of the flocks in this county. Fail- 

 ure to increase scratch feed as produc- 

 tion increases, has been the reason that 

 many flocks molt. 



When pullets molt in the winter they 

 should have the allowance of scratch feed 

 increased to the maximum amount that 

 they will clean up. Some poultrymen 

 have found that a wet mash at noon in 

 addition to the regular ration, helps in 

 getting the birds back into production. 

 A mash made up of equal parts by weight 

 of corn meal, rolled oats and semi-solid 

 buttei--milk is suitable for this purpose. 

 The wi.se poultryman does not wait till 

 the majority of his birds are in a molt 

 before he starts corrective measures. 



