272 FEEDS AND FEEDING, ABRIDGED 



Soybean meal or cake, from which the fat has been extracted, does 

 not make soft butter, and is slightly more valuable than cottonseed 

 meal. 



Cocoanut meal. — When no more than 3 to 4 lbs. per head daily 

 is fed, cocoanut meal produces a firm butter of excellent quality. 

 More may make too hard a butter. Cocoanut meal is about equal to 

 gluten feed for dairy cows. 



III. Hay from the Legumes 



Legume hay for the dairy cow. — Over much of this country the 

 Indian-corn plant provides the cheapest, most abundant, and most 

 palatable carbohydrates the farmer can produce, but it falls short in 

 furnishing protein, so vital in milk production. Happily, wherever 

 corn flourishes at least one of the legumes — alfalfa, clover, cowpeas, 

 vetch, etc. — can be grown to meet this deficiency. High in crude 

 protein and mineral matter, especially lime, the legume hays aid 

 greatly in reducing the amount of expensive protein-rich concen- 

 trates needed to provide a properly balanced ration for dairy cows. 

 The following articles show that when plenty of good legume hay and 

 silage from nearly matured and well-eared corn is supplied, only half 

 as much concentrates need be fed as when only carbonaceous rough- 

 ages are used. 



Alfalfa hay. — Good alfalfa hay heads the list of roughages suitable 

 for the dairy cow, on account of its high content of protein and its 

 palatability. Leafy, early-cut alfalfa hay is the best for dairy cattle. 

 The value of this hay in balancing rations otherwise low in protein 

 is shown in a trial at the Ohio Station ^ in which 2 lots each of 6 cows 

 w^ere fed the rations shown below for 56 days: 



Alfalfa hay as source of protein for dairy cows 



The ration fed Lot I — alfalfa hay, corn silage, and corn meal^--- 

 would undoubtedly have been improved had a greater variety of 

 concentrates been fed, yet with alfalfa hay as the sole supplement, 



7 Caldwell, Ohio Bui. 267. 



