FEEDING ANIMALS 109 



fifty-four head. Aside from the mixed ration, our cows have had alfalfa 

 hay of a good, dean quality fed in the rack. Our cows are constantly 

 falling off in their milk production, some as much as 14 to 16 pounds in 

 a day. We have been having considerable trouble with our cows scour- 

 ing. Some say the cane molasses caused the trouble; but a number 

 have told us that it was the chopped hay. 



The only feed among those mentioned that has decided laxative 

 properties is cane molasses. Under conditions stated the safer plan 

 would be to omit it from the mixture. We have not had any difficulty 

 with scouring in feeding chopped alfalfa hay to our cows, and do not 

 believe that this feed is responsible for the trouble. The fact that 

 the cows are falling off rapidly in their milk production cannot be 

 due to the method of feeding adopted unless they have been greatly 

 weakened by continued severe scouring. From a physiological point 

 of view the ration fed can hardly be improved upon, except perhaps 

 by feeding somewhat more barley or some other low-protein grain 

 feed and reducing the cocoanut meal correspondingly. If cows fall 

 off in their flow of milk more than 5 per cent per month during the 

 early part of the lactation period and more than 10 per cent per month 

 toward the end of the lactation, there is something wrong either with 

 the method of feeding practiced or with the cows themselves. In 

 this case the chances are that the trouble is in the cows themselves; 

 that they are not persistent milkers or good dairy cows. A good cow 

 should give milk for at least ten months during the year, and should 

 not go down more rapidly from month to month in her milk yield 

 than stated above. F. W. W. 



Balanced Ration for Cow. 



I would like to know a balanced ration for a cow, including dried 

 beet pulp. 



The cheapest ration that a California farmer can feed his cows 

 this season (1915) if he has alfalfa, will be about as follows: Alfalfa 

 hay ad lib., say 25 pounds per head daily; dried beet pulp, rolled 

 barley and cocoanut meal, equal parts each by weight, 1 pound of the 

 mixture for every 5 pounds of milk which the cows yield. This will 

 make a balanced ration and will produce as satisfactory results as 

 any ration for milch cows which does not include some succulent 

 feed, either green feed, silage, or roots. It may improve the ration 

 to some extent to feed the beet pulp wet, soaking it in 3 or 4 times 

 its weight of water, about 6 hours before feeding time, but the advant- 

 age gained by this method is hardly sufficient, in my experience, to 

 make it worth while to go to this trouble in feeding the grain 

 mixture. F. W. W. 



Fattening Feeds. 



Please tell me the best feed to use to fatten an old cow? 

 Farm animals that are to be fattened should receive considerable 

 amounts of starchy or other carbonaceous components in their 



