110 SECOND THOUSAND QUESTIONS IN AGRICULTURE 



rations, and these must be furnished largely in concentrated form so 

 that a large share of the nutrients contained in the feed will be avail- 

 able for productive purposes and will not be used up in the work of 

 digestion. Grain or other starchy concentrates must, therefore, be 

 fed freely. There is no single feed that will fatten animals more 

 readily than Indian corn, which is the most important fattening feed 

 in this country. The grain sorghums and other cereals are also 

 excellent for fattening purposes. It is always well to give a mixture 

 of feeds rather than a single feed only, as animals will eat more on 

 a varied diet and will go to their feed with a keen appetite when given 

 a variety. At present feed prices in this State, a mixture of either 

 rolled barley and dried beet pulp, or barley, milo, and beet pulp, fed 

 in the proportions of 2:1 or equal parts by weight, respectively, will 

 be about the most economical and efficient grain ration that can be 

 fed to fattening animals. Either grain mixture fed liberally and with 

 a good grade of hay will fatten cattle in a short time. F. W. W. 



Making up a Ration for Cows. 



What would be a balanced ration made up of the following ingred- 

 ients and how much of this mixture should be given to cows giving 

 30 pounds milk per day: ground barley, linseed oil meal, heavy dairy 

 bran, alfalfa meal and steam dried beet pulp? The cows at present are 

 having clover hay in addition to the mash, but later will only have 

 grain hay. We have silo in construction and corn growing, to have 

 silage later, but until then must make up a ration of what I have. 

 Would it be better to add ground oats also? 



The best nutritive ratio for cows giving a certain amount of milk 

 per day will vary according to the prices of the available feeding 

 stuffs. If the protein feeds, like alfalfa and clover, are cheap compared 

 with starchy feeds a narrower nutritive ratio may be fed to better ad- 

 vantage than when the opposite is true. With grain hay as the main 

 roughage, it is necessary to feed more protein (flesh-forming sub- 

 stances) in the form of concentrates than if alfalfa or clover is fed; 

 fortunately equally good results can, as a rule, be obtained in this way 

 by furnishing somewhat more total digestible matter in the ration. A 

 nutritive ratio of about 1:7 will be about right under these conditions 

 and with average prices of the feeds given. It is not necessary to 

 feed ground oats in addition to the other feeds, as these furnish ample 

 variety to the ration. 



I would suggest that about 8 pounds of concentrates be fed, with 

 20 pounds of grain hay per head daily, and that the grain mixture be 

 made up of barley, wheat bran, and dried beet pulp, in the proportion 

 of 3:1:1, a small amount of oil meal ( l / 2 to 1 pound) being added to 

 increase the protein in the ration and as an appetizer. A ration 

 made up as suggested, with one pound of oil meal, will have a nutritive 

 ratio of nearly 1:7 and will contain sufficient food materials to meet 

 the needs of cows giving 30 pounds of milk a day. 



When corn silage is available, the roughage will contain still 

 more starchy feeds and it will be necessary to supply more protein 



