FEEDING THROUGH LACTATION PERIOD 15 



30. Mixtures with hay containing some clover.— Probably 

 the majority of farmers have mixed hay to feed their cows, — hay 

 made up of timothy and other grasses, and containing some clover. 

 Here the farmer must make his mixture according to the quality of 

 the hay. If it contains little clover he must use a mixture similar 

 to that suggested for timothy. On the other hand with considerable' 

 clover present he can lower the protein content of his grain mix- 

 ture accordingly. 



It should be remembered that no harm can come from feeding 

 more protein than necessary. The first ration we listed (28) con- 

 tains the absolute minimum of protein and is for use with the 

 best roughage and is only recommended where the high-protein 

 feeds are much more costly than the others. We prefer a some- 

 what higher protein content than 14 per cent even with the best 

 roughage, where it can be obtained without too much extra cost. 

 It is better to err on the side of feeding more protein than necessary 

 even if it does cost more, than to feed too little. Of course, if the 

 dairyman has lots of legume hay and silage and home-grown grain 

 it might be more economical for him to make his ration entirely 

 from these feeds rather than buy feeds to get more protein, even 

 though maximum milk production may not be realized. Decision 

 here must rest on the cost of the feed to be bought and selling 

 price of home-grown feed. 



31. A ration of alfalfa and silage alone.— Professor W. J. 

 Fraser of the University of Illinois has just published a very 

 interesting report of a six-year experiment during which a herd of 

 dairy cows received nothing but home-grown feeds. The cows 

 were fed almost entirely on alfalfa hay and corn silage, the average 

 daily consumption per cow being 14.5 pounds of alfalfa and 37 

 pounds of silage. When a cow was producing over 20 pounds of 

 milk daily she received some corn meal — two to twelve pounds 

 daily, depending upon her production. The herd was on pasture 

 in season. With this system of feeding, using no grain except 

 corn meal and little of that, the average yearly production per 

 cow over the six years was 7,470 pounds of milk and 262 pounds 

 of fat. The yearly production per acre of feed was 3,888 pounds 



