TWO SYSTEMS OF FEEDING DAIRY COWS: 



HIGH ROUGHAGE AND LOW GRAIN vs. 



LOW ROUGHAGE AND HIGH GRAIN FEEDING 



By J. B. Lindsey, Research Professor, and J. G. Archibald, 

 Assistant Research Professor of Chemistry 



INTRODUCTION 



The question of the proper amount of grain to feed to milking cows has always 

 been one of great interest to farmers. Each individual farmer has his own opinion, 

 and many have been the discussions centered around the problem at country 

 store, Grange Hall, and other rural meeting places. Much, too, has been written 

 on the subject in the farm press and elsewhere, both by practical farmers and by 

 extension workers in dairy husbandry. Strangely enough, however, the various 

 expressed opinions have had very little accurate experimental evidence behind 

 them. About twenty years ago the Pennsylvania Experiment Station investigated 

 the problem, but as the amounts of grain fed to two different groups of cows were 

 not greatly different it left considerable to be done. ' 



It was decided, therefore, to conduct a long-time experiment on the subject 

 at this station. This bulletin presents the results of the investigaton, which was 

 commenced October 1, 1928 and brought to a conclusion March 31, 1932, after 

 having been conducted continuously for a period of three and one-half years. 



METHODS OF EXPERIMENTATION 



The station herd of high grade Holstein cows was utilized throughout the 

 entire period. The number of cows in the herd varied at any given time from ten to 

 fourteen, which were divided equally and as uniformly as possible into two groups, 

 referred to hereinafter as the high roughage and the low roughage group. All 

 individuals were kept throughout the duration of the experiment (or for the length 

 of time they remained in the herd) in the group to which they were originally as- 

 signed. 



^Note: After the investigation herein reported had been brought to a conclusion and the results had 

 been prepared for publication, the authors received copies of a report* of a somewhat similar investi- 

 gation that recently had been conducted at the United States Dairy Experiment Station at 

 Beltsville, Maryland. 



The method of feeding described therein modifies the old rule of a pound of grain for so many 

 pounds of milk, irrespective of other factors. It takes into account quality of roughage, capacity 

 of the cow for roughage, level of milk production and fat test, and suggests the following rule, recog- 

 nizing that it is applicable only where silage and a good quality of hay are available. For Jersey cows 

 feed grain at the rate of 0.6 pound for each pound of milk produced above 10 pounds, and for 

 Holstein cows feed 0.4 pound for each pound of milk above 16 pounds. The advantage claimed 

 for this method is that it results in more economical feeding for two reasons: (1) Because cows will 

 get enough nutrients from good roughage alone to provide for the maintenance of their bodies and 

 also for the production of a certain amount of milk; (2) because one pound of grain does not contain 

 sufficient nutrients for 3 pounds of milk. By the old rule, therefore, the low producers were overfed 

 and the high producers were underfed. The modified rule overcomes this objection by regulating 

 grain feeding according to a cow's capacity for roughage as well as by her milk production. 



The method seems to have worked out quite satisfactorily but requires modification and care 

 in its use for cows near the upper and lower limits of their production; it is worthy of trial by New 

 England farmers who have com silage and good quality hay available. 



♦Woodward, T. E., Shepherd, J. B., and Graves, R. R. Feeding and management 

 investigations at the United States Dairy Experiment Station at Beltsville, Md. 

 1930 Report. U. S. Dept. Agr. Misc. Pub. 130. 24 p. 1932. 



