200 A FEEDER'S GUIDE. 



How to Figure Oat Rations. 



We shall use the practical American feeding ration 

 as a basis for figuring out the food materials which 

 should be supplied a dairy cow weighing 1,000 pounds, in 

 order to insure a maximum and economical production of 

 milk and butter fat from her. We shall suppose that a 

 farmer has the following foods at his disposal: corn 

 silage, mixed timothy and clover hay, and wheat bran; 

 and that he has to feed about forty pounds of silage per 

 head daily, in order to have it last through the winter and 

 spring. We will suppose that he gives his cows in addi- 

 tion five pounds of hay and about six pounds of bran. 

 If we now look up in the tables given on pages 211 to 

 215, the amounts of digestible food components contained 

 in the quantities given of these feeds, we shall have: 



Total Digestible Total Nut. 



DryMtr. Pro. Carb. & fat. Dig. Mtr. Ratio. 



40 Ibs. corn silage, 10.5 Ibs. .48 Ibs. 7.1 Ibs. 7.58 



5 Ibs. mixed hay, 4.2 .22 2.2 2.42 



6 Ibs. wheat bran, 5.3 .72 2.8 3.52 



20.0 1.42 12.1 13.52 1: 8.5 



We notice that the ration as now given contains too 

 little total digestible matter, there being a deficit of both 

 digestible protein, carbohydrates and fat, it will evidently 

 be necessary to supply at least a couple of pounds more 

 of some concentrated feed, and preferably of a feed rich 

 in protein, since the deficit of this component is propor- 

 tionately greater than that of the other components. In 

 selecting a certain food to be added and deciding the 

 quantities to be fed the cost of different available foods 

 must be considered. We will suppose that linseed meal 

 can be bought at a reasonable price in this case, and 

 will add two pounds thereof to the ration. We then have 

 the following amounts of digestible matter in the ration: 



Total Digestible Total Nut. 



DryMtr. Pro. Carb. & fat. Dig. Mtr. Ratio. 



Ration as above, 20.0 Ibs. 1.42 Ibs. 12.1 Ibs. 13.25 1:6.4 

 21bs.oilmeal(O.P.) 1.8 .62 1.0 1.62 



Total, 21.8 2.04 13.1 16.14 1:6.4 



Amer. prac. feeding ration, 2.2 14.9 17.1 1:6.9 

 Wolff-Lehman 



standard, 29.0 2.5 14.1 16.6 -1:5.7 



