42 AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



2. EFFECT OF FOOD UPON THE COST AND QUALITY 



OF MILK. 



By J. B. LiNDSEY. 

 January-May, 1894. 



Objects of the Experiment. 



I. To determine how much digestible protein can be 

 economically fed to milch cows. 



II. To determine the efiect of different quantities of 

 protein upon the c^uantity and quality of the milk. 



Brief Explanation of the Objects Sought. 



By digestible protein is meant the nitrogenous part of the 

 food consumed and digested. The non-nitrogenous part, i.e. , 

 that which is not protein, is the cellulose, starch, sugars, 

 gums and fatty substances. 



Very much is l)eing said at the present time by our ex- 

 periment stations and intelligent dairy farmers about the 

 value of different rations for the dairy cow. What is the 

 most suitable nutritive ratio * of these fodder rations, or how 

 much protein shall be fed in the ration, is a question of 

 economical importance, for the protein is the most costly of 

 all the fodder constituents. 



Again, the writer deems it advisable, partly as an object 

 lesson and partly for more light on the subject, — recogniz- 

 ing at the same time the work already accomplished, — to 

 note the effects of different amounts of protein upon the com- 

 position or quality of the milk. 



General Teachings of the Experiment. 

 1. The amount of protein fed in the various fodder 

 rations varied from 1.3 to 3.76 pounds daily to cows aver- 

 aging 871 pounds live weight. The ration containing the 

 most protein produced milk at a less cost per quart in each 



* By nutritive ratio is meant the proportion which the nitrogenous bears to the 

 non-nitrogenous part of the food. 



