ECONOMIC FEEDING OF DAIRY COWS. 73 



moisture in the air, as is the case near the great lakes and sea coast, peas 

 can be grown to good advantage, both for roughage and for pea meal, which 

 is a most excellent milk feed. But it must be admitted that the average 

 market price of peas makes it expensive feed, and that as a rule if they are 

 sold the money will buy more protein in bran, gluten meal and oil meal, 

 than there is in the peas. In the interior, where the atmosphere is com- 

 paratively dry and the temperature is high, the cow pea and soy -bean are 

 rapidly coming into favor. The hay from these plants is fairly relished 

 by cattle and the bean and pea meal are excellent concentrates for dairy 

 cows. With cow pea or soy bean hay, farm grains can also be used 



as concentrates. T.. , ., .. 



/ Digestible N 



Food. Lbs. Pro. C.-H. Fat 



Cow pea hay 10 1.08 3.82 11 



Corn Stover 10 .17 3.24 07 



Corn and Barley 8 .67 5 . 29 23 



1.92 12.35 .41 



This ration is about equal to the preceding in which alfalfa was used. 

 Soy bean in composition is similar to the cow pea except that it contains 

 a trifle less protein and considerable more fat. 



Having briefly considered rations containing a legume for roughage 

 let us now substitute the most common hay timothy. We will use the 

 same amount of roughage so their comparative merits will be more apparent. 



, Digestible 



Food. Lbs. Pro. C.-H. Fat 



Timothy 10 .28 4.34 .14 



Stover ..10 .17 3.24 .07 



.45 7.58 .21 



In the alfalfa and stover there were 1.27 pounds of protein, while the 

 timothy and stover contain only .45 of a pound and 7.58 of carbohydrates. 

 From this we learn that the 8 pounds of meal that are to be fed in this ration 

 must contain about 1.5 pounds of protein or nearly 20 per cent, of that 

 important nutrient. We also notice that only about 4.75 pounds of carbo- 

 hydrates are to be added. That the 8 pounds of meal is to contain about 

 6.50 pounds of nutrients. If we use corn and barley the ration will fall 

 far short of protein and have an excess of carbohydrates. If bran and 

 oats are used the ration will be short both in protein and carbohydrates, 

 because both of these feed stuffs contain a small percentage of disgestible 

 nutrients. In order to meet the proper balance between the protein and 

 carbohydrates, we must use concentrates containing a large percentage of 

 digestible matter, and one must contain a large percentage of protein and 

 the other a high percentage of carbohydrates. The person experienced 

 in formulating rations at once looks to corn and its by-products to meet 

 this requirement, for he knows that corn meal contains a high per cent, 

 of carbohydrates and that elutcn meal and gluten feed, a by-product of 



