ECONOMIC FEEDING OP DAIRY COWS. 75 



getting better cows. What benefit would the milk producer get by 

 investing in better cows when such feeding methods are almost universal. 

 Farmers should first learn how to get all that a common cow is capable of 

 producing before employing the dairy bred cow. As a matter of fact, the 

 average cow is a better dairy animal than the average man is a dairyman. 

 At any time 5 pounds of oats can be exchanged for as many pounds of bran, 

 let us substitute bran for oats. 



, Digestible s 



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



Hay 18 .50 7.81 .25 



Corn 3 .24 2.00 .13 



Bran 5 .65 2.00 .17 



1.39 11.81 .55 



By making this change we have a ration that is good for about 40 per 

 cent, more milk, and by adding one pound of such feeds as oil meal, gluten 

 meal or cotton seed meal the milk value of the ration would be about doubled. 

 It is not claimed that if a co\v has been giving only ten pounds of milk with 

 the former ration she will give twice as much by feeding the latter; cows 

 do not respond to feed in that way. But the information we give is that 

 1.20 pounds of protein daily will maintain a flow of ten pounds of milk, 

 while 1.69 pounds of protein is good for 19 pounds. Comparisons have 

 been made with bran and oats where both rations contained more protein 

 than was actually needed for the milk yielded, and in such trials there was 

 a slight yield in favor of the oats, probably due to the stimulating property 

 in oats and its larger per cent, of digestible matter. 



When cows are doing full work in the dairy, more grain is needed than 

 has been given in the rations. A cow yielding about 24 pounds of 5 per 

 cent, milk would need one containing nutrients as follows: 



, D igestible x 



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



Prairie Hay 12 .35 4.98 .14 



Corn 6 .47 4.00 .26 



Bran 5 .65 2.00 .17 



Oil Meal 1 .29 .33 .07 



Mangels 24 .26 1 .29 .02 



2.02 12.60 .66 



We have received the best results from rations made in about the pro- 

 portions given. Dairy bred cows coming fresh in the fall, comfortably 

 housed, a little daily outing, regularly fed and milked, should average 360 

 pounds of butter for the year. 



For a little heavier work, it would be better to reduce the corn and 

 feed proportionally more bran. 



