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FARMERS 7 BULLETIN 743. 



hay, prairie hay, hays from the common grasses, straws of the 

 various cereals, and cottonseed hulls. The second, or high-protein, 

 class includes the various legume hays, such as alfalfa, the clovers, 

 cowpea, soy bean, and oat and pea. Economy in feeding demands 

 that grain should supplement the roughage, consequently the grain 

 mixtures will be compounded to fit the class to which the roughage 

 belongs. 



COMPOUNDING A GRAIN MIXTURE. 



A few simple rules for making up a grain mixture are given briefly 

 below : 



1. Make up the mixture to fit the roughage available. With roughage entirely 

 of the low-protein class the grain should contain approximately from 18 to 22 

 per cent of protein, while with exclusively high-protein roughage the grain 

 ration need contain only about 13 to 16 per cent. 



2. Select grains that will furnish the various constituents, especially protein, 

 at the least cost, using home-grown grains if possible. 



3. Be sure that the mixture is light and bulky. 



4. The mixture should be palatable. 



5. See that the grain has the proper physiological effect upon the cow. 



All these suggestions should be kept in mind in order to obtain the 

 best possible combination of grains. For the convenience of the 

 feeder Table 5, showing the digestible protein content of the more 

 common grains and by-products feeds, is given. The per cent 

 columns are arranged in 5 per cent divisions. 



TABLE 5. Approximate digestible protein content of various grains and 



by-products. 



The per cent of protein in a grain mixture may be found as 

 follows: Take any number of parts of any number of feeds in the 

 table, and for each part put down the per cent of the column in 

 which it is found. Add these numbers and divide the sum by the 

 number of parts. Examples : 



