108 DAIRY FARMING 



of lightening up the mass so that it is easier for the digestive 

 juices to act upon it. This is of special importance in con- 

 nection with such feeds as cottonseed meal, that have a ten- 

 dency to form a pasty mass in the stomach. 



Wheat middlings, or shorts, is a valuable feed for the cow, 

 but it is more like corn meal in composition and prop- 

 erties than like bran. As a rule it is better to make use of 

 bran rather than shorts for the cow in milk. 



100. Oats and Oat Products. Oats is an excellent feed 

 for cows and growing animals when the cost is not pro- 

 hibitive. Woll found oats to be about 10 per cent more 

 valuable per pound than bran as feed for cows. In general, 

 it may be said that oats are themselves an excellent feed. 

 But if the balance of the ration is deficient in protein, oats 

 do not contain enough protein to make up the shortage. 

 The valuable by-products of oats are mainly from oatmeal 

 mills, and consist of oat shorts and finely divided parts of 

 the grain. Besides these, a much larger quantity of hulls 

 must be disposed of by these mills. Hulls are mostly crude 

 fiber and are about like oat straw in feeding value. The 

 by-products of the oatmeal mills are therefore valuable, to 

 the extent that they contain the parts of the grains. Oat 

 hulls are used largely to form a portion of various mixed feeds. 



101. Cottonseed Meal. This by-product is left after 

 the oil is extracted from cottonseed. It contains a higher 

 amount of protein than any other common feed. For this 

 reason it is especially valuable for balancing rations deficient 

 in protein, for instance those in which corn and corn products 

 form a large proportion. It should not be fed to excess. 

 As a rule from two to four. pounds per day is the maximum. 

 However, in the South, where it is abundant, it is fed in 

 much larger quantities with good results. 



