THE, DAIRY HERD 45 



care to lick. Either common granular salt or rock salt 

 will answer the purpose satisfactorily. 



Feeding According to Flow. In the economical pro- 

 duction of milk, it is absolutely essential to feed cows 

 according to their productive capacity. Just what this 

 productive capacity is can be determined only by keeping 

 a careful account of the feed consumed and the milk and 

 butterfat yielded by each cow individually. Such a 

 record will soon show to what extent cows will profitably 

 respond to the feed given them. 



Importance of Feeding a Full Ration. According to 

 the German feeding standard, a cow weighing 1,000 

 pounds requires for body maintenance 0.7 pound of 

 digestible protein, 8 pounds of digestible carbohydrates 

 and o.i pound of digestible ether extract. This shows 

 that about half the nutrients called for in a ration for an 

 average milker are used to sustain the body so that it 

 will neither gain nor lose in weight ; the other half being 

 used to form milk. Returns for feed can, therefore, be 

 expected only from about 50% of the total nutrients 

 required by the cow. This means that a cow on a full 

 ration will yield practically twice as much milk as she 

 would on three- fourths of a ration. Yet there are thou- 

 sands of dairymen who fail to supply the last quarter 

 of a ration and thus bring ruin upon themselves and 

 their business. 



in. TABLE: GIVING COMPOSITION OF 



At the beginning, it was stated that a knowledge of the 

 composition of feeds was necessary for two reasons: 

 First, to enable the feeder to determine the relative value 

 of the feeds at his disposal ; and second, to assist in deter- 

 mining what quantity of feed is necessary to supply the 



