DAIRY CATTLE 



443 



dairy feed, is too expensive to compete 

 with native grains. Occasionally cotton- 

 seed has been used as the whole ration 

 for cows. Thus, in Tennessee, a ra- 

 tion of 5 to 8 pounds cottonseed meal 

 and 25 to 35 pounds cottonseed hulls 

 produced no harmful effect on the milk 

 or butter. According to Texas experi- 

 ments, the hulls are considered the best 

 form of roughage to feed with cotton- 

 seed meal. 



Soule found that cottonseed meal is 

 preferable to gluten meal for the reason 

 that it gives equal results in milk pro- 

 duction and a greater fertilizer value in 

 the manure. The cottonseed meal corn- 



According to experiments by Duggar 

 in Alabama, when cottonseed is $8 a ton, 

 and cottonseed meal $20, butter is pro- 

 duced at a smaller cost on raw cotton- 

 seed. Cows do not greatly relish cotton- 

 seed, however, and eat a somewhat 

 smaller ration. The average amount of 

 milk obtained in these experiments was 

 11V2 pounds daily from cottonseed, and 

 24.3 pounds from cottonseed meal. Nev- 

 ertheless, the low cost of cottonseed 

 made it rather more economical. In one 

 case butter was produced at a cost of 6.4 

 cents a pound on a ration of cottonseed. 



Distillers' dried grains — I n Vermont, 



Fig. 290 — BROWN SWISS cow and her twin calves 



monly offered on the market is some- 

 times adulterated and for this reason 

 dairymen should insist upon a guar- 

 anty of from 42 to 46 per cent protein. 

 Lane found that 4^2 pounds of cotton- 

 seed meal can be fed daily to cows 

 with profit, providing it is thoroughly 

 mixed with corn silage. It is believed 

 that the injurious effects sometimes re- 

 ported from the use of cottonseed meal 

 may be due to feeding it by itself with- 

 out mixing with other feeding stuffs. 

 Of two rations tested in New Jersey, 

 one supplying protein in the form of 

 cottonseed meal produced milk for 12 

 cents less a hundred pounds, and butter 

 for 3.3 cents a pound less than wheat 

 bran or dried brewers' grains. 



Hills fed cows on a ration of 7 pounds 

 of distillers' dried grains for a period 

 of 175 days, as compared with an 8- 

 pound ration of which two-thirds was dis- 

 tillers' dried grains and one-third bran. 

 No change in the quality of the milk en- 

 sued as a result of feeding the grains, 

 but they were not eaten quite so freely 

 as an exclusive ration as when mixed 

 with bran. Slightly more milk and but- 

 ter was made from dried grains than 

 from the mixture of bran and dried 

 grains. The profit obtained from the 

 mixture, however, was % of a cent a 

 day greater. The results on the whole 

 indicate that it is not desirable to feed 

 distillers' dried grains as the exclusive 

 ration for milch cows. 



