446 



FARMER'S CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK 



cows, however, were able to make profit- 

 able use of more than 8 pounds of grain 

 a day. Similarly in Utah and Wiscon- 

 sin, it has been found that it does not 

 pay to feed more than 8 pounds of grain 

 daily and that a ration of 12 pounds 

 may be fed at a loss, and, in some in- 

 stances, with bad effects on the animal. 

 Experiments in New York, Kansas, Mis- 

 sissippi and North Dakota show that 

 the immediate effect of feeding grain 

 to cows while on pasture may not be 

 apparent, but that the weight of the 

 cews is better maintained than without 

 grain and tbat beneficial results are seen 

 in the flow of milk late in the season, or 

 even during the succeeding season. At 

 the New Jersey experiment station, 10 

 pounds a day appeared to be the largest 

 possible grain ration; while in Utah, S 

 pounds was set down as the outside 

 limit, and feeds of more than 6 pounds 

 increased the cost of the milk. 



Hills, in Vermont, has given much 

 attention to the question regarding the 

 size of the grain ration. It appears 

 from his experiments that the more grain 

 fed, the more milk and total solids ob- 

 tained, and the more fat in the milk. 

 When very low grain rations were used, 

 as, for example, 2 pounds or under, the 

 quality of the milk was lowered. Hills 

 finds that a pound of dry matter makes 

 rather more milk in a low than in a me- 

 dium ration, but when 2 pounds of grain 

 were fed instead of 4 pounds, $13.32 were 

 saved on grain bills and $3.74 lost in 

 butter; when, however, 2 pounds of 

 grain instead of 8 were fed, $8.40 were 

 saved on grain bills and $6.42 lost in 

 butter. The 4-pound ration, therefore, 

 paid better than the 2-pound ration, both 

 from the standpoint of butter produc- 

 tion, skimmed mill? and fertilizer value 

 of the manure; and since the 8-pound 

 ration came within $2 of meeting the 

 extra grain bills by the extra butter 

 yield, and the fertilizer value of the 

 manure exceeded that of the low ration 

 by nearly $5, the heavy grain ration 

 may be considered as justified. It is 

 believed, however, that when abundant 

 coarse forage is produced on the farm, 

 early cut hay, containing clover, and 

 corn silage may be fed in such liberal 

 quantities that the extra milk and fer- 

 tilizer value obtained by feeding 8 

 pounds of corn instead of 4 may often 

 be insufficient to pay for the extra cost 

 of the grain. It is obvious from this 

 discussion that the feeder must take ail 



factors of the problem into consideration 

 in determining upon the size of the 

 ration for his cows. 



In careful tests carried on by Hills, 

 it appeared that when 2 pounds of grain 

 were added to a ration of hay, silage 

 and 2 pounds of grain, thus making 4 

 pounds in all, 9 per cent more milk was 

 produced and the fat content of the milk 

 was somewhat increased. When some 

 grain was dropped from an already low 

 grain ration, the amount of milk was 

 diminished, but the dry matter in the 

 feed produced almost as much milk, 

 pound for pound. The results of the 

 experiments carried out in Vermont, 

 were not always in harmony, depending 

 greatly on the cost of the grain feeds. 

 At times the experiments were in favor 

 of a restricted grain ration, especially 

 when grains were high and coarse fod- 

 ders relatively cheap. The economy of 

 milk production may be somewhat im- 

 proved by restricting the grain ration 

 in cases where nearly all of the grain 

 has to be purchased from feed dealers. 

 On the other hand, if the ration is re- 

 duced too low, the cows fall off in live 

 weight and ultimately the economy of 

 milk production is affected. 



KTARROW VS WIDE BATIONS 



As a rule, nitrogenous grains are more 

 effective in milk production than corn. 

 Some of the feeding standards, how- 

 ever, as adopted by Germans for dairy 

 cows, contain too much protein to be 

 economical. The ordinary American ra- 

 tions are more economical, but some of 

 them are somewhat too narrow, espe- 

 cially when it is considered that in 

 many sections corn and other carbo- 

 naceous feeds may be produced very 

 cheaply. As a rule, narrow rations are 

 recommended for milch cows. 



Narrow rations have been found supe- 

 rior to wide rations in experiments iu 

 Maine, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New 

 Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, 

 Texas and elsewhere. In Vermont, no 

 striking differences were noted between 

 the effects of wide and narrow rations, 

 while in New Jersey butter and milk 

 were produced more economically on 

 well balanced than on irregular rations, 

 either too wide or too narrow. Storrs 

 experiment station investigated the ra- 

 tions in use among dairymen in Con- 

 necticut and found that the amount of 

 protein could be profitably increased in 



