CHAPTER XXV. 



STATION TESTS WITH FEEDING STUFFS FOE DAIEY COWS. 



I. Value of the Various Grains for Cows. 



621. Ear corn v. corn-and-cob meal. — Lane of the New Jersey 

 Station^ compared broken ear corn with an equal weight of corn- 

 and-cob meal with the results shown in the table : 



Ear corn compared with corn-and-coh meal. 



The table show^s that the returns from corn-and-cob meal exceed 

 those from ear corn by 9.4 per ct. for milk flow and 4.5 per ct. in the 

 yield of fat. These returns in favor of grinding corn are not mate- 

 rially different from those secured with fattening steers and 

 swine. (157) 



622. Corn meal as the sole concentrate. — At the IMaryland Sta- 

 tion- Patterson fed cows on corn meal as the sole concentrate during 

 the entire lactation period, while others were given a mixture of corn 

 meal, gluten feed, and wheat bran in such quantity as to form with 

 the roughage, chiefly dry fodder and soilage com, a balanced ration. 

 The next year the rations were reversed so that each cow was on both 

 sides of the trial. The average yearly returns were as follows: 



Yield per cow 

 Milk Butter 



When corn meal only was fed 3, 150 pounds 152 pounds 



When mixed grains were fed 4, 195 pounds 221 pounds 



It is shown that the returns were about 45 per ct. greater wnen 

 feeding a balanced ration of mixed grains than with corn meal as the 

 exclusive concentrate. Only when the roughage is rich in crude pro- 

 tein should corn constitute the sole concentrate in the ration of the 

 dairy cow, and even then more variety would be better. (156) 



' Rpt. 1898. 



Bill. 84. 



393 



