Feed and Care of the Dairy Cow. 435 



of rich concentrates fed. From 0.75 to 1 ounce of salt per day per 

 cow is a reasonable allowance, and should be supplied in any con- 

 venient manner as frequently as once each week. 



II. Feed for the Dairy Cow. 



706. Concentrates and roughage. — The wise dairyman holds in 

 mind that a good dairy cow in full flow of milk is expending as much 

 energy as a horse at hard labor, and this without cessation for many 

 months. (590-2) We have learned that the harder the horse works 

 the more grain and the less roughage must he have, and the same is 

 true for the cow. Except when pasture is good a portion of the 

 cow's provender should consist of grain or rich concentrates, and if 

 she is yielding a large amount of milk, i. e. working. extra hard, all 

 grain should be ground or crushed. The dry cow doing little work 

 can subsist on less carefully prepared food, and all or most may be 

 in the form of roughage. In feeding, the aim should be to supply 

 as much roughage as the cow will readily consume, and to this add 

 sufficient concentrates to keep the digestible matter up to the standard 

 set by the scientists. (611) 



Our American experiment stations have now so well solved the 

 problem that we know if good roughage, such as alfalfa or clover hay 

 with corn silage, is supplied in abundance, from 4 to 8 lbs. of such 

 concentrates as corn, oats, barley, or milling and other rich by-prod- 

 ucts will usually furnish ample concentrates. This is a material re- 

 duction from earlier recommendations and tends to the more eco- 

 nomical production of dairy products. However, such small allow- 

 ance of concentrates is only profitable when the roughages fed are of 

 high quality, palatable, and abundant. The dairyman who persists 

 in feeding his cows wholly on such low-grade roughages as timothy 

 hay, corn stover, etc., must pay the penalty by feeding from 10 to 12 

 lbs. of expensive concentrates daily if his cows are to maintain a 

 reasonable flow of milk. 



707. The burden of dairying.— So large are the feed and labor 

 bills on many dairy farms, especially in the earlier settled portions 

 of our country, that when they have been met little remains for the 

 proprietor. Analysis will show that in nearly every case it is the 

 feed bills and not those for labor that are the real burden. Who- 

 ever would improve his condition must cut the monthly feed bills 

 to the minimum, not thru parsimonious feeding, but by growing 

 great crops of the best feeding stuffs. With rare exceptions the 

 dairy farm should produce all the roughage and all or nearly all 



