OSTON. 



MASSACWU 



DtC5 



TATE. 



©^ 



Agricultural Experiment Station, 



BXJI-iLETIlsr ISTo. IS. 



OCTOBER. IS84. 



238. NOTES ON FEEDING P:XPERBIKNTS WITH GLUTP:N 



MEAL AS A CONSTITUENT OF THE DAILY 



DIET OF MILCH COWS. 



The experiment was carried on for the purpose of studying the 

 effect of gluten meal as a constituent of the dail}- diet of milch 

 cows on the quantity and the quality of milk obtained, as 

 well as on the cost of its production, under several specified cir- 

 cumstances. The same cows, which served in the trial with corn 

 ensilage, hay, Indian meal, and wheat bran, (see Bulletins fO aud 11) , 

 were used in the late trial with gluten meal. The observations ex- 

 tended over a period of three months. The third p'feriod of feeding 

 was not extended beyond two weeks on account of the bad influence 

 of a too liberal supply of nitrogenous constituents in the daily diet 

 during very warm weather on the general condition of the cows. 

 The mode of feeding was essentially the same as reported on previ- 

 ous occasions. The gluten meal was fed with an equal weight of 

 wheat bran to compensate its deficiency in phosphates of lime and 

 magnesia, and to render it more palatable. The designed amount 

 of l)oth substances was in each instance mixed and moistened, and 

 fed in two meals during milking ; the hay followed, mornings, noons, 

 and after milking, evenings ; care being taken to ascertain by weight, 

 before and after meals, the exact amount consumed. 



The composition and the general character of the (Tluten meal, 

 is described in a few subsequent pages. The cost of the daily 

 fodder rations used in these experiments are based on our local mar- 



