FEEDING EXPERIMENTS WITH MILCH COWS. 



53 



Other investigators have given this subject of eondimental 

 foods some attention. 



Sir John B. Laws at Rothamstead, England, more than 50 

 years ago made thorough investigations in feeding trials and 

 decided that there was no profit in feeding them. An experi- 

 ment with nutriotone was reported by the Vermont Station 

 Annual Report, 1894, page 150, in which seven Jersey cows 

 were fed five periods of two weeks each. The hay and grain 

 ration were the same throughout the trials. The prescribed 

 amount of nutriotone was fed in the first, third and fifth periods. 

 In the second period no nutriotone was fed and in the fourth two 

 spoonfuls of linseed meal to each feed were substituted for it. 

 The following table shows the total yield of milk and fat and the 

 average per cent of fat for each period: 



fcc 



Pu c 



January 24— February 6. 



February 7— "20 



February 21— March 6 . . . 



March 7—20 



March 21— April 3 



Nutriotone fed . . . 

 No nutriotone fed 

 Nutriotone fed ... 

 Linseed meal fed 

 Nutriotone fed.. . 



1554 

 1566 

 1514 

 1531 

 1449 



5.47 

 5.55 

 5.42 

 5.37 

 5.45 



84. 7S 

 86.83 

 82.02 

 82.22 

 78.96 



For experiments, the results of which are given in the follow- 

 ing tables, five good Jersey cows fresh in milk were used. 

 They were known by the numbers I, 2, 3, 4, 5. They were feed 

 liberal rations of hay and grain in proportion to their size. 

 Cows 1, 4 and 5 received a daily ration of 18 lbs. of timothy hay 

 and 8 1-2 lbs. mixed grain per animal. Cows 2 and 3 received 

 20 lbs. timothy hay and 10 lbs. of mixed grain per day, for a 

 ration. The grain mixture consisted of: Linseed meal (new pro- 

 cess), 5 lbs.; corn meal, 2 lbs.; wheat bran, 3 lbs. The same care 

 was used in making these experiments as in all others. The 

 daily rations and milk produced were carefully weighed. Sam- 

 ples of the milk were taken the last five days of each period and 

 analyzed, the averages of these results were taken as the average 

 for the period in which they were obtained. 



