AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 49 



THE PREPARATION OF THE RATION FOR MILCH 



COWS. 



A great deal of time is spent in discussing not so much what 

 the'ration shall be as how it shall be fed. Matters which pertain 

 to the minor details of cattle feeding, such as the method of pre- 

 paring food, number of times of feeding, the mixture of the 

 various parts of the ration and other things of similar nature, 

 have been given, the writer believes, undue prominence in former 

 discussions. It is especially the case that a prominent writer for 

 one of our leading journals has strenuously advocated the chop- 

 ping of the hay and coarse fodder fed, moistening the chopped 

 material and thoroughly mixing the grain with it before feeding. 

 This writer has claimed that the labor necessary to do this returns 

 large profits. 



The attention of the Director of the Station has been several 

 times called to this matter and for that reason it was decided to 

 make a test of the method advocated in order to illustrate either 

 its value or lack of value. Consequently in the spring of 1890 

 the hay fed to the Station cows was for quite a period of time 

 chopped quite fine, moistened and the grain thoroughly mixed 

 with the chopped material. This mixture was allowed to stand 

 several hours before feeding. Previous to beginning the feeding 

 of the ration in this manner the animals were receiving hay and 

 a mixture of two parts cotton seed meal, two parts corn meal and 

 one part bran, by weight. 



During the time that the chopped and moistoned ration was fed 

 the kind and quantity of food given remained unchanged, and at 

 the end of the period of fifty-one days the animals were returned 

 to the former ration, that is, unchopped hay, and grain fed dry. 

 As the cows to which these rations were fed were those which 

 were undergoing a two years' test, a careful record was kept 

 of their yield and of the quality of the milk. This being done 

 it became possible to ascertain whether chopping the hay and 

 thoroughly mixing the grain with it after moistening, had any 

 appreciable effect upon production. The figures which appear 

 in the following tables form the basis of our conclusions : 



2E 



