FEEDING EXPERIMENTS WITH MILCH COWS. 

 J. M. Bartlett. 



For the following experiments six cows known by the numbers 

 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 were used. All were grade Jerseys except number 4 

 which was a thoroughbred. 



Xos. 4, 5, 6, were owned by the station and used for experimental 

 work the previous year. Nos. 1, 2, 3, were purchased a short time be- 

 fore beginning the experiments. Although they were all fairly good 

 cows their condition was not such as to make them most desirable 

 for experimental purposes. In comparing one ration with another 

 it is necessary to avoid heavy feeding else the differences that one 

 kind of food might show in comparison with another might be ob- 

 literated by the excess of nutrients fed in a large ration. It is there- 

 fore essential that a grain ration near the minimum rather than 

 the maximum limit should be employed to secure results of any 

 value. 



Cow No. 4 was rather old and had also been receiving more grain 

 than could be used in experimental feeding, consequently she shrank 

 rapidly in flesh and milk yield when put on the smaller ration. 



Nos. 1, 2, 3, had been fed quite liberally on cotton seed meal by 

 their previous owner and a reduction in their grain, together with 

 the effect of transporting them 100 miles in very cold weather,caused 

 a very material shrinkage in the milk flow. No. 1 proved to be worth- 

 less for our work as she leaked her milk quite badly, and was 

 changed for another animal during the latter part of the first ex- 

 periment. 



The cows were so nearly of a size that they were all fed alike, 

 They were weighed at the beginning and end of each period. The 

 milk of each cow was carefully weighed at each milking and samples 

 taken during the last five days of the periods were analyzed and 

 the results taken as an average for the period in which they were 

 obtained. All food given the cows was weighed as was also the 

 water they drank. 



The temperature of the stable was taken morning, noon and night. 

 • 



EXPERIMENT I. 

 Wheat Meal Compared with Corn Meal. 



It occasionally happens as was the case in the fall of 1894 that 

 the crops in the corn raising belt are cut off through drought or 

 other causes while those in the wheat belt are bountiful. At such 



