l^OOD FOR MILCH COWS IN WINTER 267 



Mangels may be fed at the rate of 50 to 60 pounds 

 daily when they can be spared. The same is true of 

 sugar beets and sugar beet pulp when the pulp is in good 

 condition. But rutabagas and turnips should not be 

 fed in quantities so large, except when the fodders are 

 low in digestible nutrients. From, say, 24 to 30 pounds 

 daily will usually be as much as may be safely fed. 

 When both ensilage and roots are fed, the combination 

 is excellent, but the amounts fed should not generally 

 exceed, say, 50 pounds of the two given daily. Usually 

 not more than, say, 12 to 15 pounds of potatoes or arti- 

 chokes should be fed daily, but the food may be so 

 balanced as to admit of feeding larger quantities. Where 

 alfalfa hay and clover are abundant and cheap, it is not 

 necessary to feed amounts of succulence so large as those 

 named. 



Nature of the concentrates. — Where relatively large 

 yields of milk are to be obtained from dairy cows in 

 winter, the necessity for feeding concentrates is ever 

 present. This necessity is based on the inability of the 

 cow to consume and digest enough coarse fodders to 

 result in maximum production, even though the fodders 

 are practically in balance in their constituents. Clover 

 hay, for instance, is in itself a balanced ration for cows, 

 and yet so large a return in milk cannot be obtained 

 by feeding clover hay alone as by feeding suitable 

 grain along with the clover. The more milk the cow 

 gives, the greater is the necessity for feeding concen- 

 trates. 



Concentrates are obtainable from two sources. They 

 are either purchased or home-grown. Which of these 

 they shall be obtained from, in whole or in part, will 

 depend upon such conditions as the size of the herd in 

 relation to the farm, the nature of the production, and 

 the fertility of the soil. In many instances, they are 

 obtained from both sources, the purchased being the 

 complement of that home-grown. 



