270 THE MANAGEMENT i\ND FEEDING OF CATTLE 



For information as to the adjustment of foods so that they 

 shall be in balance, the reader is referred to Chapter X 

 in the book, " Feeding Farm Animals." But even in the 

 absence of adjustment, if it is remembered that the con- 

 centrate fed should be opposite in character from the 

 roughage, intelligent feeding will produce satisfactory re- 

 sults though the ration should not be in exact balance. 

 Authorities are not yet agreed as to the exact balance 

 in the foods fed that will give best results in milk pro- 

 duction, and until they are the practical dairyman can 

 afford to go on feeding a ration without serious concern, 

 providing he can be assured that it is in approximate 

 balance. The truth is that the balance in the food is 

 considerably influenced by the amount of milk given. 

 The larger the production by the cow, the more protein 

 does she require. An immature condition as to growth 

 and a pregnant condition also call for an increased 

 quantity of protein. It would seem correct to say, there- 

 fore, that food that will give a nutritive ratio of, say, 

 1 :5.5 to 1 :8, according to the conditions present, should 

 cover the extremes of requirement for cows in milk. The 

 standards given by Wolff claim that a cow weighing 1,000 

 pounds and giving 2.2 pounds of milk daily should be 

 given 2.5 pounds of protein daily in the food. American 

 investigators lean to the view, based on experiment, that 

 the amount of protein called for is less than 2.5 pounds, 

 but more than 2 pounds. Two and a quarter pounds 

 may be given as an approximate average. The wisdom 

 of keeping the amounts of protein reasonably low is 

 based on the higher market values that usually prevail 

 in the case of protein foods. Prof. F. ^^^ Woll, who 

 has given much thought to this question, concludes that 

 a cow in full flow of milk, which weighs 1,000 pounds, 

 will consume, approximately, 25.6 pounds of dry matter. 

 The digestible nutrients in it will be approximately 

 as follows: Protein 2.2 pounds, carbohydrates 13.3 

 pounds and fat .8 pound, with a nutritive ratio of I ;6.9. 



