274 THE MANAGEMENT AND FEEDING OF CATTLE 



very large, then it may be necessary to increase some- 

 what the relative proportion of the concentrates. Thus, 

 when a cow gives i6 pounds of milk daily, the concen- 

 trate fed would be 4 pounds, but if she gave 30 pounds, 

 the concentrate called for would be more, say, 8 to 9, 

 or even, in some instances, 10 pounds daily. Should en- 

 silage and roots be both wanting, about 25 to 33 per cent 

 should be added to the amounts submitted above, when 

 the production is average. In the absence of ensilage or 

 roots, very large production is not likely to result, hence 

 very large amounts of grain may not be called for. The 

 size of the cow should be considered in determining the 

 amount of concentrate to feed, but increase and decrease 

 cannot always be accurately gauged in this way, since 

 cows differ much in their powers of digestion. W^hen 

 fed the foods outlined above, the concentrate called for 

 will seldom fall below 4 pounds, and will seldom rise 

 beyond, say, 10 pounds in prolonged feeding. The 

 aggregate amounts to feed will run somewhere in the 

 neighborhood of 6 to 8 pounds daily. These amounts 

 will probably be looked upon as low by many dairymen, 

 but for prolonged feeding from year to year, viewed 

 from the standpoint of economy in relation to produc- 

 tion, in the judgment of the author, they will be found 

 high enough. 



If, in the measure used in feeding grain to cows, 

 there are paint lines marking the number of pounds, it 

 is easily possible to increase or decrease the amount of 

 meal fed to correspond with the production of the cow. 

 Close attention to this matter will effect a great saving 

 of the concentrate fed in a large herd in a single season. 



Preparing and blending the food. — The conditions 

 that make it profitable, in many instances, to blend foods 

 include the following: (i) When the concentrate is 

 dense or heavy in character, and fed in large quantity 

 that it may be in a less compact condition while in the 

 stomach, so that the gastric juice may act upon it more 



