Feeding Dairy Cattle 



value of the land at practically no cost to the farmer. In 

 addition to roughage he may grow some grain, but rarely 

 does a farmer grow enough to feed his own cows. There- 

 fore he must be familiar with the fertilizing constituents 

 of the feeds that he must purchase to supplement those that 

 he raises. 



When feed is fed to an animal only that portion is avail- 

 able as a fertilizer which passes out from the animal in the 

 manure and urine. The percentage of each fertilizing con- 

 stituent which will appear in the manure \aries with the 

 animal. With a mature horse, neither gaining nor losing 

 live weight, all the nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash in 

 the feed must appear in the manure and urine, otherwise the 

 horse would of necessity gain in weight. 



The percentages of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash 

 recovered in the manure and urine from different animals as 

 given by Henry and Morrison are as follows: 



PROPORTION OF NITROGEN, PHOSPHORIC ACID AND POTASH 

 OF FEED WHICH IS VOIDED BY ANIMAL 



Phosphoric acid 



Nitrogen, and potash 

 per cent. per cent. 



Horse at work 100.0 100.0 



Fattening ox 96.1 97.7 



Fattening sheep 95.7 96.2 



Fattening pig 85.3 96.0 



Milch cow 75.5 89.7 



Calf, fed milk 30.7 45.7 



These percentages are higher than the amounts recovered 

 in common practice. For calculation in the choice of feeds 

 for a ration it has been deemed best to adopt the plan 

 given in English law which governs the relations between 

 landlord and tenant. The following principles of English 

 law as recommended and adopted by the Central Ass. rela- 

 tion of Agriculture and Tenant Right \'aluers are quoted 

 from Henry and Morrison : 



"For all unused manure or that which has been recentl}' 

 applied to the land without a crop being gro-wn thereafter, a 

 credit of three-fourths of the total value of the phosphoric 

 acid and potash in the feed is allowed. Because a greater 

 loss of nitrogen commonly occurs in stored manure than in 

 manure dropped in the fields by animals at pasture, a credit 

 of 70 per cent, of the total value of the nitrogen is allowed 

 when the stock have been fed at pasture and only 50 per 

 cent, when they have been fed in barn or yard. 



"When one crop has been grown since the application 

 of the manure, a part of the fertility thereby being used up, 

 the credit allowed is only half that stated above. It is 

 Page Seventeen 



