Feeding Dairy Cattle 



the ration and nothing else. That is, a ration was said to 

 be balanced if there was one pound of digestible protein to 

 five and four-tenths pounds of carbohydrates and fat, i : 5.4. 

 It was considered necessary to balance the ration quite 

 closely. Today the best feeders agree that plenty of protein 

 in a ration is fundamentally essential, but the range of the 

 nutritive ratio has been set at wider limits. We now set the 

 limits at i : 4.3 and i : 6.0. It is even thought that in sec- 

 tions where carbohydrates in feeds are the cheap nutrient 

 that the wider limit mav be ^\'ider than i : 6.0, although to 

 the writer it \\()uld seem that a careful study of the paper on 

 ^lanurial A'alues would show that wide rations for dairy 

 cows would be advisable only under ver}' exceptional condi- 

 tions. The narrow limit i : 4.5 is set at that point purelv 

 because more protein than this may injure the health of cows. 

 Many rations as narrow as i : 3.0 are fed. \\'e have no 

 adverse criticism of this practice. It is suggested, however, 

 that cows on such narrow rations should be carefully 

 watched. 



The new thoughts of scientists, borne out by practical feed- 

 ing trials, tell us that while the nutritive ratio and plentv of 

 protein are important, some other things are also verv 

 important in a properly balanced ration. jNIuch evidence is 

 lieing brought out, particularly with growing animals, that 

 not only is it necessary that there be sufficient protein 

 present, but that the kind of protein is important. The 

 importance of this in feeding dairy cows is apparent when we 

 think that for nine months out of everv twelve the cow is 

 growing a young calf as well as caring for herself and manu- 

 facturing milk. The best way in practice to be sure of this 

 point is to have a good variety in the ration with several 

 plants represented. Later on we are going to know more 

 definitely about the individual feeds and recommend specifi- 

 cally on this point, but at present we can only advise a 

 variety of proteins. 



Again the mineral matter in rations is receivino- consid- 

 erable attention and study. To insure a suft'icient and suit- 

 able supply of mineral matter in the feed it seems absolutelv 

 necessary to feed legumes, and the most satisfactory leo-ume 

 from this standpoint is alfalfa. Therefore in our present 

 idea of a balanced ration we must consider the individual 

 feeds, the specific proteins that they supplv and the mineral 

 matter that they contain as well as the mere balance of the 

 nutrients. I wish we might say specifically at the present 

 time just what all these necessary things are and definitelv 



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