Feeding Dairy Cattle 



to COWS and young stock previous to the first of July, when 



the pasture grasses begin to dry up. During flush nf pas- 

 ture, when the grasses are at their best, cows will eat enough 

 of them and make the best use of pasture, unless they are 

 extremely high producers. In that case, the chances are 

 that the animal will not have the capacity to hold enough of 

 the green grass to furnish her with the material from which 

 to make large quantities of milk. But the general run, of 

 cows will be able to produce 40 to 50 pounds of milk a day 

 on pasture grass, during June. 



Now, the thing to do is to keep these cows producing 

 during July and August at the same rate. The first thing to 

 do is to spray the cows thoroughly. We cannot recommend 

 any specific mixture. There are several on the market and 

 the writer has tried out two or three of them with good 

 succcess. About all one can do is to pick the best one he 

 knows and use it as intelligently as possible. It is probably 

 not possible to spray the cows more than once a day after 

 milking in the morning and again at night. 



The mixture of concentrates to be fed on pasture does 

 not present a very serious question. Enough must be fed 

 with the green crops or silage to maintain the milk flow. 

 Do not let the cows shrink. A somewhat heavier mixture 

 may be fed than in winter if the market considerations should 

 demand such. The concentrates should be chosen as indi- 

 cated in the earlier articles in this series. High protein feeds 

 should constitute one-half the mixture of concentrates and 

 bulky foods about one-third the mixture by weight. If the 

 market would indicate such a choice, the following would 

 serve the purpose to good advantage : 



500 pounds corn meal 



400 pounds distillers' dried grains 



500 pounds mixed feed 



400 pounds gluten feed 



200 pounds cottonseed meal 



Some authorities think it is not necessary to make a high 

 protein mixture for pasture feeding, because the pasture 

 grass as taken by the cow provides more protein than hay 

 Therefore, we can make good use of the cheaper wheat feeds 

 and corn feeds. 



A mixture I am suggesting for dairy cows in summer to 



make a larger use of wheat and corn feeds is as follows : 



300 pounds wheat bran 

 300 pounds hominy 

 300 pounds gluten 

 100 pounds oil meal 



Page Forty-one 



