Feeding Dairy CatlL- 



will actually want the supervisor on the ground and then 

 cancel or defer if necessary according to the way the cows 

 show up. A little attention to this matter of early applica- 

 tion will help the breeders to get supervisors when they want 

 them and will help the authorities that authenticate the. 

 records to give better satisfaction to the breeder. 



After a cow freshens and has straightened out she may be 

 fed on good roughage and about four or five pounds per day 

 of the grain mixture that was recommended for fitting, that 

 is, a mixture of 30 pounds of wheat bran, 30 pounds of hom- 

 iny feed, 30 pounds of ground oats and 10 pounds of oil meal 

 or some modification of it. If everything goes all right the 

 cow may be changed to the test ration three or four days 

 after calving and the amount of grain gradually increased 

 to the limit of her appetite. The increase should not be 

 made faster than one pound per day except in some indi- 

 vidual cases when the feeder knows his animal thoroughly 

 well and knows that she can stand a more rapid increase than 

 this. 



The Test Eations: For roughage the first requisite 

 seems to be alfalfa hay, or, if this is not obtainable, clover 

 hay, corn silage with as much grain in it as possible and 

 beets. The "Detroit Red" table beet seems to be preferred 

 by most breeders. Mangels give nearly as good results. 

 "Norbition Giant" is a good variety of red mangels, but is 

 not as late a keeper as the yellow fleshed variety, "Golden 

 Tankard." As to methods of feeding the roughage, most 

 feeders slice the beets and feed the grain on them while the 

 cow is being milked. It is usually best to milk four times 

 in each twenty-four hours at intervals of six hours. This 

 means from ten to fifteen pounds of sliced beets at a feed 

 with a quarter portion of the grain mixture poured on the 

 beets. If the cow does not have access to water whenever 

 she wants it she should be watered before each milking. 

 She can then be fed silage twice a day and hay twice a da}-, 

 alternating the feed of these roughages between milkings. 

 It is good practice to feed all the hay and silage she will eat. 

 alwavs seeing to it that her appetite is kept keen for all her 

 food. In late years the practice of feeding silage has changed 

 somewhat. Less and less silage is being used and more 

 beet pulp and molasses are fed in its place. The silage is fed 

 many times just to leave a nice clean acid taste in the cow's 

 mouth. 



Page Fifty-seven 



