Feeding Dairy Cattle 



The Mixture of Concentrates: The writer suggests the 



following as a good mixture of concentrates : 



500 pounds distillers' dried grains 



300 pounds gluten feed 



400 pounds wheat bran 



400 pounds hominy feed 



200 pounds oil meal 



200 pounds cottonseed meal 



This mixture of concentrates has given good satisfaction 

 in a number of instances. 



No exact directions can be given as to the amount of 

 concentrates that shall be fed. This must be decided by the 

 feeder. The size of the animal, her appetite, capacity, con- 

 dition of flesh, are all characteristics which have an important 

 bearing on the question of the amount to feed. Some cows 

 are what is known as good feeders ; others must be carefully 

 watched. Sometimes it seems that the best way to handle 

 a cow is to force her appetite to its limit until she is almost 

 off feed. If she can be kept up to this limit it seems to have 

 the ei¥ect of causing her to test high. If there is an indica- 

 tion that she may go off feed a good thing to do is to change 

 her ration to the mixture of 30 pounds of wheat bran, 30 

 pounds of ground oats, 30 pounds of hominy and 10 pounds 

 of oil meal, for a couple of feeds and reduce the amount even 

 to two pounds. This sudden change of mixture and reduc- 

 tion of amount will cause her, many times, to come back on 

 her feed at once with vigorous appetite. If a fluctuation in 

 per cent, of butterfat is caused by this sudden change it is 

 likely to be toward a higher plane. To those who have a 

 quantity of good ground oats on hand, it might be well to 

 put some ground oats in place of some of the bran and 

 hominy feed. 



The principles on which these suggestions for rations are 

 based are simple. Alfalfa hay is good in itself and may be 

 particularly useful in furnishing an abundant supply of lime, 

 particularly in long time tests. The silage and beets are 

 cooling and laxative. The mixture of concentrates sug- 

 gested is properly put together to furnish a bulky mixture, 

 plenty of easily digestible material, plenty of variety and an 

 abundance of protein. Such large varietv will probal)J\ 

 insure a sufficient supply of the proper protein ci instituents 

 and vitamines and things of this nature about which not verv 

 much is definitely known beyond the fact that the lack of an 

 almost infinitely small amount may be the limiting factor 

 in any given ration. 



A study made by a student, Mr. W. L. Houck, under the 



Page Fifty-eight 



