Feeding Dairy Cattle 



FEEDING WHEN DRY 

 After Ernestine went dry the middle of January, 1920, 

 she was fed about twenty pounds of grain per day until about 

 two weeks before calving. For a part of the time this mix- 

 ture was used : 



30 pounds ground oats 



30 pounds corn meal 



30 pounds wheat bran 



10 pounds oil meal 



Then as the calving time approached and it was desired to 

 put on what is called the "soft fat" and to get her ready for 

 calving the mixture was changed to equal parts by weight 

 of wheat bran, corn meal and oil meal. All during this dry 

 period Ernestine got about fifteen pounds of hay per day and 

 six to eight pounds of dried beet pulp soaked, but was fed 

 no silage. 



On April 5, 1920, her grain was cut down to ten pounds 

 per day because her feeder wished to be very careful of her 

 and not overdo it. 



FEEDING AT CALVING TIME 



Glista Ernestine calved last year April 21. For some 

 unknown reason she had a two-day session of acute indiges- 

 tion of which she gave no previous indication and from which 

 she fully recovered. However, this short attack of indiges- 

 tion meant very careful handling. About all the" grain she 

 got for several days was a little bran and oil meal. For 

 several days the total amount of grain did not exceed five 

 pounds per day and the light fitting mixture of oats, bran, 

 corn meal and oil meal, the first one given above, was used. 

 By April 30 she was gotten up to twelve pounds of grain per 

 day, ten pounds of hay, and eight pounds of dried beet pulp. 

 During these first days after calving she averaged about fifty 

 to sixty pounds of milk per day. 



FEEDING ON TEST 



By May i Glista Ernestine seemed to have gotten back 

 to her old form and was going well. She was continued on 

 the light mixture, however, until ]\Iay 5. For example, her 

 regular daily ration from ]May i to May 5 was sixteen pounds 

 of the Hght grain mixture, eight pounds of beet pulp, twenty 

 pounds of beets and ten pounds of alfalfa hav. 



Her feeder now thought it safe to begin feeding a little 

 heavier so he changed May 6 to the regular test mixture. 

 You will see that there had been no great hurry in getting 

 Glista Ernestine up to her record pace. She has always been 

 this way. Her best records have been made as a rule several 

 weeks after calving, which shows that it is not necessary to 



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