Feeding Dairv Cattle 



"U'HEAT BRAX 



\\'heat bran is the commonest of the wheat by-products 

 and is the most bulky and coarse. It should be flaky and 

 sweet. The bran is made up of the three outer coatings 

 of the wheat l:ierry and is comparatively rich in digestible 

 protein, carries considerable digestible carbohydrates and 

 fat and is not very high in fiber. Wheat bran weighs about 

 one-half a pound to the quart and because of this bulkiness 

 and its high feeding value it is one of the finest dairy feeds 

 that we have. Some years ago the writer had one of his 

 students write to the feeders of the forty highest record cows 

 in all four dairy breeds and ask them for the feeds in their 

 rations. Twenty-two persons answered. The only feed 

 used in the ration by all twenty-two feeders was wheat bran. 

 This shows that wheat bran is the universal dairy feed liked 

 by all the advanced registry men as well as the plain every 

 day feeders of the land. 



Wheat bran is mildly laxative due to a phosphorous com- 

 pound in it and not entirely to its bulky nature as is thought 

 by most persons. This quality adds much to its great value 

 as a feed. This laxative qualitv makes it a verv desirable 

 feed for convalescing animals when fed as a hot mash pre- 

 pared with hot water. Bran is one of those feeds that is 

 neither a roughage nor a concentrate. It is generally classed 

 as a concentrate but like a roughage an animal can gorge 

 herself on wheat bran and suffer no ill efifects. Therefore it 

 can be used in any quantity in a ration but because of its 

 bulk and because it is not as highly digestible as other con- 

 centrates, if for no other reason, it cannot with profit be 

 made the sole grain fed. It finds its greatest usefulness as 

 an ingredient of a mixture composed of about four or five 

 feeds in all. 



AVheat bran lacks lime although it is high in phosphorous. 

 Therefore it makes an ideal feed to be fed in a good grain 

 mixture with alfalfa or clover hay which have the lime the 

 bran lacks. Good legume roughage with heavilv eared 

 corn silage and a good supply of bran form a fine foundation 

 for any ration. 



Bran is particularly fine in a ration for growing animals 

 with legume hay. For years my standard mixture for grow- 

 ing animals has been; 30 pounds wheat bran, 30 pounds 

 ground oats, 30 pounds hominy or corn meal, 10 pounds oil 

 meal, with legume hay and corn silage. So fine a growing 

 combination is wheat bran and alfalfa hay that I once heard 



Pa^e One Hundred Thirty 



