SECTION XXIV. 



AMOUNTS OF ROUGHAGE AND CONCENTRATES TO FEED. 



Amounts of Roughage and Cencentrates to Feed. — In compound- 

 ing rations for live stock it is necessary that the proper amounts 

 of roughage and concentrates accompany each other. It is prac- 

 tically impossible to state just the amounts of roughage and 

 grain to furnish animals for different purposes, as available feeds 

 and prices influence the make up of the ration. The following 

 considerations therefore are only approximate. 



Milch Cows. — In rations for milch cows we should aim to sup- 

 ply 12-14 lbs. of dry matter from roughage and the balance 

 with 8-12 lbs. of grain. Sometimes as high as 50 lbs. of silage 

 are fed to milch cows but usually 30 to 40 lbs. are sufficient. 



Fattening Cattle do well on 2 lbs. of grain to i lb. of roughage. 

 8 to 10 lbs. of roughage and 15 to 18 lbs. of grain per 1,000 

 lbs. live weight are perhaps sufficient for this class of animal. 



Horses or Mules. — For horses or mules 10 to 12 lbs. of hay 

 are usually enough, i lb. of roughage to 100 lbs. live weight is 

 a crude method of estimating the quantity of roughage for a 

 horse or mule. A horse or mule weighing 1,200 lbs. would 

 therefore receive, according to this method, 12 lbs. of hay. 



When the concentrates of a ration are carbohydrate in char- 

 acter, the roughage should be nitrogenous (legumes for example) 

 and should the concentrates be nitrogenous the roughage should 

 be relatively high in carbohydrates (grass hay for example). 

 In other words the roughage and concentrates should be com- 

 plements of each other. 



I. A few illustrations perhaps will make these points clearer. 

 The standard for a horse weighing 1,000 lbs., doing hard work, 

 is according to Table II : 



