SECTION XXV. 



HOW TO IMPROVE AND REDUCE THE COST OF RATIONS.^ 



A Common Ration. — A herd of milch cows is receiving the 

 following ration per day of 24 hours, per 1,000 lbs. live weight; 

 5 lbs. of cotton-seed meal, 3 lbs. of wheat bran, 10 lbs. of red 

 clover hay (medium) and 15 lbs. of corn stover. Let us figure 

 this ration and find out if it is properly balanced for the herd 

 of dairy cows. Turn to Table I and find that the following 

 amounts of digestible nutrients are present in 100 lbs. of each 

 feed stuff. 



Dry matter 

 pounds 



Protein 

 pounds 



Carbohy- 

 drates 

 pounds 



Fat 

 pounds 



Cotton-seed meal 



Wheat bran 



Red clover hay . . 

 Corn stover 



91-8 

 88.1 

 84.7 

 77.2 



37-2 



12.1 



6.8 



2.8 



16.9 



39-2 

 35-8 

 42-3 



12.2 



2.7 



1-7 

 0.7 



Then as 5 lbs. of cotton-seed meal are in the ration, we mul- 

 tiply the amounts of dry matter, digestible protein, digestible 

 carbohydrates and digestible fat as given above for cotton-seed 

 meal, by 5. Or 



5 X 0.918 = 4.590 lbs. of dry matter in 5 lbs. of cotton-seed 

 meal. 



5 X 0.372 := 1.860 lbs. of digestible protein in 5 lbs. of cotton- 

 seed meal. 



5 X 0.169 = 0.845 lbs. of digestible carbohydrates in 5 lbs. 

 of cotton-seed meal. 



5 X 0.122 = 0.610 lbs. of digestible fat in 5 lbs. of cotton- 

 seed meal. 



In the same way we compute the digestible nutrients in the 

 wheat bran, red clover hay and corn stover. 



1 Adapted from Halligan's Fundamentals of Agriculture. 



