826 THE FEEDING OF ANIMALS 



2. The use of food proteins for the synthesis of milk 

 proteins over and above in weight the mUk proteins 

 actually formed. 



The partial non-availability of certain food proteins, 

 because of then- constitution, for reconstruction into 

 milk proteins, must now be conceded. (See Pars. 274, 

 275.) 



According to the greater part of testimony available, a 

 cow of average size and capacity should receive at least 

 two pounds of protein daily during the full flow of milk, 

 the ration to have a nutritive ratio not wider than 1 : 6.5. 

 The nutritive ratio of young pastture grass, perhaps as 

 efficient a milk-producing food as we have, is even nar- 

 rower than this, a fact which doubtless explains in part 

 the large flow of milk from abundant Jime pasturage, and 

 which offers a suggestion for the compounding of winter 

 rations. 



425. Relative importance of protein overstated. — 

 While the importance of nitrogenous feeding-stuffs to 

 a dairy herd is conceded, there is a tendency with certain 

 writers to distort the relation of protein to milk produc- 

 tion. Their utterances give the impression that in feed- 

 ing milch cows, protein is about the only factor to be 

 considered. This view is typified by the assertion that 

 "a cow gives milk only in proportion to the protein that 

 she receives," a remark which might be made with equal 

 accuracy about carbohydrates. It is true that even if 

 carbohydrates are supplied in abundance, a depression 

 of the protein below a certain limit in a given case will 

 diminish the milk flow. It is also true that when sufficient 

 protein is fed, a reduction of the carbohydrates below the 

 necessary quantity will cut down the milk yield. An ade- 

 quate supply of easily digestible carbohydrates is no less 



