MILK PRODUCTION 337 



home-raised supply of the more nitrogenous feeding- 

 stuffs, and as nearly all dairymen depend to come extent 

 upon purchased grain, it is a quite prevalent custom for 

 them to seek those by-products that will strengthen the 

 protein side of the ration. It is unquestionably true that 

 farmers should be more independent of the markets, and 

 they certainly may be if an intensive system of cul- 

 tivating well-selected crops is adopted; but so long as 

 more or less grain wiU certainly be purchased, it is wise 

 to consider the matter of selecting commercial protein 

 feeds for dairy cows. Those from which it is possible to 

 choose are the oil meals, distillers' grains, the gluten 

 meals and feeds, brewers' grains, maltsprouts, peas, and 

 buckwheat middlings. The offals from the milling of 

 wheat, while somewhat more nitrogenous than the cereal 

 grains, cannot be considered as an abundant source of 

 protein, although they are excellent components of a 

 milk ration. 



439. No single protein food essential. — ^Notwith- 

 standing the claims which trade interests may make to 

 the contrary, no one of the above-mentioned feeding- 

 stuffs is alone essential to the economical production of 

 the best of milk. There is no single food or any one com- 

 bination of foods that is always best for dairy cows. 

 Apart from certain considerations which will be discussed 

 later, a selection of the source of commercial protein is a 

 matter of availability and of relative market cost. For 

 instance, if gluten meal were to cost $30 a ton, few 

 buyers could afford to pay $35 for linseed meal to feed in 

 any considerable quantity. If prices were reversed, oil 

 meal should be selected. Both oil meals and gluten prod- 

 ucts may be ignored if buckwheat middlings or the 

 brewers' residues are available at more favorable prices. 



