36 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



Importance of Balanced Rations 



What is the importance of a balanced ration? It often 

 makes the difference between profit and loss. 



In an experiment carried on some years ago by the 

 Illinois Experiment Station one lot of cows was fed a ration 

 which was palatable and sufficient in amount, but which 

 was not balanced. These cows were fed all the corn 

 silage they would eat — all the ground corn they wanted, 

 three pounds of clover hay, and all the timothy hay they 

 desired. The chief defect of this ration was that it was 

 very low in protein. 



These cows gave twenty pounds of milk a day, a yield 

 which under present conditions is too low to be profitable. 

 This was in spite of the fact that they had good productive 

 capacity. 



Later their ration was balanced by feeding sufficient 

 protein — rich feed to meet the requirements of the feeding 

 standards. These same cows then gave over thirty pounds 

 of milk a day, an increase of about fifty per cent. 



Numerous other examples might be given which show 

 that an unbalanced ration is inefficient and unprofitable. 

 Any farmer who is feeding his cows, his pigs or any other 

 class of stock such a ration has no license to kick if he does 

 not make any money. He might as well face these facts 

 squarely. 



If a farmer does not know whether he is feeding a 

 balanced ration or not, and has not learned how to figure 

 out such a ration, there is nevertheless no reason why he 

 should remain in doubt. If he is fortunate enough to live in 

 a County which has a County Agent, he will find this man 

 glad to help him. Otherwise, he can get advice from the 

 Agricultural College or from his farm paper. In 1927 there 

 is no excuse for feeding inefficient, unbalanced rations. 



Guide to Efficient Stock Feeding 



To show how much protein and other food materials 

 the various classes of animals need, scientists have care- 



