262 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



corn meal, effected a saving of 1.22 cents when both the original 

 cost and the fertilizing ingredients are considered. But to this 

 must be added the increase in the butterfat production, which 

 was found to be 7.5 per cent when 2.5 pounds of cottonseed meal 

 were substituted for an equal weight of corn meal. Valuing but- 

 terfat at 30 cents per pound, the extra yield of butterfat increased 

 the returns from cottonseed meal 0.9 cent for each pound fed in 

 place of corn meal. Adding this to the 1.22 cents found above, 

 we find that for each pound of corn meal replaced by an equal 

 weight of cottonseed meal, a saving of 2.12 cents was effected 

 for each pound so replaced. With a herd of ten cows fed one 

 year under the conditions of the experiments detailed here, this 

 would mean a total saving of $193.55. 



Health of Cows. 



So far as this experiment is concerned there was nothing 

 whatever to indicate that a narrow ration (1 14) has any detri- 

 mental influence on the health of cows. In this connection it 

 may be stated that no positive conclusions regarding this matter 

 could be drawn from a short feeding experiment. The writer's 

 data in reference to this point, however, are not limited to those 

 obtained in the experiments detailed here ; they cover four years' 

 work with from fifteen to fifty cows, which were fed on an 

 average not less than six months a year on rations containing a 

 nutritive ratio of about 1 14. 1 In all cases where such a narrow 

 ration was fed, corn silage formed the main part of the rough- 

 age and we feel positive that no injury can be done a cow by 

 feeding a narrow ration when corn silage forms the main part 

 of the roughage, even when the narrow ration is obtained by 

 feeding concentrates in which cottonseed meal forms the main 

 part, provided, of course, that the meal is in first-class condition. 



1 S. C. Sta. Buls., 117 and 131 



