THIRTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 161 



grains, bran, and roots are called good conditioners and are com- 

 plementary to those which are not good conditioners as corn, 

 cotton-seed meal, clover (late cut), millet, corn stover, straw, 

 etc. In compounding rations, care should be taken to get the 

 best combinations, that is, some good conditioners along with the 

 others. Cotton-seed meal, clover hay and corn meal do not go 

 together as well as cotton-seed meal, corn meal, silage and clover 

 hay. When corn and clover hay are used, the linseed meal will 

 answer better. Corn meal alone is said to be too heavy and not 

 readily mixed with the digestive juices. This is probably true 

 to only a limited extent but this can be overcome by feeding the 

 grain with silage or mixed with other cut roughage. Too much 

 corn is not best for the cow just before calving. Much depends 

 on keeping the system of the cow in good working order. 



How To Balance a Ration. 



A ration is the feed given an animal daily. A balanced ra- 

 tion is one containing just the amount of digestible protein, and 

 carbohydrate and fat needed by the animal which is to receive 

 it. The needs of different animals differ and the needs of the 

 same animal vary from time to time. A ration balanced for a 

 cow giving a large amount of milk would not be balanced for a 

 cow giving a small amount of milk nor for a dry cow. 



The cow requires a certain amount of feed to supply the 

 needs of the body when she is doing no work; this we call the 

 food of maintenance. Above the food of maintenance she re- 

 quires feed according to the work she is doing. The work con- 

 sists in adding fat to the body, growing a calf, making milk or all 

 three of these. If a cow stands in a stall and makes milk, she 

 works just as truly as the horse which pulls the plow. For main- 

 tenance, or to keep up the life activities of the body, enough feed 

 is required daily to supply .07 pounds of protein and .72 pounds 

 of carbohydrate and fat for each 100 pounds body weight. That 

 is to say, a 1000-pound cow will require daily .7 pounds protein 

 and 7,2 pounds carbohydrate and fat. The following table 

 shows approximately the amount of digestible nutrients required 

 to maintain a 1000-pound animal producing different amounts of 



