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ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



justed to other cows by feeding one pound of grain daily for 

 every 2]/ 2 pounds of milk produced. However, a dry cow sup- 

 porting a calf should never be entirely without grain, unless on 

 good pasture. She should be considered as producing about 10 

 pounds of milk. The calf grows very rapidly during the last two 

 or three months ; therefore, she should be fed more than is re- 

 quired for maintenance. The dry period is also the time to 

 build up the cow for the next year's work. 



In making up these rations it is desirable to feed as much 

 roughage as possible because it is usually the farmer's cheapest 

 feed. However, the capacity of the animal is limited, and we 

 must be guided by common sense. It is possible to balance a 

 ration in protein, carbohydrate and fat with only coarse dry 

 roughage which the cow would not be able to consume in large 

 enough quantities to produce a reasonable amount of milk. 

 It is easy to balance a ration of grain alone which is also 

 undesirable. The ration should be balanced in amount of rough- 

 age and grain as well as in protein, carbohydrate and fat. The 

 amount of grain by weight should rarely equal the amount of dry 

 roughage and should usually be less than one-half. This does 

 not apply where such roughage as silage is fed, because silage 

 contains more moisture and weighs heavier than other roughage. 



Rations for a Herd. 



In making up a ration for a herd which averages iooo 

 pounds live weight, and 35 pounds milk testing 4 per cent fat, 

 the method is the same as that used in the previous ration. 



Protein Carbo. and fat 



Nutrients required 2.60 16.00 



18 pounds clover hay 1.278 7.542 



36 pounds corn silage 324 4.608 



3 pounds corn and cob meal 132 1.995 



2 pounds ground oats 214 1.176 



2 pounds linseed meol O. P 604 .948 



Total 2.552 16.269 



This ration can be fed to a herd as follows : 36 pounds of 

 silage, all the clover hay they will consume and one pound of 



