264 ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



The ration must be palatable, and of such a nature that a cow can 

 eat a sufficient quantity to supply her needs. 



There is enough nutriment in 300 pounds of oat straw for a 

 cow giving 60 pounds of 4 per cent milk, but it would be absurd 

 to expect a cow to produce such a yield on oat straw alone, as her 

 capacity could not handle more than one-tenth this bulk in one 

 day. The concentrates, too, must be in the proper form to be best 

 utilized by the cow. To get the most out of grains they should be 

 ground for the mastication is seldom, if ever, complete enough to 

 break all the kernels, and those passing through the digestive 

 tract unbroken are of no use to the animal and are, therefore, 

 wasted. This difficulty may be partially obviated by mixing the 

 grain and coarse fodder together. By feeding oats in the sheaf, 

 or in the form of hay, or by mixing chopped hay with the grain, 

 it will be much more thoroughly masticated, as grain eaten with 

 roughage passes to the rumen and is remasticated in chewing the 

 cud. 



Ration E — Roughage Not Palatable and Concentrates too Heavy. 



Digestible Nutrients. 

 Carbohy- 



Protein. drates. Fat, 



Lb. It). lb. lb. 



Corn stover 10 .17 3.24 .07 



Oat straw 7 .08 2.70 .06 



Corn meal 8 .62 5.34 .34 



Oil meal, N. P 4 1.13 1.60 .11 



Total nutrients in ration 2.00 12.88 .58 



Nutrients required for a 1,000 lb. 



cow giving 30 lb. 4% milk 2.10 13.48 .58 



It will be seen that this ration is correct so far as the chemi- 

 cal composition is concerned but that the roughage is lacking in 

 palatability so that a cow will not relish it, and the concentrates, 

 while highly nutritious, are what dairymen call too heavy. Oil 

 meal is so highly concentrated that it should not be fed in large 

 quantities. This ration should be lightened by adding some light 

 bulky concentrate, as bran or ground oats and made more pala- 

 table by substituting oat hay for oat straw. After making these 



