FIFTIETH ANNUAL CONVENTION 37 



hay is fed, then there may possibly be no advantage in add- 

 ing a calcium-rich mineral supplement to the ration. How- 

 ever, even with legume hay available for winter feeding, it 

 can do no harm and may do considerable good to add one 

 of these lime carriers to the ration. 



Feed Calcium Supplements on Pasture. 



Fresh, green crops contain an especially large amount 

 of the vitamine needed to enable animals to assimilate cal- 

 cium. Therefore, the best way of replenishing the calcium 

 in the cow's body, which may have been seriously depleted 

 by high milk production during the winter feeding period, is 

 to feed a calcium supplement when she is on pasture. 

 Therefore, it is especially important to mix one of the cal- 

 cium-rich supplements with the concentrate mixture fed to 

 cows on pasture. It is probably best to use more of the cal- 

 cium-supplement than for winter feeding. As much as 8 

 to 10 lbs. of one of the calcium-supplements may be mixed 

 with each 100 lbs. of the concentrate mixture. If this mix- 

 ture should not be very palatable to the cows, the allowance 

 of the mineral supplements may be reduced somewhat. 



When the cows are not fed any concentrates during a 

 part of the pasture season, the calcium-supplement may be 

 mixed with salt and the cows allowed free access to it. A 

 mixture of one-half salt by weight and one-half of lime- 

 stone, wood ashes, marl, steamed bone meal, or ground rock 

 phosphate may be used for this purpose. In recent experi- 

 ments at the Wisconsin Experiment Station as much as */2 

 lb. to 1 lb. of steamed bone meal per head daily has been 

 fed to dairy cows under pasture conditions with good re- 

 sults. 



What About Commercial Mineral Mixtures? 



It is entirely unnecessary to buy expensive commercial 

 mineral mixtures. Just as good results can be secured by 

 following the simple recommendations on these pages. 



