1922.] 



Value of Food Records. 



993 



(b) Extravagant Feeding. — The writer's experience is that 

 over-feeding is a more common fault than under-feeding, 

 though many cases of under-feeding are met with. Over- 

 feeding occurs in several forms. Frequently it takes the form 

 of an excessive allowance of hay, farmers forgetting that £7 

 per ton for hay is equivalent to fd. per lb. and that 28 lb. of 

 hay at that price costs Is. 9d. More often it takes the form 

 of excessive feeding of concentrated foods. In one case last 

 winter ten cows were receiving a daily allowance of 170 lb. of 

 cakes and meals, an average of 17 lb. per cow, although they 

 were each giving only 2 gallons of milk. This quantity of con- 

 centrated food would have been more suitable for 5 -gallon cows 

 than for 2-gallon cows. The practice of measuring out the 

 supply of concentrated foods to each individual cow according 

 to her milk yield is year by year becoming more prevalent and 

 is being encouraged in every possible way. 



(c) Indiscriminate Purchase. — The relative market prices of 

 the concentrated feeding stuffs during the past winter were in 

 many cases in marked contrast with their feeding values. 

 Farmers are far too prone to be guided by their cake merchant 

 in making their selection of what they will buy, or to buy their 

 old favourite feeding stuffs of pre-war days regardless of present 

 market prices, instead of comparing the market price with the 

 feeding value of the feeding stuff with the help of such a table 

 as is published in this Journal month by month. 



(d) Bad Management. — No amount of scientific feeding will 

 be successful unless both the farmer and his cowman take an 

 intelligent interest in the welfare of the cows. 



Most of the farmers consider that two food records taken 

 during the course of the winter are sufficient, but the following 

 figures show that those farmers who had three food records 

 taken were able to produce milk still more cheaply than those 

 who had two food records taken, whilst those who had two food 

 records taken produced milk more cheaply than those who only 

 had one record taken, assuming that the latter did not alter the 

 rations that they were feeding. A comparison between the 

 composition of the rations being fed with the scientific require- 

 ments of the cows is also enlightening : — . m 



° baent i Jic acquirements 



Composition of Ration fed. ofCous. 



Food Records 



Cost of Food 



Digestible 



Starch 



Digestible 



Starch 



taken. 



per gad I. 



Protein. 



Equivalent. 



Protein. 



Equivalent. 





pence. 



lb. 



lb. 



Ib. 



lb. 



Once 



15-71 . 



.. 2-45 , 



... 13-28 . 



.. 2-10 , 



,.. 12-91 



Twice 



15-13 . 



.. 2-28 , 



... 1314 . 



.. 2-08 . 



.. 12-90 



Three times 



14-53 . 



.. 2-29 



... 13-02 . 



.. 2-20 



... 13-30 



c 



