Rations for Farm Stock. 



i55 



otherwise required, would have the effect of stiffening the butter 

 considerably. 



In this and the following winter-rations it is assumed that the 

 cow — an average shorthorn of from 11 to 12 cwt. — will require 

 3 lb. of digestible alluminoids and 17 of digestible carbohydrate- 

 equivalent a day, which gives a ratio of 1 to 5*6 (nearly),. 

 As cows under similar conditions practically eat in proportion 

 to their weights, these rations may be modified to suit smaller 

 cows by simply reducing the quantity of each food-stuff in a 

 ration proportionately, and the ratio will, of course, remain the 

 same. Thus, taking an ordinary Ayrshire cow's weight at 900 lb. 

 as against 1,200 of the shorthorn, she will require as a diet 

 three-fourths of the following shorthorn rations ; and assuming 

 a Jersey cow to weigh 800 lb. she will require two-thirds of 

 these rations as a daily allowance. 



In arranging a cow's ration from home-grown and purchased 

 foods, the farmer will be largely guided by the quantities at his 

 disposal and market prices. He should then, by way of a start,, 

 write down approximately the weights of roots, long fodder,, 

 and meal that a cow will require, omitting for the moment the 

 highly albuminoid food, and remembering that the roots will be 

 somewhere between 2 and 4 stones, the fodder about ij stones, 

 and the "trough' 5 food from 6 to 10 lb., part of which will be 

 home-grown corn meal and part a highly albuminoid purchased 

 food. He should next calculate out the constituents — albu- 

 minoids, fat, and carbohydrates — by the Food Table, and see 

 how much short the albuminoids are of 3 lb., and supply the 

 deficiency by means of the cake or other purchased food. 

 When all is totalled up, he will probably find that a little 

 adjustment of weights is necessary to get exactly the 3 lb. 

 albuminoids and the 17 carbohydrates required. Bearing 

 in mind the following points the adjusting will not be 

 difficult, viz., that straw will affect the carbohydrates without 

 materially affecting the albuminoids, that the first seven foods 

 named in the Table mainly influence the albuminoids, and that 

 roots, hay, and corn meals affect both the albuminoids and 

 carbohydrates nearly proportionately. Take a case by way of 

 illustration : — A farmer thinks he can afford his cows 3 stones 

 of swedes a day, to be given in two meals ; as far as his fodder 



