60 STORRS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 
some valuable lessons as to the economy of foods when the 
effects on the products and the manure supply are both con- 
sidered. 
It is probably true that the animals of most of the herds exam- 
ined were, so far as breed, milk and butter product are concerned, 
above the average of cows kept for dairy purposes in Connecticut. 
It is doubtless true that the feeding practiced by the owners 
of these herds is better than that which is generally practiced 
throughout the State. These facts, taken together with the 
shortness of the periods of observation to which the herds were 
subjected, have been kept in mind in the following discussion 
of the results of the tests, which is reprinted from Bulletin 13 
of this Station. : 
A proper dairy ration will supply in appropriate forms the 
food constituents needed to form the materials of the body, 
and the energy required for heat and muscular work. In the 
case of the dairy cow the production of milk calls for a large 
proportion of food materials, and the energy required in its 
elaboration requires a considerable consumption of fuel. Just 
how much by weight of different food constituents should be 
fed is a matter of considerable uncertainty. Differences in 
breed and individual peculiarities of the animals, in the 
amount of milk produced, in the quality of the food, in the 
shelter afforded, as well as in other conditions known and 
unknown, all tend to show that the best rations for one cow 
may not be the best for another. ‘The feeder must study his 
cows and fit the feed to their wants. He needs also to make 
a careful study of the market prices of feeds in order to use 
them most economically. While it is true that no fixed stand- 
ard can be made applicable to the feeding of all dairy animals, 
yet an approximately close following of standards will prove bet- 
ter than the haphazard methods too often seen among feeders. 
Inthe following table are given the commonly quoted stand- 
ard ration proposed twenty-five years ago by Prof. Wolff, an 
eminent German chemist and experimenter; the average of 
128 American rations as ascertained by the Wisconsin Experi- 
ment Station; the average of 16 rations fed in Connecticut in 
1892 and 1893; of 25 rations fed from 1892 to 1894; and the 
average of 27 rations fed in Connecticut, 1892 to 1895; anda 
tentatively suggested ration. 
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