A STUDY OF RATIONS FED TO MILCH COWS. Or 
In the Annual Report of this Station for 1896, pages 69-84, 
considerable stress was laid upon the principle that rations for 
milch cows should be regulated by the milk yield, rather than 
by the live weight of the animal. In this experiment the main 
idea was to change the feeding in such a manner as would not 
only give a ration with a narrower nutritive ratio, but to vary 
this for the different animals of the herd in accordance with 
their milk production. Accordingly two grain mixtures were 
prepared, one of which should be fed equally to all the herd 
and the other in proportion to the daily milk flow. Mixture 
No. 1, fed to each cow, was made up of two parts wheat bran, 
two parts wheat middlings, three parts Chicago gluten meal, 
and one part Rockford gluten feed. Mixture No. 2 was com- 
posed of one part Chicago gluten meal, and one part old process 
linseed meal. ‘The following directions for feeding were given: 
Feed mixture No. 1 equally to each cow of the herd; for cows 
giving less than nine quarts of milk daily (cow 7) feed two 
pounds of mixture No. 2; for cows giving from nine to thirteen 
quarts of milk (cows 2, 4, 6,andg,) feed three pounds of mix- 
ture No. 2; for cows giving more than thirteen quarts of milk 
(cows I, 3, 5, and 8,) feed four pounds of mixture No. 2. The 
statistics for the whole herd and for the subdivisions according 
to milk flow are given in the following table: 
TABLE 6. 
Dairy Test No. 45.—Statistics of Herd L from March 8, 1897, 
to March 20, 1897. 




























} ry ox DaILy DaiLy PERCENT- DalILy 
a a rh Re MiLk FL Low. AGE OF Fart, YIELD OF Fart. 
ee BREED. ) = rae 
5) < 2 ee 
= = |S | Min.|Max. Avg.| Min.|Max.| Avg.| Min.|Max.) Avg. 
Yrs. | Lbs. | Mos.| Lbs. Lbs. | Lbs. % % % Lbs. | Lbs. | Lbs. 
7| G. Jy..- - | 7 1-775| 6 |14.1/17.0/14,9) 5.2/6.5 | 6.9] .80) .97| .88 
2| Native,- -| 6/850] 7 |18.5/21.5/19.9/4.1|4.514,.8| .80) .o1| .85 
Ameri yeee een 00 675). 6 18i4jor. 6) 19,5) 5.7.6.6 6,2 re tojt 27) ld 
GGelywe =| | 950 | 5 \15.3120:9117.8)-5-4 | 6.2.)'6,9) 79317 08; 1,04 
eee yee ee O.)-7'751 4, 113.8)22, 0] 19,51 521 | GO Oi7 | 383/122) 2,10 
em ee LO see) 2008 | a 00 
1| Native,- -| 7.1700! 4 |30.1/32.6/31.8] 4.0/4.6 | 4,3 |1.24/1.50/1.85 
BMGastyis se e- |. 9, | 850 |. § 127.8131 79) 29,414.21 4.91 4.5 1.21/0: 47/1132 
5| G. Hol., -| 9 |-850| .4 |22.6)27.0)/24,5) 4.0/4.6] 4.2] .96)1.15/1.04 
8| Native,- - | 11 | 750| 1 131.3/35.6/83.4) 4.0/4.8 | 4.4 |1.38)1.58) 1.48 
Avra eee 1 (04 alo QO) ——) eral Se ee 
| Herdavg., - | — |775| — | — | — |28.4, — | — |5.0!| — | — j|1.14 





