


A STUDY OF RATIONS FED TO MILCH COWS. IOI 
The German (Wolff's) standard ration, the standard ration 
proposed by the Wisconsin Experiment Station, the averages of 
the 16 rations here reported upon and a suggested tentative 
ration are given in table 32, on the opposite page. 
As has been already pointed out, the chief function of the fats 
and carbohydrates is to serve as fuel. It appears to be more 
important that these nutrients should be provided in sufficient 
quantities for the needs of the body than that they should be 
supplied in definite relative proportions. In the tentative ration 
thus suggested, the energy called for could be furnished by about 
.5 of a pound of digestible fat and 13.0 pounds digestible carbo- 
hydrates; by .6 of a pound of digestible fat and 12.5 pounds of 
digestible carbohydrates; or by .8 of a pound of digestible fat and 
12 pounds of digestible carbohydrates. — 
It must be borne in mind that a ‘‘standard ration”’ itself is only 
an estimate, an effort to express proportions which approximate 
the average needs of different animals or the quantities which 
may be fed. ‘A great deal of experimenting with the calorimeter 
and the respiration apparatus, and a great deal of practical test- 
ing of animals in experimental stables and on the farm, will be 
needed in order to enable us to make such estimates entirely 
satisfactory. When that research shall be accomplished, its re- 
sults will have a very great value to the farmer.” 
’) 
DAILY VARIATIONS IN AMOUNTS FED. 
While there may be more or less uncertainty as to what is a 
proper ration, there can be no question but what better re- 
sults will be obtained from careful than from careless feeding. 
If the animals are overfed one day and underfed, or even prop- 
erly fed, the next, the milk flow will be affected to the disadvan- 
tage of the dairymen. It is not always easy to carefully regulate 
the quantities of the coarse foods, hay and fodders, which are 
given from day to day. It is difficult to judge accurately of the 
weight since the compactness or looseness will deceive the eye. 
There is, however, very little if any, reason why the same, or 
nearly the same, weights of the concentrated feeds should not be 
given from day to day. It may not be practicable to weigh the 
feeds in the barn when they are being fed, but it is easy to meas- 
ure the quantities of grain and avoid any great changes in 
amounts from day to day. 
Table 33, which follows, shows the variations in size of the 
rations which were fed in these sixteen different herds. 
