136 STORRS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 
The basal ration was made up largely of such coarse fodders ~ 
as were grown on the farm, to which were added grain feeds 
composed largely of materials that did not contain a very large 
proportion of protein. The plan was to feed this ration to all 
the cows in the test, irrespective of the yields of milk or of 
butter fat. ‘The ration used was one which might be called 
medium-wide, having a nutritive ratio of about 1:6. It was 
intended to furnish a nearly constant amount of digestible pro- 
tein per day for each cow, and this was to be used as a basis 
upon which to increase the protein for the more productive 
cows. ‘The basal ration varied somewhat in the different 
experiments as regards the actual amount of digestible protein, 
but was generally uniform for all cows in any particular test. 
The protein mixture which was added to the basal ration for 
part of the cows was composed mainly of feeding stuffs rela- 
tively high in protein. 
_ The herds studied and the tests made during the winter of 
1899-1900 were lettered and numbered consecutively with those 
of preceding years. They are designated as Herd P, tests 51 
and 53; Herd Q, tests 52 and 54; Herd R, tests 55 and 57, and 
Herd S, tests 56 and 58. ‘The data obtained in these tests are 
given in the tables below. The more important details, with 
summaries of the results, are given in the discussion of the 
individual tests on pages 148-155. _ 
DETAILED DATA OF DAIRY HERD TESTS OF 1899-1900. 
The analyses of all the different material used in the rations 
in these tests are given in the article on Analyses of Fodders 
and Feeding Stuffs on a preceding page. Krom these analyses 
and the amounts of the materials used the amounts of digestible 
nutrients in the rations were calculated by use of certain 
factors, called coefficients of digestibility, which represent the 
proportions of the total nutrients that are digestible. The co- 
efficients of the digestibility of the separate feeding stuffs as 
given in Table 32 below are based upon the results of actual 
experiments with animals, mainly those of American experi- 
ments but in some cases European. The coefficients for the 
grain mixtures are calculated from the factors for the different 
ingredients and the proportions in which they are used in the 
mixtures. 
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