The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1884-04-17
Feeding a Family Cow.

The question is by no means so SIM
pie rs may at first sight appear. The
question, in fact, might well serve as a
text for a treatise on the whole theory
and practice of feeding dairy stock.
But this is hardly what. NJ. desires in
this place. | have fed a family cow"
and I have fed rs many as fifty COWS,
and | have learned that a ration for the
best results in milk is necessarily an eX7
pensive one 1t requires a large per
centage of albUminoids, and albumin
oids, either in the food of man OF
beast are expensive in their original
state. But in preparing many of the
foods of man, there are by-products or
residues, of highly albuminoid nature,
admirably adapted to the requirements
of herbivOrOus animals. Such are the
bulls of the various grains, under vari-
ous names-malt. sprouts, brewers
grains, cotton seed, fax-seed, and many
other seeds after the oil has been ex-
tracted.
All these, in some sense waste prod.
ucts, are within the reach of stock feed
ers at prices which make it possible to
use them with some degree of profit.
Now the feeder viii find that these by
products vary considerably in price in
different parts of the country, and in Sc
Letting his feed be must choose those
substances which yield the largest per-
centage of digestible albuminOids for
the least money. In the Eastern States,
selecting the period of lowest market,
we find nothing cheaper nothing more
econOmical--than first quality st
Louis b4n. II should have a thick,
heavy hull, with a film of -four adher-
inu to the inner surface. 1t seldom ex-
4, II g D.
safe to feed in any quantity. r
Next in economy comes cOttOn-seed
meal Butthis feed is generally regarded
with some prejudice, and am inclined
to think Justly. 1t is very stimulating to
the milk glands, and, unless fed with
prudence, produces Inflammation of
the milk ducts and udder. Three
pounds day may be fed, however, to
a COW weighing a thousand pounds,
without much risk. A good substitute
for cOttOn-seed meal, though more ex-
pcnsive, is linseed meal told process).
This is always safe and a most salts
factory food.
A proper milk ration should contain,
in addition to highly albuminoid food,
q certain proportion of easily digested
hydrocarbons, or starchy foods. The
lone fodder usually fed to cows con
tains these elements in abundance, but
in a form less available, that is. digest
ible, than in most ground grains. So,
for quick returns" it is always well
to supplement the hydro carbOns in
hay, straw, corn-stalks, etc, by q Ger
tain amount of corn meal. No other
grain, on the whole, better serves the
purpose, on the ground of economy,
than fine corn meal.
For nv dairy of thorouohbreds have
settled down upon the following MKT
ure for a grain ration: For COWS in full
flow of milk l find a theoretical excess
of albuminOids to give economical re-
turns. The proportions given are, by
weight, six parts best bran, three parts
6ne corn meal, and three parts Inseed
meal. One pound of this mixture is
given to each hundred-weight of the
animal; half in the morning and the
other half in the evening. If fed dry,
the COW drinks more. and consequently
gives more milk. If were not skept-
zeal IS to the use of cOttonseed meal, l
should substitute it for linseed meal.
1t costs less and produces more milk.
If l were feeding a Family COW
| regardless Of expense, and for quality
as well as quantity of milk, l would
grind corn in the ear, and add an equal
bulk of ground oats. A ration would
be four quarts night and morning, with
quart of Iinseed meal in addit. on.
For long fodder would feed Oat hay;
| that is, oats cut when just out of bios
! som and quickly cured. No forage
| crop l have ever raised gives such re-
| suits in milk can assure M. that 1T
| does paw TO cut cOrnstalks. Cut them
two inches long, and sprinkle moder-
| ately with salt water, twenty-four hours
| before feeding. Give no more salt than
is required for health.-Cor. Country
| Gentleman.