The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1893-05-06
DAIRY COW FEEDS.
How to 0btaia the Best Results 1t the
Least Expense.

How to 0btaia tho Best Results It the
Least Expense.
1t is fair to say that q COW must pay
for the feed she eats, and return a liv-
ing to the owner; but after all it is
moro profit BILE for tho owner to raise
the feed. and make yet another profit
between tho actual cost of the COW
feed, as raised ON the farm. and what
tho same feed would cost if another
man raised it, and his living and profits
came from it's sale. Oats, at forty
cents per bushel, are too expensive
feed, when the results are compared
with good bran, or. what is yet better.
with seconds, the grade of bran that
has quite showing of -four in it. and
is yet in most markets cheaper than
the bran. Corn meal, at sixty cents
for ffty-six pounds, is a good food in
part. for a butter dairy, and especially
SO. if it is to be fed with clover hay.
which is largely albuminous. and
needs the starchy foods, like corn meal.
to balance it. rather than more albu-
minous matter, which is SO largely
re presented in bran.
When I can get clover hay in abun-
/ dance I feed largely of that. for from,
| every ten dollars worth of tho hay
| there is made nine dollars worth OF
| fertility. To balance the clover hay, !
| would get corn in the car. and have it
| ground fine and feed with the clover
| hay, rather than buy more albuninous
| matter. Ear corn should be ground on
! the cob, and not shelled. For milk,
the fourteen pounds of cob in a hun
dredweight of meal are worth more, as
| a promoter of Digestion, than would be
| the fourteen pounds of pure meal in its
place. A COW in good flow of milk will
| need from twenty-five to thirty pounds
+; of clover hay each day. with eight
pounds of the meal. In my dairy
reverse this by feeding fifty
pounds of silage. made from fairly
| we'll cared corn, and 6vc to six pounds
| the COWS will consume-some five
pounds daily to each COW. In the same
| way cows, to do their best, seem to
| need 4 bulky food, largely on the
| carbohydrate side of the ration, rs
| mixed hay, we'll cured corn fodder, and
! tho like. The albu minous matte RS
| should come in smaller amounts.
though clover hay is an exception, as
| it is a loose, bulky, misunderstanding g
| food, and the corn meal balances it in
| starch to some extent. Cows eat as
| they were born to do, some more, some
| less, and to produce milk the same rule
| holds good.
The amount of food a COW will con-
sumo is no indication of what she will
produce in milk solids, so that the
good dairyman has to feed as circum-
stances indicate, the milk pail being
the indicator. Wheat straw is not a
good promoter of milk yield. nor an
economical factor in the feed line
Wheat straw is far better under a
milch COW than in her stomach. A cow
needs to eat SO much straw to obtain a
| minimum amount of nutriment that
| the stomach is overtaxed, and there is
q shrinkage of the milk. If the straw
is cut fine, and moistened with small
amount of water, and then fine mid
a
straw will be improved and made
more digestible. Cut straw and linseed
meal are useful for young stock. John
Could in American ARriculturist.