St. Paul daily globe., 1895-10-21
ABOUT THE FIRM.

Prof. Hacker on Wheat Feeding.
bd,Prof T. L. Hacker, in Hoard's
+ ssDairyman, gives the following COM
parative results of wheat feeding in
the dairy. The prevailing low price
this year makes the article timely and
valuable:
6ssLast fall there was considerable in
quiry in regard to feeding wheat, and
having no data on this subject, we
undertook an experiment in feeding
wheat to dairy cows. In our herd
there were four cows fresh, and In
other respects as nearly under similar
conditions as could be desired, with the
exception of type. The following
| gives general summary of the result
l. of the trial:
| Houston, lbs. of wheat. 1873. lbs. of
hay, 1872; yield of milk, 1884 lbs. yield of
| butter fat, ZIG lbs; cost per lb. of but
Ter, Si4 cents; feed value of wheat per
bushel, $1.31; feed value of hay per ton,
Lou, lbs. of wheat, 126; lbs of hay,
/ IA; yield Of milk, Az lbs; yield of
butter fat, 266 lbs; cost of a pound of
butter, 7.62 cents; feed value of wheat
per 6ushel, 1s $l.57; feed value Of hay per
Lydia, lbs. of wheat, 154; lbs. of hay.
! 23S; yield of milk, 1893 lbs; yield of but
| ter fat 15.5 lbs; cost of pound of but
ter, l4;49 cents; feed value of wheat per
buShel, S3 cents; feed value of hay per
ton, $S.26
Topsy, lbs. of wheat, 1853; lbs. of hay.
252, yield of milk, Cos lbs; yield of but
ter fat, 2LO lbs. cost of a pound of but
ter, 9.45 cents; feed value of wheat per
bushel, SIPS; feed value of hay per ton,
$12.54.
Houston is a cross bred Jersey-Guern-
sey. Lou and Topsy are grade Hol-
The cows were fed three weeks on
wheat and hay to accuStom them to the
ration, and the record gives the result
Of the fourth and fifth weeks feeding
The cows seemed to relish the feed,
none shrinking in milk during the trial.
The cows We're charged at the rate of
Sc per ton for hay and 60 cents per
buShel for wheat, and credited 20 cents
a pound for the butter they produced.
No credit was given for skim milk
Houston returned $1.57 per bushel for
wheat and $13.08 per ton for hay; Lou,
$157 per bushel for wheat and $15.72 for
hay, Topsy, $l.26 for wheat and $1254
for hay, while Lydia, the Swiss re-
turned only SO cents for wheat and S826
per ton for hay. This shows that a
COW that has inherited the tendency to
convert the nutrients in her feed into
bone, muscle and meat, is not a great
success at the churn, though she may
do fairly we'll at the pail, as the guam
tity of milk she gave would indicate
Another point that merits special at
tention. 1t will be seen that Lou gave
exceptionally large returns for the
amount of feed consumed. She had
been dry a long time and had laid on
considerable flesh. During the expert
ment she gradually lost in flesh until
she reached her normal weight. In an
other experiment, running from the
11th of February to the last of April
she required on an average 2465 pounds
dry matter to produce one pound of
butter fat, while Houston required 1872
pounds, Topsy 21.73 and Lydia 2SO7
pounds.
Thus it sometimes happens that a
COW carrying more flesh when fresh in
milk will produce an abnormal amount
of butter fat, but if the test is con-
tinued until she reaches her. normal
working condition, the ratio of fat to
dry matter consumed will rapidly de-
crease. This popularity may account
for the wonderful performance of the
Swiss cow BrienZ at the Chicago fat
stock show some years ago. We have
made the cost of production a special
study for four years, and in every trial
thus far the special purpose dairy COW
has come out victorious 1t is, there
fore, not strange that we should have
some doubt as to the advisability of
dairymen spending any money in ex-
perimenting with a COW that lays claim
to being an all purpose breed.