The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1897-09-29
Food for Dairy Cattle.

The value Of a ration, or system OF
feeding, depends not on its cost but
upon the profit derived from its use.
1t is cheaper to feed a ration costing
ten cents, which enables cows to give
two gallons of milk per day, than to
allow food costing five cents, but
which enables the animals to produce
only one gallon of milk during the
same period. III milk sells at II cents
per gallon the profit from the food
costing ten cents per ration is twice as
much as from the apparently cheaper
foods, but there is a gain in the value
of the manure and also in the use Of
only one COW instead of two, as it
would require two cows to give the
same results as one if they produced
only the quantity derived from the less
valuable ration. At the Hatch Exper-
iment Station two lots of cows were
fed on foods differing in kind, one lot
receiving marrow" ration and the
other "wide" ration. BY narrow ra-
ton is meant one containing four or
five times as much carbohydrates
(starchy matter) as protein nitrogen
GUS natter, the wide ration consisted
of pound more of hay daily than in
the narrow, and in that experiment all
the cows were given hay and sugar
haato fnrnr.aaa1 md hrut
given in the wide ration and gluten
meal and wheat bran in the narrow
ration. In the second experiment hay,
millet and soy bean ensilage were CIV
en- all the cows, the concentrated foods
of the narrow ration being gluten meal,
bran and old-proeess linseed meal, the
concentrated foods of the wide ration
consisting Of wheat bran and corn
meal.
RESULTS OF TIE FEEDING.
With the narrow rations from lis to
1873 per cent. more milk was obtained
than from the wide ration consider
ing the proportions digested, and the
narrow rations also reduced the cost of
production from 5 to l. per cent The
average daily cost of a quart of milk
by the use of the narrow ration was
Isl cents, and with the wide ration
l.97, while the same ratio of increase in
the amount of butter and decrease in
cost was obtained from the narrow ra-
ton, the cost of butter being l5.57
cents per pound for the narrow ration
and 1852 cents for the wide ration.
With the narrow rations the best COW,
in one experiment, produced l22
pounds of butter in a week, ct cost Of
II cents per pound, while in the same
experiment the best cow on the wide
ration produced 9.52 pounds Of butter
per week, at cost of 1867 cents per
pound. In the second experiment
the best COW, on the narrow ration,
produced l2Sl pounds of butter per
week, at cost of ll-56 cents per
pound, the best COW on the wide ration
producing at the same time 1892
pounds, at a cost of l2.71 cents per
pound. The same comparative results
were received from other cows in the
lots, though the quantities were less.
The daily amount of food consumed by
six cows was, in the first experiment,
a. the narrow ration, was 3 pounds
wheat bran, 5.S3 pounds gluten meal,
l5.l7 pounds hay, and II pounds sugar
beets; the wide ration was pounds
wheat bran, 5.SS pounds eornmeal,
1917 pounds hay and 10 pounds sugar
beets. The narrow ration, in the sec
ond experiment, was 50 pounds bran,
8 pounds gluten meal, l.92 pounds lin
seed meal, 10 80 pounds hay, and y 80
pounds millet and bean ensilage, the
wide ration being l.92 pounds bran,
) So pounds eOrnmeal and the same
amount of hay and ensilage as in the
narrow ration. Observe that the glut-
en- meal and linseed meal provided the
larger proportion of protein.