Middletown transcript., 1897-10-09
Of Interest
to Farmers
roon oE nA1RY cArr1E.

FOOD OF DAIRY CATTLE.
The value of ration, or system of
feeding. depends not on its cost but
upon the profit derived from its use. 1t
is cheaper to feed ration costing ten
cents, which enables cows to give two
gallons of milk per day, than to allow
food costing FIVE cents, but which en-
abIes The animals to produce only one
gallon of milk during the same period.
If milk sells at u 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 Experiment Station two lots of
COWS were fed on foods differing in
kind, one lot receiving "narrow" ra-
tion and the other "wide" ration.
By narrow ration is meant one con-
tanning four or five times as much car
bohydrates (starchy matter) as protein
(nitrogenous matter), the wide ration
containing eight or ten times as much
carbohydrates as protein. The wide
ration consisted of a pound more of
hay daily than in the narrew. and in
that experiment all the cows were
given hay and sugar beets. Cornmeal
and wheat bran were given in the wide
ration and gluten meal and wheat
bran in the narrow ration. In the Sec
ond experiment hay, millet and soy
bean ensilage were given all the cows,
the concentrated foods of the narrow
ration being gluten meal, bran and
old-process linseed meal, the 'concen-
trated foods of the wide ration consist
ing of wheat bran and cornmeal.
RESULTS OF THE FEEDING.
With the narrow rations from 11.8
to 1919 per cent. more milk was OBJ
tanned than from the wide ration (con-
sidering the proportions digested. and
the narrow rations also reduced the
cost of production from tn 12 per
cent. The average daily cost of a
quart of milk by the use of the narrow
ration was 1.81 cents, and with the
wide ration 1.97 cents, while the same
ratio Of increase in The amount of but
ter and decrease in cost was obtained
from The narrow ration, the cost of but
ter being 1857 cents per pound
for the narrow raiien aud 1852 cents
for the wide ration. With the narrow
rations the best cow,in one experiment,
produced 1872 pounds of butter in
week, at cost of IA cents per pound,
while in the same experiment the best
cow on The wide ration produces 9.52
pounds of butter per week, at cost of
1857 cents per pound. In the second
experiment the best cow, on the mar
row ration, produced - 81 pounds of
butter per week, at a cost of IL. 66 cents
per pound, the best cow on the wide
ration producing at the same time
10. go pounds, at cost of 12.71 cents
per pound. The same comparative re-
suits were received from other cows in
the lots, though the quantities were
less. The daily amount of food con-
sumed by six cows was, in the first ex-
pertinent, as the narrUw ration, was 8
pounds wheat bran, 5.83 pounds gluten
meal, 1917 pounds hay, aud IL pounds
sugar beets; the wide ration was 8
pounds wheat bran 5.83 pounds corn
meal, 1917 pounds hay and 10 pounds
sugar beets. The narrow ration, in
the second experiment, was 2.83 pounds
bran 8 pounds gluten meal, 1.92 pounds
linseed meal. 10 33 pounds hay, and
49, .33 pounds millet and bean ensilage,
the wide ration being 1872 pounds
bIan, 5.SS pounds cornmeal and the
same amount of hay aud ensilage as in
the narrow ration. Observe that the
gluten meal and linseed meals pro-
vided the larger proportion Of protein.
INCREASED VALUE OF MANURE.
In the above the best results were
obtained from the foods containing
the gluten meal and the linseed
meal, the ration bling thus mar.
rowed" by containing less starch
and more protein, demonstrating that
more milk and butter can be obtained
when the starehy foods are Eve to OF Q
for the protein than when they are ten
to Que, and the Cost is also reduced. II
therefore pays to use the pitrogenous
foods more liberally. But there isa profit
v hich is also worthy of consideration
and there is the increase in the value
of the manure. In these experiments
The narrow ration produced manure
having 20 per cent. more fertilizing
value than that from the wide ration,
and the land is therefore improved, the
manure increasing more largely in nj
trogenons than in the cheaper mineral
substance. If the milk is fed ON the