The Florida agriculturist., 1907-11-20
FEEDING THE DAIRY HERD.
By John M. Scott.


its products. EXperimenters and in
vestigators have found that the bodies
of animals, as we'll as all animal pro-
ducts, are made up of the following
group of substances Water, ash,
protein (muscle and bone-producing
materially. and fat These substances
occur in the animal body in some
what varying proportions, depending
upon the age, condition, treatment, etc.
We find that science has brought to
light the fact that plants are also COM
posed of water, ash, protein and fats,
together with carbohydrates Cor heat
producing materially.
WATERFALL food stuffs, no matter
how dry they may seem, contain
certain amount Of water. In grain,
hay, and other dry feeds it ranges
from eight to fifteen per cent. of the
material. While water is essential to
animal life, and the water in the feed
fulfls the same function as that drunk
by the animal, we do not, of course,
value feed materials for the water they
contain
Ash.-When a feed stuff is burned
until the organic matter is all driven
off, the residue is the ash. The ash
of the feed material is the source Of
the mineral matter found in the animal
b o dy. Ordinary combinations of
feeding stuff, however, contain an
abundant supply of mineral matter for
the use Of the animal.
Protein-The protein (muscle and
bone-producing materially of the feed,
like that Of the animal body, is char
acterized by containing nitrogen. 1t
is therefore frequently termed "nitro-
genous matter" or muscle-producing
material. The function Of protein in
the feed is, first Of all to build up
and repair the working machinery of
the body; and then to supply protein
for the production Of milk, etc. No
other feed constituent can fulfil this
function.
We know that feeding stuffs confNin
the same group of substances as the
animal body and all animal products It
is now an easy matter for us to begin
the solution of the feeding problem.
All we have to do is to supply the
proper feedstuAs to the animal in the
correct proportion. These feed stuffs
must be supplied in a certain definite
ratio to give the amount Of protein,
carbohydrates and fats needed by the
animal in performing it's functions
Any one feed, as rule does not con-
tain these nutrients in the proper ra-
tic to form a balanced ration; hence,
the feeder. must make the prop
er combination Of feeds SO as to fur
nish the animal with all the nutrients
in the proper amounts For example,
COW giving two and half gallons
of milk per dav requires approximate
ly the following amounts, while 100
pounds of corn contain the following
quantities.:
AMOUNT IN 100 POUNDS
REQUIRED BY COW OF CORN.
Protein so pounds 7.9 pounds
+ FatS...:...!......" .0U 3
1t is therefore easy to see that by
feeding corn alone it is impossible to
furnish the right amount of~protein,
carbohydrates and fats, SO that a COW
would give her heaviest flow of milk.
It would require about thirty pounds
of corn per day to furnish sufficient
protein, and this amount Of corn would
give more than twice as much carbo-
hydrates as would be required, and
about three times as much fat.
Feeding bran alone, it would require
about IA pounds per day to furnish
the necessary amount of protein.
and this amount Of bran would only
furnish half enough carbohydrates
though it would furnish about the prop
er proportion of fats Feeding cotton
seed meal alone, it would require about
dow 10