The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-11-03

Under advanced methods Of dairy
farming. II is recognized as essential
to the greatest success to maintain 3
the highest and most uniform flow OF 4
milk practicable throughout the year.
Now when good pasturage Is, avail
able the change from barn feeding 10
pasture is as a rule highly beneficial.
both as regards yield and quality iof
milk and health OF the cows, but even
in good grazing regions there are fre-
quently parts of the season. usually
late summer, when the pastures are
apt to become dry and thus make ~.
matter OF much practical iinpor-
tance TO find some means of3keepine
up the milk flow, says the Mirror apd
Farmer, For this purpose the prac-
tlce OF feeding either grain or soilihg
crops TO supplement the pasture has
been suggested. The economy OF
feeding grain to cows at pasture has
been subject OF investigation by
several of the experiment stations.
In experiments at the Kansas sta
ton a number of years ago two lots
OF cows each were fed alternately on
pasture and bran, pasture and corn
meal, and pasture and ground oats.
for periods of seven days each. The
conclusion was that although the
grain feed added. materially to the
milk YIELD cornmeal showing the
greatest increase, the increased re-
turns did not pay the cost OF the
10 m rnnuldar-
able loss.
In experiments at the New York
Cornell station one lot of cows was
fed, from June to September 81, a
daily ration of two pounds of cotton
seed meal and two pounds Of bran per
COW, and another lot was fed from
May ,25 to September II. six to nine
pounds daily per COW Of mixturefof
wheat bran 100 pounds, cottonseed
meal 100 pounds, and malt sprouts is
pounds, in addition to good blue
grass pasture. In neither case was
there any profitable return In milk or
butter for the additional grain feed.
In experiments with cows soiled in
the barn on fresh grass there was an
increase in the milk and butter pro-
duction and saving in grass barely
sufficient to pay the cost OF the add
ed grain ration.
To determine whether the profit
from grain feeding would be greater
in case of poorer pasturage herd OF
cows OH light pasture was divided in
to two similar lots, one lot receiving
only pasture and soiling, the other.
beginning May %. was fed four
quarts per COW daily 1.-TWO feeds,
night and morningD OF mixture OF
equal parts of corn meal, wheat bran.
and cottonseed meal. On August 10,
the pastures having become dry, both
lots began to receive a ration Of green
| corn fodder of about 16 pounds per
COW per day. On September the
corn fodder ration was changed TO
millet, which continued until October
/, when second growth grass was
used; this continued until October 10
when pumpkin began to be fed. The
grain feeding in this case resulted in
a profitable increase In milk produc-
! tion and also in considerable gain
in weight of the cows. The benefi-
cial effect of the grain feeding was
observable the following season. par
ticularly in the development and per-
/ formance of the younger animals.
At the Mississippi station no bene-
/ AZ was derived from feeding three to
four pounds of cottonseed meal and
four to six pounds of wheat bran per
COW daily to cows running on good
pasture. The question OF grain feed
ing of cows at pasture has recently
been Investigated anew by J. II. Stew
art and II. Atwood OF the West Vir-
ginia station. They found that there
was no direct financial gain from
feeding six pounds per cow daily OF
a rather rich grain feed containing
1876 per cent protein and 35 per cent
of fat to cows on pasture, notwith-
standing the fact that in some cases
the pasture became short from
drouth II is true that the cows
which received grain were uniformly
I'm somewhat better flesh than those
that did not receive grain, but as fer
| lHt iuiih sitiu wac NOhtci hcNI tho
increased flow was produced at an
actual loss. J3i4'
Summarizing the results of all the
experiments which have been made
on the subject, the conclusion seems
justified that unless dairy products
are especially high In price It is not
a profitable practice to feed grain to
cows at pasture. II is true that more
milk is obtained and the cows hold
up their yield better and remain In
better flesh when receiving the grain
rations, but under ordinary circum-
stances there is no direct profit from
the grain feeding, as the increased
production usually costs more than
II can be sold for.