The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1908-05-01
from market, who has nothing to
sell, and there is a great deal of truth
in fhic ocaortion @7SA

missouri river points, kansas City,
Omaha and st. Joseph, and with the
completion Of the Milwaukee, Sioux
City, are as near door as was
Chicago to the Iowa and Missouri
feeder in the olden days. Again, we
have what the corn belt feeder did not
have, a growing western market with
excellent transportation facilities.
What Balanced Ration is.
"Going into detail as tt the nature
of the balanced ration, l will give the
definition. It is an economical ration
balanced physiologically as well as
chemically for the end sought.
"a ration may be balanced for a
work horse, growing steer, fattening
cattle or hogs. Each one will differ
materially from the other. The needs
of the animal; the end sought and
the cost of the ingredients that form
the ration must be considered in max
ing an economical balanced ration.
"Sanborn found that pigs fed on
corn meal exclusively did not do as
well as those fed on a mixed diet and
that they were subject to disease. Not
only this but he also found that the
pork was less palatable.
Henry, by experiment, found that
a ration rich in carbohydrates( such
as corn) and poor in protein did not
produce the best quality of pork. He
discovered that Of three lots of pigs
fed on a different ration, those fed on
corn meal showed the smallest gain.
The lot fed on corn meal and peas
did better while those fed on corn
meal and dry blood did best of all.
Jordan found that a ration rich in
protein caused calves to show more
thrift and present a better appearance,
but that a ration richer in carbohy-
drates made the most fat in the sec
ond half of the test. Thus the neces-
sity Of adapting the ration to the
needs Of the animal and to the end
sought can readily be seen, and this
is the feature of feeding a balanced
ration made Of mixed grains.
""The Wolf-Lehmiann standard pre-
walls in Europe but western condi-
tons indicate that a wider nutrient
ratio may be used to advantage in
compounding a ration. @
zone of the chief difficulties en-
countered in forming a balanced
ration in this country is in securing
a sufficient amount Of dry matter. Al
falfa fits nicely in this instance as the
quantity of dry matter to the amount
of protein can be varied at will.
Alfalfa Cut in Bloom.
"Alfalfa cut in the bud shows a
lower ratio than when cut in full
bloom, when it runs as high as 91.6
per cent of dry matter. In this re-
gard Cooke compares a field of Kafir
corn which yielded Sc tons of hay
and found that the acre of alfalfa hay
gave nearly twice as much dry matter
rs the acre of corn while there was
a difference of I'll per cent of di-
gestible nutriment in favor of the al
falfa and the protein content was
three times as great in the alfalfa as
in the corn .
"The dry matter contained in pea
hay contains as much as 1913 per cent
in 100 pounds, thus putting it in close
proximity to alfalfa in forming a bal
anced ration.
"McBryde reports a yield of COW
pea hay amounting to 6 tons per
acre and estimates that this yield
showed more digestible nutriment
than would be found in an acre Of oats
yielding 40 bushels or an acre of corn
yielding 80 bushels.
"An answer to the question of the
feeder as to whether he can afford
to balance a ration or not is found
in bulletin No. 1872 of the Kansas
State Agricultural college and is in
the affirmative. The writer says: the
steers fed the nearly balanced ration
not only showed a gain of 100 pounds
at 1898 less expense but when sold
the entire animal was worth so cents
a hundred weight more H. r. Smith
of the Nebraska station obtained SUBJ
stantially the same results.
"The meat in the cocoanut, how
ever, lies in the comparative cost of
100 pounds gained with the different
rations.
Nebraska Experiments.
'sThe Nebraska experiments show
an average cost IN all rations tried
of $3.50 for each 100 pounds gain.
With corn and alfalfa, the cost was
$6.49 per hundred weight. The Kan
sas station for a similar period, but
under conditions which compare more
nearly. with those that exist in u
own state showed an average cost
of 1914 for each 100 pounds, gained.
but with alfalfa and corr the cost was
$5.13 for a like amount of gain. From
this we infer that western Kansas al
falfa is stronger feed than eastern Ne.
braska grown alfalfa. This is ex-
planned by the fact that the higher
the altitude and the less PRECIPITATION.