Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1908-06-11
ON A BUSINESS BASIS.
Very Practical Details In Profitable
Dairying.

BY JOHN MICHELS. Clemson College,
S. C.
Under average conditions a COW
yielding twenty-five pounds of milk
should have ration composed of
about two-thirds roughage and one
third concentrates. By a number of
trial calculations we find that the re-
quired nutrients are approximately
obtained by selecting six pounds Of
wheat bran, four pounds of cottonseed
meal, eight pounds of corn stover and
forty pounds of corn silage For greater
yields it is best, as rule. to increase
only the concentrates to meet the re-
quirements of the additional flow OF
milk. thus making the proportion of
concentrate to roughage greater the
larger the yield of milk
The main part of the ration should
be supplied in two feeds. one in the
morning and the other in the late after
noon. 1t is desirable to feed some dry
roughage at noon, especially when the
roughage in the morning and evening
consists of silage. The COW. on &C
count of her large storeroom, the
paunch, is capable of storing up
large quantity of feed and therefore
does not require as many feeds as
some other farm animals
Concentrates and Roughage.
AS a rule. ii is best to feed the con-
centrates Just previous to milking and
the roughage Immediately thereafter.
nm RI ntf -un hD IN
their stalls. and by feeding the rough
age after milking we avoid tainting
the milk with undesirable odors when
the roughage contains these. When
corn silage. for example. is fed imme-
diately before or during milking its
odor Is always perceptible in the milk.
When fed after milking the oaor is
never detected 1t is believed also that
feeding the concentrates by themselves
will result in q more thorough mixing
of the saliva with them and thus in
crease their digestibility. Further
more. great deal of dust can be
avoided by feeding the roughage after
milking. particularly when the rough
age consists &c hay or dry fodder
centrates will form an injurious, pasty
mass in the cows stomach does not
seem to be well founded. When the
concentrates are fed directly before
milking and the roughage directly aft
err there will be sufficient mixing in the
paunch before the contents pass into
the stomach proper. The writer for
nnxv,raJ 700 &c hoe St1coaccfuiIx follousoH
the practice of feeding concentrates
and roughage separately when the
former consisted of as much as five
pounds Of cottonseed meal per day.
An average cow In full flow of milk
will consume forty pounds of corn
silage to good advantage. This amount
Of silage. combined with eight or ten
pounds of dry fodder or hay. makes a
good combination of roughage for a
dairy COW.
Successful Feeding.
In the economical production of
milk 1t is absolutely essential to feed
cows according to their capacity. Just
what this productive capacity is can
be determined only by keeping care
ful account OF the feed consumed and
the milk and butter fat yielded by each
COW individually.
About half the nutrients called for In
ration for an average mixer are
used to sustain the body, 80 that 1t
will neither gain nor lose weight, the
other half being used to form milk.
Returns for feed can therefore be ex-
pected only from about 90 per cent of
the total nutrients required.
This means that COW on full ra-
ton will yield practically twice as
much milk as she would on three
fourths of ration. Yet there are
thousands of dairymen who fail to
supply the last quarter Of ration and
thus bring ruin upon themselves and
their business