Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1911-09-15
FEEDING GRAIN TO DAIRY COWS
ON PASTURE.


Whether cows should or should not
be fed grain when grazing is yet an
undecided question. Some few dairy
men believe grain feeding should be
practiced while cows are on pasture.
However, it is a common practice to
feed no grain while grazing conditions
are good. Most dairymen are inclined
to think it does not pay to feed grain
under such conditions. 1t is possible,
however, that where this belief is
held there has been considered only
the direct returns from the grain fed
in milk yield alone, without reference
to other beneficial effects which will
be mentioned later.
Some of the results of experimental
work at different state experiment
stations regarding the matter may be
summarized as follows:
At the Cornell, New York, expert
ment station, in season during which
the pasture was very luxuriant
throughout the whole summer, except
for short time in the middle of the
season, with three cows in each lot,
the total amount of butter fat pro-
duced was almost the same in both
lots. In this experiment the grain
fed lot continued to receive the same
ration on pasture that they had re-
ceived during the winter on dry feed.
Another experiment conducted the
same year on soiling with grass alone,
and with grass and grain showed nnthat
just about enough more butter fat was
produced by the grain fed lot to pay
for the increased cost of the grain ra-
ton. A net profit was made on the
grain fed lot of 1910, cows for five
months.
The next season a similar expert
ment was conducted. At no time
during the season was the pasture lux
uriant. A herd of sixteen cows, pure
bred and registered Jerseys, was di-
vided into two lots of eight cows EACH
Lot received grain as follows:
Corn meal $500 pounds; Cotton
seed meal, 1,30O pounds; Bran, 1900
pounds. Total, 5000 pounds.
Lot received no grain.
The milk produced by the two lots
was as follows:
Lot l, %, ,62S pounds; Lot 2, 1897
pounds. Difference, 4,931 pounds.
1t will be observed that the grain
fed lot produced nearly five thousand
pounds more milk than the lot getting
no grain, an average daily difference
of about three and one-half pounds per
cow. This was enough more milk and
butter fat to pay for the increased
cost of the grain ration The grain
fed lot gained 166 pounds live weight
per COW, while the cows in the lot re-
ceiving no grain gained an average of
lib pounds per COW, difference of So
pounds per animal in favor of the
grain fed lot. The question now
arises whether the increase in milk
flow and the gain in live weight of
Lot over Lot would have any in
fuence on the milk flow of the follow
ing year. The data compiled the year
following, when all the animals were
on pasture alone showed that the cows
in the former granted lot produced
1872 per cent more milk than the cows
in the former check lot not fed grain.
1t seems reasonable to assume that
this increased production was due to
the grain fed during the preceding
year, especially in the case of the
younger animals. Indeed it was
plainly evident that the grain fed
two-year-olds and three-year-olds de-
veloped into better animals than their
stable mates fed no grain.
Bulletin No. 16 of the North Dakota
station reports as follows:
Two lots of two cows each were fed
grain with pasture, and pasture only,
in alternating periods of two weeks.
The pasture was composed of mixed
tame grasses and clover and was of
good quality.
The grain used was bran and shorts.
There was an inrease in the yield of
butter fat and small gain in flesh
when the grain was fed. The gain in
the butter fat yielded came from an
increased milk flow, as no increase in
the percentage of fat was shown. The
financial statement showed net profit
of $3.50 from feeding the grain.
The considerations that arise in the
effort to determine whether grain
should be fed or not are of so elusive
nature that it is scarcely possible to
arrive at conclusions that may be re-
garded as final when sitting in judg.
ment upon them. If it were only q
question of increased milk production
in relation to the cost of the grain FED
the problem would be easy, but in
addition are the influences exerted by
the previous feeding of the COW, and
by the residual effects from feeding
grain on further production. The
saving effected in pasture, the feeding
value of the increased yield of skim
milk, and the added fertility of the