Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1913-02-12

NA'S DSS'AA - W. OSNAS3 DlHbG &A3A lNll-
tural College,
A short time ago an article appear
ed in a New York paper with refer
ence to the Embellishments of the
food products consumed by many per-
sons in the United States. Among
other things specific attention was di-
rected to the fact that large numbers
of COWS were fed on cotton seed meal
the inference being drawn that the
milk obtained from animals so fed
was not wholesome. The article was
sensational in conception and preseG-
tation and no doubt many people
reading it were misled by the state
ments. The chances are that the au-
thor knows nothing about cotton seed
or its by-products, and does not real
ize their essential relation to the
dairy industry, not only of the United
States but of Europe as well. If lie
had been informed even in the slight
est degree relative to this matter he
would hardly have made a statement
so much at variance with the facts.
1t may be said without fear of sue
cessful contradiction that the dairy
industry of the South is based on the
use of cotton seed meal as the chief
concentrate fed to dairy COWS, and
nowhere else in the United States are
! farmers able to obtain so cheap and
desirable a source of protein for the
nutrition of dairy cattle The one re-
Egret that must be expressed in this
connection is the fact that our dairy
enterprises are inadequately develop
ed in proportion to public demand
This is not due to any lack of an
abundant supply of cotton seed meal
but to a failure to develop one of the
most desirable and profitable indus
tries in which Southern farmers can
engage at the present time.
The value of cotton seed meal as a
concentrate in the nutrition of dairy
COWS is more clearly illustrated when
attention is called to the composition
of milk. The average of several hun
dred analysis indicates that it con-
tains about SLY per cent of water,
1858 per cent of fat 1902 per cent of
casein, 3 per cent of albumen, ABS
per cent of sugar and II per cent of
ash. The casein and albumen make
up nearly per cent of the milk and
constitute its protein compounds The
cow, of course, has no ability to man
ufacture milk unless the elements out
of which it is composed are supplied
to her in the feed in somewhat the
proportion nature demands Milk be-
ing rich in protein elements, it there
fore becomes essential that the dairy
COWS be fed a.ration rich in this ma
terial. Cotton seed meal owing its
very high content of protein becomes
therefore one of the most desirable
concentrates to feed to dairy cows
Naturally it may be fed singly or IN
combination with other food-stuffs.
No doubt there are some who mag
inc that cotton seed meal is injurious
to cows, but after having seen it fed
to several hundred dairy animals
through a period of eighteen years,
the writer can testify that it is a
thoroughly wholesome and desirable
feed when fed under rational condi.
tons Not long since seizure Of
corn reported in the papers to have
been worth many thousand of dollars
was made in a Southern state. The
corn was destroyed because it was
said to be moldy and unwholesome.
and therefore not fit to feed to horses,
COWS and other live stock kept on the
farm. People are inclined to lose
sight of facts of this kind and to con-
denim one class of food to the advant-
age of the other Cotton seed meal
must naturally be made from wCil
matured and protected seed. Where