The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1916-10-04
FEEDING DAIRY COWS
FOR MILK and PROFIT
Cow Should Be Fed Sufficient
Balanced Ration to Produce
Maximum Amount OF Milk
Clemson College, S. c..


Liberal feeding OF dairy COWS IS nee
essary for profitable production. Cows
are feed for two purposes; body main
tenance and milk production. A great
many farmers in South Carolina keep
COWS which are fed only sufficient
feed to enable them to perform their
own functions, such as heating the
body, pumping the blood, d!gestins the
feed and moving about Cows fed only
such maintenance rations" are nee
essarily money losers or 'boarders." ."
The COW can produce milk without loss
of body weight only after she has been
fed sufficient amount to maintain
her body functions. and a surplus
from which 70 manufacture the milk.
The maintenance ration is fixed
charge, and the more feed cow can
consume above that required for main
tenarce, the greater the amount Of feed
available for milk production.
From the standpoint OF economical
production. one can afford to give q
COW all the feed she will consume
without gaining in weight. and no
more. \ good COW will generally lose
in weight in the early part OF the lac
tation period and gain in the latter
part. Such cows Snould be fed lib.
orally with the assurance that they
will pay for the extra feed during the
next lactatlon period.
The most common mistake made in
this state is that Of not feeding the
COWS in summer when on pasture.
Even with the ve":; best pasture a
cow cannot give her maximum produc-
ton on pasture alone Cows giving 20
rounds or more Of milk should have At
least 8 pounds Of grain feed even when
on the best pastures. When pasture
Is poor and flies are bad the COWS will
return profit on more grain iced than
the above. and should receive it. The
lest dairvmen in the state are Begin
ming to realize the value Of summer
silage. and are building silos OF small
diameter for summer feeding. When
the grass is short and flies worry the
COWS so that they cannot feed as they
should on grass, & silo FOR summer
feeding is good insurance. II it is
found unnecessary to use the silo DUR
ing the summer. it can be sealed UP
and the silaga fed the following Writer.
The best roughaGa feeds to he fed
.:.i, IN, -t;- 81 nlf0lfo
crimson clover, vetch. cowpea hay and
SOY bean hay. All OF the above feeds
are legumes. and contain a high per
caatage OF protein, a very necessary
element IL milk production.
Cotonseed meal, peanut meal, wheat
bran and corn meal are the most COM
mon grain feeds used in the South. OF
these. the value Of wheat bran used
with cottonseed meal IS probably the
least appreciated. This is q bulky
feed, has laxative effect (the opposite
of the cotton seed meaD, and contains
line. potash and PHOSPHORUS which
90 to build up the cows body. None
of the above grain feeds should be led
alone. They should be mixed III order
to get 2 balanced ration. Cows should
receive l pound Of the grain mixture
to 3 pounds of milk produced daily. or
approximately 5 pounds OF grain feed
10 q gallon Of milk This. with all the
good roughage they will consume Will
give a COW sufficient feed nutrients
FOR nla-imuD economic production.