The Delta independent., 1921-05-06
IF YOU WERE YOUR COW

The average dairy cow IN the Uni
ted States is supposed to produce
about $50 pounds of butterfat per
year which. at an average price for
butterfat will just about pay for her
keep. All the cows producing below
that amount are probably being kept
at loss. To what extent is this low
production due to poor cows which
are the natural results of the use of
poor bulls. and to what extent is it
due to poor care and improper feed
ing?
COW requires feed for at least
five distinct purposes; G) for main
tenance and formth of the body; (2)
for growth If she is Immature; (3)
for the development of the ftus;
(4) to provide material for the man
ufacture of milk: and (5) to furnish
energy for the secretion of milk. In
addition to these, cows on poor pas
lures will use considerable part of
their feed to supply energy necessary
for gathering the feed.
II you were your COW and If your
owner was not giving you sufficient
feed to take care of all OF these func-
tions which one would you let go
first well. so does the COW. with
the result that the milk flow decreas-
es, and good COW is often condem-
ned as poor producer when she has
not been supplied with the food ne
cessary to enable her to produce up
to her capacity.
lot 60
gelding to stand up under hard work
without grain in addition to all the
hay he wants. Yet the gelding has
only to maintain his body and supply
the energy to do his work. The dairy
COW must do both OF these besides
developing a calf and furnishing ma
terial for making milk and she is Of
ten expected to do it without even
all the hay she wants.
When we consider that an ordin.
ary cow--one producing 5000 pounds
of average milk in a year-manufac
lures from her feed 272 pounds Of
protein, 296 pounds Of fat. 392 pounds
of sugar and Sc pounds of mineral
matter, which is so per cent to 60
per cent more dry matter than is
contained in the entire body of a
1900 pound steer, we begin to under
stand something of the food require
ments of the COW, especially II she
Is carrying a calf.
II COW gets only a maintenance
ration she will naturally use 1t all
for maintenance and return nothing
for 1t. Up to that point she is a dead
loss. II she returns profit at all
in excess of her maintenance require
ments.
How shall the COW be fed for pro-
fit? This, of course. depends upon the
COW. II she is one OF those below-av-
erage kind she will probably do all
she is capable of doing from hay IL
she gets all she wants OF 1t. II she
is a better-than-average COW she
should still get all the hay she will
eat with other roughage in the form
of straw or corn stover II 1t Is avail.
able, 80 pounds or more per day for
each pound of butterfat produced per
week or for each four pounds of av-
erage milk produced per day. The
former is the better rule for feeding
grain as 1t requires the testing Of the
milk.
A suggested grain mixture is:
100 lbs. ground or rolled oats
100 lbs. ground or rolled barley or
corn.
100 lbs. bran.
so lbs. linseed oil meal or cotton
seed meal.
For high producing cows 1t might
be better to use both oil meal and
cotton seed meal SO pounds OF each.
Keep these two things in mind: 1t
is only the feed COW eats above
her maintenance requirement that
can return profit; 1t is only what
n COW returns above the cost OF her
feed that can be counted AZ profit.
Give the COW a chance to make good
and then insist on her doing It.
II. A. IRELAND.
Agriculturist Uncompahgre Project