The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1923-03-29
FARM DEMONSTRATION NOTES
Feeding Dairy Cows.

FeeOing DAIRY lows.
The feeding Of dairy cows is a
subject of Importance for all dairy
men. All things being equal, the
man who feeds properly will get
much better returns from his herd
than his neighbors who are not so
good as feeders. A good ration
should contain the following proper
ties: plentiful supply, bulk, variety,
suculence, palatability, balance Of
nutrients, and economy. A plenti-
full supply is essential because a
COW is not able to produce unless
she is fed i'm liberal quantities. The
feed that the COW uses for pro-
ducing milk is that that she gets
in excess Of her requirements for
keeping alive. Therefore, the feed
that the COW converts into milk Is
the last few bites eaten at each
feeding Bulk is essential because
it has been found by experiments
that cows may get all Of the nutri-
ments that their body demands in
concentrated form and yet they
fail to thrive. A large part of the
rations should therefore be made.
up of hay, silage or other bulky
feeds. 1t his been found that a
ration containing variety of feeds
gives better results than where the
ration comes from one or two ma
terials. A variety of feeds is also
more palatable to the cows and they
can be induced to consume more
than they would of an unpalatable
ration. Some sort of succulent feed
such as silage, pasture, soiling crops
os soaked beet pulp aid materially
in keeping the cows in condition.
BY balance of nutrimentS is meant
that the feed should have the right
proportion of protein, carbohydrates
and fats and also plenty of ash or
mineral matter The economy OF
the ration is in using home raised
feeds so far as possible That which
is not home raised should at least
be home mixed rather than to buy
the ready mixed feeds. !.
The Daily Ration.
A few suggestive rations might
be given for consideration. Where
silage is available COWS should be
fed as much as they will consume
which is generally thirty OF forty
pounds daily With silage they
should get from eight to ten pounds
daily of legume hay. Without
silage they will eat from fifteen
to twenty pounds of hay daily.
In addition to the silage and nay
or the hay alone, grain should
be given. Just what this grain
ration is to be will depend some
what on what feeds are available
at home A mixture of equal parts
of corn meal and velvet beans
either ground or soaked in the
huls-makes pretty satisfactory
ration. If any concentrated feeds
must be purchased they should
probably include cotton seed meal,
but it should never be fed alone
or mixed with hulls. A mixture
that Will give very good satlsfac-
ton can be made by mixing equal
parts of corn meal cotton seed
meal. crushed oats and wheat bran.
The price on some of these is at
times such that they cannot be
economically used, and it might be
well to drop some of them and
change the proportion of the others
or substitute some other feed. The
grain ration should be fed in the
proportion OI one pouiiu VI Si"ih
for each two and one half to three
pounds of milk produced daily.
This would be about three pounds
of feed for each gallon of milk
that the cow produced per day.
Growing Feeds at. Home.
In addition to pastures we should
attempt to grow the most OF the
feeds that are used a feed growing
program should include plentiful
supply of the leguminous crops,
such as leSpedeZa, cow peas, soy