FEEDING DAIRY COWS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8462, 30 May 1916, Page 7

FEEDING DAIRY COWS.

:\iost feeders of bullocks know very well that the sooner the cattle are lying down after feeding and arc contentedly chewing their "cud the better they will do, and these feeders would strongly object to their cattle being disturbed at these times.

The same thing undoubtedly applies to dairy cows, and it seems reasonable to suppose that the sooner the feeding is over rind the cows can lie down to chew their cud the more milk they will give. It is, of course, probable' that the. disturbing effect of an extra feed in the middle of the day is of no real consequence, but the fact remains that 'in most cases it is unnecessary. The cow can quite easily consume enough in one feed to last her for 12 hours V more, while to feed only in the morn-

ing and evenings saves labour and sets free the men for other work on the farm. Another point well worth remembering in the feeding of dairy cows is this: The actual bodily work necessary for the gathering, chewing, and digestion of the food uses up quite a considerable proportion of the nutrients of that food before any can be used for the production of milk or the "laying on of fat. Even under favourable conditions it is probable that about Jib of albuminoids and 41b or slb of carbohydrates per day are used up in this work .alone, [and these quantities could easily be doubled when the animal has to work hard in a bare .field, or w.h.>n she is fed with coarse and indigestible food. •■.'..• It is therefore apparent (says "Farm, Field, and Fireside") that when the greatest quantity of milk is required from a given quantity of food, that food should be given in such a form that it can be consumed with the least possible trouble, and be digested with the greatest possible ease. The ideal is probably most nearly obtained in stall-feeding, when the roots are pulped, the corn or cake is well crushed, and the .greater portion of ths coarse fodder has been cut into chaff about an inch long, and after having been damped is allowed to stand, long enough to have become thoroughly softened. It takes a cow a great deal longer, and entails far more muscular exertion, to consume 101b of hay f>ml 401b of-whole roots than it does to dispose of the same quantity of damped chaff and pulped roots.