IMPORTANCE OF FEEDING

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 28 July 1928, Page 16

IMPORTANCE OF FEEDING

LEADING CANTERBURY BREEDER’S VIEWS.

Speaking on the various aspects of the, care and development of dairy eows, a leading Friesian breeder of Canterbury has some interesting remarks on. the need of liberal feeding in the “Sun.” Inter, alia, he says: “As- to special feeding, much has been written about sioe-ntific feeding, and much of it is too technical to be readily, understood by most of us or to be put iiito practice without the help of an analytical chemist- resident on the farm. There are, however, a few main facts which -anyone can grasp, and the- first is that -an underfed dairy cow cannot be profitable. The food she gets goes for ‘maintenance,’ and there is nothing over for the owner. This is well known and frequently disregarded. The other extreme is equally bad—an overfed cow is like an overfed man—gobd_ for nothing until the surplus is worked off and apt to suffer permanent impairment in the process.

“The difficulty does not occur, while

good grass, abounds, because it is the hardest thing to mismanage, but many authorities claim that even when pastures are good a cow capable of great production cannot handle sufficient

grass to produce her maximum, and will respond to a grain ration. This raises tiie question of whether the extra- yield from the grain ration then would pay. It would probably pay a milkman selling at 2s 4. gallon, but leave iio surplus for a factory supplier a,ls 4-5-d, a Jb for fat, though even in the .latter case the improved condition of the cows and 'the extra Value- of the manure, to flip farm pastures are important factors to consider. “It is- when artificial feeding is necessary that some skill is required. We have fed a grain ration of two parts (measurement—not weight) crushed oats, two parts bran, and one part linseed oilcake, aiming to feed the equivalent of 30-331 b dry matter a day to a cow, of average size, varying the grain ration from 5 to 101 b a. day and adjusting the other foods, so that at no time is the cow’s stomach overloaded.

“It is not generally recognised that a cow’s stomach capacity is limited and is governed by the size of the cow

—not by her yield of milk. When giving a high yield she has no greater stomach capacity than when she is dry, so in feeding for different yields the quantity of food should be as near constant, as possible, but the quality should be varied according to production.

“In the present state of inadequate labour on dairy farms, hand-feeding has practical difficulties, but the tendency is toward fewer aiid. better rows a man and more individual attention as in older countries. If one

man can ptterul properly to 15 cows, each yielding, say, 4(JOlb fat annually, instead of trying to attend to 30 cows yielding 2001 b fat, the difference will be a much more comfortable time foi both man and cows and a l-easonable profit instead of a substantial loss.’