FEEDING DAIRY CATTLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18678, 7 April 1924, Page 13

FEEDING DAIRY CATTLE.

GUIDANCE FOR FARMERS. FOUR ESSENTIAL POINTS. Information anc'l guidance on important points are the principal features of a recent article by the Wiltshire Agricultural Officer, issued by the Wiltshire County Council Education Committee, and headed "Feeding Your Cows: Are You Doing It on the Right Lines?" The writer gives the following points. 1. The cow must have a maintenance ration to keep her in good bodily condition ; 2. The cow must be fed on balanced -foods —that is to say, foods containing similar materials to those found in milk and in the same proportioni*r the production of milk, and these rations must be fed according to her yield of milk; 3. The foods used must bo economic in price, palatable and digestible 4. The bulk of the ration must not be in excess of the quantity with which the cow can deal, but at the same time it must be sufficient to satisfy her appetite. ... .An ordinary llcwt. cow, which is neither giving milk nor in-calf, will maintain her bodily condition—i.e., will neither gain nor lose flesh—if she is fed on a ration of about: (1) lg stones of hay per day; or (2) 141b. hay, 71b. straw, and 301b. roots; or (3) 71b. hay, 141b. straw, and 601b. roots; or (4) straw ad lib., 701b. roots, and lib. decorticated cotton cake or meal. It will be seen from the foregoing, except in case (4), the home-grown foods on the farm are sufficient for maintenance purposes. A cow in-milk must receive one of the above-mentioned maintenance rations, and in addition a ration for the E reduction of milk which is generally known as "Production Ration." Suitable production rations for the manufacture by the cow of one gallon of milk are as follows:—(1) 21b. beans and l£lb. oats; (2) 21 b. rice meal and lib. decorticated earth nut cake; (3) o.jlb. of a mixture containing one part decorticated cotton seed meal and two parts of oats, maize, or rice meal; (4) 3jib. cocoanat cake. The main point to remember is that these production rations will work oat at the rate of from 3d to 3£ per gallon for cake and meal, and also that ft should be thoroughly borne in mind that a one-gallon cow only requires 3 to 3±lb. of these mixtures, and that a twogallon cow only requires 6 to 71b., and for each successive gallon the addition of 3 to 3ilb. . . Typical examples of rations for a oneen cow are: —(1) 211b. hay, or 141b. •hay, 71b. straw, and 301b. roots; and (£) 21fc. rice meal and lib. decorticated earth nut or 21b. beans and l£lb. oats. For a three-gallon cow the rations would be (1) 211b. Hay, or 141b. hay, 71b. straw and 301b. roots; and (2) 61b. rice meal and 31b. decorticated earth nut, or bib. beans and 4£lb. oats.