WEED, BREED, AND FEED THE DAIRY COW.

Otago Witness, Issue 3594, 30 January 1923, Page 10

WEED, BREED, AND FEED THE DAIRY COW.

When dairying for “keeps” one requires to take the long view. A high yielding milk and butter-fat herd cannot be secured in a day, unless one has the cash to buy tested milkers. A new chum must put in a deal of time ere his herd all over will yield him upwards of, say, 3001 b of butter-fat per cow per annum. Poor yielding cows with their bunch of heifer calves to “carry on” (soiled, possibly, by a bull of no character in so far as his butter-fat ancestry is concerned) will in time put any dairyman out of business. He is up against it. There is nothing for him to do but weed, breed, and feed if he is to win out. To find out the duffers in a dairy herd the owner must have the cows and locate the poor yielders. He must head the herd with a bull from a milking strain—a purebred. The new bull must be made to work for the dairyman, and not agaisst him. Market the scrub bull. The old idea that any old bull will serve to freshen the cows has been routed, and the real value of the purebred bull’s ability to make profits for his owner is becoming more fully realised. Why work for a lot of scrub cows? Far better be m a position to bid farewell to the mortgagee by milking cows which will yield 3001 b to 4001 b of butter-fat per annum, a position which is quite possible by cow-testing and heading the herd with a good purebred bull. The productive value of the highgrade cow is obvious, as she produces lib of fat at a much lower cost than a lowproducing cow. We have examined many yearly production records and feed costs, and invariably find that as production of fat increases feed costs also increase, but not in proportion, and income over leed costs rdso increases. It costs perhaps twice as much to feed the 4001 b producing cow as the 1001 b producing cow, but she makes 10 times as much income over feed, and “what is left after the bills are paid” is what interests the most of us. Dairymen are, we believe, anxious to get rid of the source of low-producing cows—the inferior bull—and get the kind that will make a profit for them. The purebred bulj of .milking strain means highproducing cows—sometimes.—which means larger and cheaper production and greater profits. Why not make the purebred bull do you a good turn instead of nursing the scrub bull and his scrubby progeny? There is a great deal in culling the herd if not up to the desired standard, and more, perhaps, in heading the dairy herd with a purebred bull- but we might as well do nothing in the matter if not convinced that* feeding is second to neither of the other two conditions. The problem of production is mainly an individual problem with each dairyman. We must aim to secure the economical production of milk, and this entails the recognition of some fundamental feeding facts. The amount and kind of feed eaten, and its cost, are of first importance in connection with the dairyman’s net returns. The feed which a cow consumes consists of water, protein, carbohydrates, fat, and ash. The use to which these constituents are put in the animal bodv and for production are -well shown in the following chart (M. H. Keeney, in Hoard’s Dairy man) :

The importance of water is clearly enough shown in the table. The animal body is 56 per cent, water, and milk is 87.1 per cent, water. No dairyman convinced of this fact should neglect to provide clean, wholesome water at all times. In so far as the mineral matter or ash is concerned, ft in sufficient if the pastures

carry some good legumes, like clovers or lucerne. There are left the protein, carbohydrates, and fat. The first-named is probably the limiting factor in economical milk production. In a general way dairymen feed too little protein. It is the only food constituent which contains nitrogen. In the animal body it goes to make up the lean meat or muscles, the internal organs, etc. In the milk it is represented by the casein and albumen. Thus the carbohydrates and fat (known as energy constituents) go to make up the fat of the body and the butter-fat and milk sugar of milk. We have two main things in selecting feed. They are protein and energy. In discussing their use in the animal body we should consider (says M. H. Keeney, of New Jersey College of Agriculture) the cow as a living machine, which may be compared to a steam engine. In order to operate successfully a steam engine must have both fuel and repairs when any part is worn out or broken, 'the fuel is burned and produces heat, which is energy. The repair materials keep the engine in good working order. Likewise in the animal machine the carbohydrates and fat are burned to produce energy, and the protein is the Tepair material to renew the worn-out tissues of the body. Now, anyone knows that the coal or oil used for fuel in the s tea it engine cannot be used ae repair material. Likewise it is true in the animal machine that the carbohydrates and fat, the energy constituents, cannot replace protein. Protein and only protein can be used to repair and build up the tissue of the animal body. And only protein can be used in the manufacture of the casein and albumen of milk. We can, therefore, see the very great importance of protein. Nothing can take its place. If all dairymen would realise this and feed enough protein they will have gone a long way on the road to producing cheaper milk. Let us therefore not forget that there is nothing which can take the place of protein in the ration. Both scientific and practical feeding trials have shown us that protein and energy are required by the animal machine in definite amounts, and only by feeding the proper amounts of protein and energy can milk be produced most economically. We are therefore not so much concerned with the pounds of feed consumed as we are with the units of protein and energy contained in the feed.

WHERE THE FEED GOBS. Feed. Animal body. Milk. Per Per Composed of: Composed of: cent. Composed of: cent. Water Water 56 Water .. .. 87.1 Protein .. .. Muscular tissue, infernal organs, Casein, albumen 3.5 hair, horns, skin, etc. .. 18 Butter-fat, Milk Carbohydrates Fat 21 sugar .. .. 8.7 Fat .. .> .. Ash .7 100 100