THE COW’S RATION

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 115, 17 May 1930, Page 8 (Supplement)

THE COW’S RATION

IMPROVED BRAN MASH To make a good bran mash for cows, add a tablespoonful of salt to the quantity put into the pail, and pour over it as much hot water as it will absorb, advises the Live Stock Journal. Set it aside and cover tho pail with a bag to keep in the vapour. When ready to feed, add cold water and stir the contents of the pail. It should just be slightly warm when fed. If too cold, add a little hot water to take the chill off. For fattening cattle the bran may be fed dry and mixed with other concentrated feeding stuffs, but for mulch cows it is always best to give it in the form of a watery mash, because milk-produc-ing animals require to consume a large quantity of water.

There is no surer way to make a cow dry off, or reduce her flow of milk, than to feed her on dry meals and fodders, notwithstanding the fact that she may have access to drinking water regularly or continuously. Certain kinds of dry meals are difficult of digestion, but when mixed with a good watery bran mash digestion becomes easy. Unlike dry meals a bran mash has no tendency to lodge and form a caked mass within the coxy’s stomach. Nay, a soft bran mash with a little linseed oil added is one of the best remedies of impaction, or gorged stomach in a cow or bullock, if given in time. Black treacle, say to 11b., in a soft bran mash, is a good remedy for costiveness or stomach disorder. A little black treacle is generally beneficial, except for cows that are in calf. Nevertheless £lb. of treacle or half a bottle of linseed oil may be given in a soft bran mash just before calving-