MILK PRODUCING FOOD.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume VI, Issue 3, 15 March 1913, Page 314

MILK PRODUCING FOOD.

Primrose McConnell.

In connection with the various crops of forage, an abundance of which is now available at the Ruakura Farm of Instruction, no feed seems to dominate another in the matter of milk-production. A balanced food has . produced no more milk than a one-sided one. What seems to be required most is an abundant supply of succulent palatable food. • Of all plants grown at this station (lucerne excepted) none is so much relished as maize. It has been found that when a- full ration of green maize and peas is given, the cows eat the maize and reject the peas ; while, on the other hand, horses eat a pea ration greedily. It has also been found that an addition of 2 lb. of bran to the forage ration increases the milk-yield by about a gallon per week. The present lucerne-paddock being a long way from the dairy, the feeding of this plant in the green state to dairy stock was not tested, but its value is too well known to need further proof.