tailieunhanh - Agriculture for Beginners - Chapter 11

CHAPTER XI FARM DAIRYING SECTION LX. THE DAIRY COW Success in dairy farming depends largely upon the proper feeding of stock. There are two questions that the dairy farmer should always ask himself: Am I feeding as cheaply as I can? and, Am I feeding the best rations for milk and butter production? | CHAPTER XI 117 CHAPTER XI FARM DAIRYING SECTION LX. THE DAIRY COW Success in dairy farming depends largely upon the proper feeding of stock. There are two questions that the dairy farmer should always ask himself Am I feeding as cheaply as I can and Am I feeding the best rations for milk and butter production Of course cows can be kept alive and in fairly good milk flow on many different kinds of food but in feeding as in everything else there is an ideal to be sought. Illustration FIG. 268. MILKING-TIME What then is an ideal ration for a dairy cow Before trying to answer this question the word ration needs to be explained. By ration is meant a sufficient quantity of food to support properly an animal for one day. If the animal is to have a proper ration we must bear in mind what the animal needs in order to be best nourished. To get material for muscle for blood for milk and for some other things the animal needs in the first place food that contains protein. To keep warm and fat the animal must in the second place have food containing carbohydrates and fats. These foods must be mixed in right proportions. Illustration FIG. 269. A DAIRY With these facts in mind we are prepared for an answer to the question What is an ideal ration First it is a ration that without waste furnishes both in weight and bulk of dry matter a sufficient amount of digestible nutritious food. Second it is a ration that is comparatively cheap. Third it is a ration in which the milk-forming food protein is rightly proportioned to the heat-making and fat-making food carbohydrates and fat . Any ration in which this proportion is neglected is badly balanced. Now test one or two commonly used rations by these rules. Would a ration of cotton-seed meal and cotton-seed hulls be a model ration No. Such a ration since the seeds are grown at home would be cheap enough. However it is badly balanced for it is too rich in protein hence it is a wasteful ration. Would a ration of corn meal and corn stover .