Page View
Wisconsin Dairymen's Association / Thirty-second annual report of the Wisconsin Dairymen's Association : held at Platteville, Wis., February 10, 11 and 12, 1904. Report of the proceedings, annual address of the president, and interesting essays and discussions relating to the dairy interests
(1904)
Danks, J. R.
Feed and care of the dairy cow, pp. 168-171
PDF (872.4 KB)
Page 169
W4Mauin DairymeesJ Association simple reason perhaps, that they would not eat more, while others might be fed 15 or 18 lbs. per day and even return a good profit over the cost of the feed. The appetite of the cow is, however, a very poor guide to fol- low in determining the amount of grain she should be fed. Rather let the amount of butter that she is producing and her condition of flesh or live weight largely determine this. She should, however, in all cases be fed all the roughage, such as silage, hay, etc., that she will eat. While in selecting grains for the ration intended for the dairy eow2 it is desirable to have a. large amount of protein, we must not forget that no matter how much protein a certain feed may contain, if it is not palatable, i. e., if the cows will not eat it readily-the protein is of but little avail. One of the first things to determine about any food intended for the dairy cow, is its palatability. It makes no difference whether it is a soiling crop, silage or grain, it is absolutely es- sential that a cow relish her food. To illustrate this point, the analysis .of sorghum will show you that it contains but very little protein, but at the Wiscon- sin Experiment Station we have gotten better results by feeding sorghum to our dairy herd than any other soiling crop that we have ever raised, and this is largely because the cows relish the sorghum and will eat large quantities of it. At the Wisconsin Station the average amount of grain fed to the dairy cow is about 8 lbs. per day, this with 40 lbs. of silage and 6 lbs hay constitutes a day's ration for the average cow, during the winter, though as I have stated this amount varies considerably. An to the care of the dairy cow, one of the best general rules to observe is to Imep the cow as comfortable and contented as posile. If the anw is not comfortable and contented the oner will always be the loser. If the cows are allowed to taad out in the cold during severe weather a certain amount of food will be required to keep the body warn, which had she been I2 MWVX I ---- - - - I I I . . I- I I - - I-, , - 169
Based on date of publication, this material is presumed to be in the public domain.| For information on re-use, see http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/Copyright