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Show I FEEDING GRAIN TO MILCH COWS I More Milk Obtained, But Profits I Not Quite so Large. I Under advanced methods of dairy Hik farming, It Is recognized as i-fsnilal m to the greatest success to malntrln I the nicest and most uniform How of I milk practicable throughout the year. I Now when good pasturage Is available I the change from barn feeding to pas I ture Is as a rule highly beneficial, both I as regards yield and quality of milk I and health of the cows, but even In I good grazing regions there are fre- I quently parts of the season, usually I late summer, when the pastures are apt to become dry and thus make It a I matter of much practical Importance I to find some means of keeping up the I milk flow, says the Mirror and Farm-I Farm-I er. For this purpose the practice of I feeding either grain or soiling crops to I supplement the pasture has been sug-H sug-H gested. The economy of feeding grain H to cows at pasture has been a subject H of Investigation by several of the ex-H ex-H perlment stations. H In experiments at the Kansas sta- I tlon a number of years ago two lots H of cows each were fed alternately on pasture aud bran, pasture and corn-I corn-I meal, and pasture and ground oats, for periods or seven days' each. The conclusion was that, although the grain" feed added materially to the milk jlcld, cornmeal showing the greatest Increase, the Incaeased returns re-turns did not pay the cost of the grain. In fact there was a considerable consider-able loss. In experiments at the New York Cornell station one lot of cows was fed, from June 8 to September 21, a dally ration of two pounds of cottonseed cotton-seed meal and two pounds of bran per cow, aud another lot was fed, from May 25 to September 17, six to nine pounds dally per cow of a mixture of wheat bran 100 pounds, cottenseed meal 100 pound;, and malt sprouts 15 pounds, In addltlou to good blue-grass pasture. In neither case was there any prolltablo return In milk or butter but-ter for the adltional grain feed. In experiments with the cows soiled In the barn on fresh grass there was an Increase In the milk and butter production pro-duction and a saving In grass barely sufficient to pay the cost of the added grain ration. Summarizing the results of all the experiments which have been made on the subject, the conclusion seems Justified that unless dairy products are especially high In price it is not a profitable practice to feed grain to cows at pasture. It Is true that more milk Is obtained and the cows hold up their yield better and remain In better llesh when receiving the grain rations, but under ordinary circumstances there Is no direct prollt from the grain feeding, as the Increased Increas-ed production usually costs more than It can be sold for. |