Show elk 40 GOOD QUALITY HAY IMPORTANT TO COW animals choice should be guide to dairyman by MCA B E S SAVAGE new york tork stat college 0 ot t ral service lct A cows preference Is for the kind of hay bay that saves eaves dairymen money hay Is 13 after all the basis and foundation of the ration silage and grain are really supplements to the hay and are the expensive parts of the ration so good quality hay bay makes more dol lars possible from the silage corn and the purchased grain good hay should be soft have hava a good taste not be too coarse not be musty or wow mow burned not be bleached have hava all of its leaves and should be clean early cutting helps meet all of these requirements soft hay la Is easy to eat and Is not coarse hard bard and brittle like late cut hay the early cut hay tastes better and in addition has more protein L late ate cutting may increase the total tonnage but the loss in palatability will be greater than the loss in tonnage in ideal haymaking the hay should he be cut one day handled as aa little as aa possible and be dry enough to put la in the barn the next day when hay la Is cut cocked up for several days and then drawn to the barn both labor and leaves are wasted and the taste la 11 sot not improved matter of rations not to be treated lightly whether the dairyman shall mix hla big own feeds or buy ready mixed rations Is still an important question before bedora it Is definitely decided the dairyman should ask himself these questions 1 are the feeds he can buy as good as are contained in the ready mixed rations 2 la Is it possible to secure a continuous supply of a large variety of ingredients ar edmonts edlon ts 3 can the ingredients be mixed is an thoroughly as they are in the commercial mixtures undoubtedly he may be able to mix a ton at less money than he will hava bava to pay for a similar commercial mixture but when all things are considered there may not be the advantage advant aga that formerly existed the last few years have witnessed a wonderful change in th equality of 0 mixed feeds offered for sale this improvement 0 of quality has removed one of the reasons for home mixing it also means that better feeds are being used in our commercial rations low quality feeds are still on the tha market and many of these find their way as separate ingredients to retail dealers when a dairyman buys feeds for home mixing he should be sure of quality or hla his supposed savings on the tha ton price may prove a loss at the pall connecticut agricultural experiment E station minnesota cow testing the statewide cow testing association that has been operating in minnesota the past year provides a private record available to anyone in the state stata it was started to keep men who could not keep records in the standard testing groups under this plan the tha samples are mailed to the laboratory at university farm one day each month in sample boxes provided by the statewide association the owner receives by return mall an individual production record on each cow the record la Is private simple and cheap costing only per month for herds with up to 10 cows or 13 per year one dollar more mere per year Is charged for each cow over 10 it costs only about one third of a pound of butterfat a month to find out whether the cow la Is returning 5 or 15 tor for the month at the end of the tha year each man receives a herd book summarizing the record of each cow in the herd grain with grass even though the milking herd may be on excellent pasture it la Is economical to feed grain to the cows which are producing more than two and one ona half gallons per day when the cows are first turned on pasture the winter grata grain ration should be continued with all animals and gradually reduced through two then continue to feed to the high producers over two and one halt half gallons one pound of grain mixture for or each five to seven pounds of mim milk A good mixture Is pounds of corn and cob meal BOO 1500 pounds of ground oats and pounds of cracked soybeans another to la pounds of corn and cob meal SOO pounds of ground oats and pounds of wheat bran wallaces farmer |