| OCR Text |
Show BALANCING THE COW'S RATION Desirable to Furnish as Much Roughage Rough-age as Possible Because it Is Cheapest Food. In making up a ration for cows It is desirable to feed as much roughage as possible because it is usually the farmers' cheapest feed. However, the capacity of the animal is limited, and we must be ruled by common sense. It is possible to balance a ration in protein, carbohydrate and fat with only coarse dry roughage which the cow would not be able to consume in large enough quantities to produce a reasonable amount of milk. It is easy to balance a ration of grain alone which is also undesirable. The ration should be balanced in amount of roughage and grain as well as in protein, carbohydrate and fat. The amount of grain by weight should rarely equal the amount of dry roughage rough-age and should usually be less than one-half. This does not apply where such roughage as silage is fed, because be-cause silage contains more moisture and weighs heavier than other roughage. |
