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Show The Importance Of Feeding Dairy Cows "Too many dairymen are attempting at-tempting to keep more cows th-.m they have ample feed for," savs George B. Ca i n, extension dairyman dairy-man for the Utah State Agric il-tural il-tural college, "and they are half starving the whole herd and getting get-ting no profitable production. Last year's returns from the dairy herd improvement work show too large a number of low-producing cows in the Utah herds. In most sections sec-tions the cows are well bred so the feeding and management of the cows must be faulty." This year feeds are plentiful and cheap. Last year alfalfa was the most expensive feed and should have been saved by feeding grain, but this year it is again in the cheap class, therefore, it should be the foundation of the ration. Feed all the good, bright, leafy alfalfa that the cows can be coaxed coax-ed to take each day. If they dc not clean up all the stocks, feed that to the horses or dry cattle, so it will not be wasted. Give the cows a little chance to select the finer stems and leaves that contain con-tain the most nutrients and can be more readily assimilated in the body. uorn snage is an excellent succulent suc-culent feed to go with alfalfa hay. It takes two and one-half to three pounds of corn silage to replace one pound of alfalfa hay In the ration. This is a succulent and palatable feed and helps a great deal in keeping the body of the cow in good condition as well as replacing hay. These two feeds should amply take care of cows that do not produce more than 250 pounds of butterfat in a year. The cows should be kept in good physical condition to show what production they can make, and should not be allowed to get thin. Some grain should be fed to all cows in the herds producing more than 250 pounds of butterfat. As this is usually the most expensive feed, it should be given only on a production basis. As a general rule, feed one pound of grain per day for each four to six pounds of milk produced pro-duced daily. When a cow's production pro-duction gets below 20 to 25 pounds of 4 percent milk daily she need not have any grain. Grain feeding costs slightly more but invariably the net profit is greater on the good cows that have grain added to their ration. Oats and barley mixed equal parts by weight will make a good ration for most of the cows. An equal part of good bran added to this slightly Increases both the palatability and protein content and at the present price it is a good addition to the grain ration. Dried sugar beet pulp is equal in feeding value to any of the farm grains and can be added to the above mixture, or can take the place of any one grain in the mixture. Cows that are kept in dry lot over long periods often show a desire for more mineral in their rations, especially if bran is not u part of the grain ration. To take care of this they should have access ac-cess to steamed bone meal, which should be kept under a shed in a : dry place the same as the salt j box. Either bone meal or salt can be fed in the grain mixture a. well as from a box as suggested. The dairymen should keep re-I re-I cords, make a careful study or the same, and cull their herds more closely on a production and breed-i breed-i ing basis. The balance of the herd 1 can then be fed for a more pro-; pro-; fitable production. |