Feeding dairy cattle

Front matter

A series of articles

By PROF. E. S. SAVAGE,

as published in the

Introduction

f I 'HE Savage articles on Feeding Dairy Cattle have been : ; published in the World from 1 916 to the present time, and were reprinted in book form in 191 7 and again in 1918. Breeders and dairymen appreciated that nothing of this sort had ever before been prepared for their benefit — a series of practical articles giving explicit directions on the important question of how to feed their dairy cows most efficiently and most economically. In addition, it was written not only from the standpoint of the ordinary dairyman, but from the point of view of the Holstein breeder as well — the breeder who is anxious to make the most of his opportunities. In short, the book of Savage articles comprised the most complete, understandable and up-to-the-minute text-book of Holstein feeding information ever put together. The first edition was quickly snapped up by the breeders, and likewise by agricultural colleges and schools, who bought these books in quantity for text-book use. In view of this enthusiastic reception, backing up our judgment in the matter, we are issuing a third edition, revised and brought down to date.

The entire subject of feeding dairy cattle, as handled by Professor Savage, is based upon actual methods in use by successful dairymen. This book differs from the ordinary text-book in the important respect that every theory is made to deliver the goods in actual practice before it is accepted.

Professor Savage is recognized as an authority on feeding matters. His ideas have proven successful not only in his own experience, but in the hands of dairymen and breeders who have put them into practice. He is in charge of the foundation courses in Feeds and Feeding at Cornell University, and has done considerable experimental and research work in feeding in that institution. Several cows with records of 30 to 35 pounds have been bred and developed in the university herd, and one of these cows, Glista Ernestine, has made seven different 30-pound records. The handling of these cows forms the basis of an interesting chapter in this book. The details of the care and feed of a number of the leading producers, in both short and long-time tests, as given by the men in actual charge, form the basis of other chapters, invaluable to the man who is interested in getting the greatest possible returns from his test work.

Altogether we can commend this book to our Holstein friends in full confidence that its careful study will result in added knowledge of the subject of feeding that will be of practical service to them in their business as Holstein breeders and dairymen. THE WORLD.

October 1, 1921. Syracuse, N. Y.,

Contents

Introduction 6

Introductory — Dairying and Permanent Agriculture 8

Part One— Feeding Dairy Cattle

I. The Composition and Selection of Concentrates 13

II. The Manurial Value of Feeds lb

III. By-Products Used in Feeding Dairy Cattle 19

IV. The Selection and Value of Concentrates • 23

V. Forage Crops for Roughage 27

VI. Curing Hay From the Standpoint of a Feeder 30

VII. When to Cut Corn For Silage 34

VIII. The Ideal Ration For a Dairy Cow 36

IX. Feeding in Summer 40

X. Succulent Feeds to Supplement Pasture 42

XI. Molasses as a Feed 45

XII. The Feeding of Lime and Phosphorus to Dairy Cows 47

Part Two— Advanced Registry Feeding

XIII. Fitting a Cow For An Advanced Registry Test 53

XIV. Feeding For Advanced Registry Records 56

XV. Feeding Test Cows at Cornell University 60

XVI. The Rations Fed Some Famous Cows 70

XVII. Feeding For Long Distance Records 83

XVIII. Summer Rations for Semi-Official Cows 85

XIX. Feeding Fat Into Milk 88

Part Three— Feeding Calves

XX. Raising Calves on Whole and Skimmed Milk 91

XXI. Raising Calves on Substitutes For Milk 95

XXII. Feeding and Management of Yearlings and Two-Year-Olds 97 PART FOUR— MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES ON FEEDING

XXIII. Feeding Dry Stock 101

XXIV. Feeding and Care of the Dairy Bull 104

Part Five— The Sources Of Feeds

XXV. The Sources of Feeds 107

XXVI. Concentrates Derived From the Corn Plant Ill

XXVII. Barley and Its Products 118

XXVIII. Rye and Oats and Their Products 121

XXIX. Wheat and Its By-Products 127

XXX. Buckwheat and Its By-Products. Rice and Its By-Products.

Sorghums and Millets 132

XXXI. The Oil Meals 136

Introductory

Dairying and Permanent Agriculture

TO ESTABLISH the basis upon which this paper is founded we cannot do better than to quote from "The Holy Earth," by L. H. Bailey, what is said beginning the chapter, "The Farmer's Relation" :

"The surface of the earth is particularly within the care of the farmer. He keeps it for his own sustenance and gain, but his gain is also the gain of all the rest of us. At the best he accumulates little to himself. The successful farmer is the one who produces more than he needs for his support ; and the over-plus he does not keep ; and, moreover, his own needs are easily satisfied. It is of the utmost consequence that the man next to the earth shall lead a fair and simple life, for in riotous living he might halt many good supplies that now go to his fellows.

"It is a public duty so to train the farmer that he shall appreciate his guardianship. He is engaged in a quasi-public business. He really does not even own his land. He does not take his land with him, but only the personal development that he gains from it. He cannot annihilate his lands, as another miht destroy all his belongings. He is the agent or the representative of society to guard and subdue the surface of the earth, and he is the agent of the divinity that made it. He must exercise his dominion with due regard to all these obligations. He is trustee. The productiveness of the earth must in crease from generation to generation ; this also is his obligation."

That last statement is the fundamental : "The productiveness of the earth must increase from generation to generation; this also is his obligation." This obligation works no hardship on the dairy farmer; on the contrary the more closely he carries it out, the more money he himself will make, and so much the better his farm will be when he leaves it than when he takes it in the beginning.

All this is simply saying that every farmer must return to the soil each year, a little more fertility than he takes from it. In no other way is he truly farming; he is simply mining and on most of our farms too much mining has already been done. We must now begin to farm.

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The dairy farmer with pure-bred Holstein-Friesian cattle, who is aiming at a high production with that herd, will, without any doubt, keep up the fertility of his farm ; and, for that matter, add to its fertility. Let us take the case of a farmer who has 20 cows, the average production of which he aims to make 10,000 pounds per year. This is a good high aim, but not impossible of achievement, and no one should be satisfied with less. What must this farmer do to make money for himself and at the same time turn over his land to posterity better than he found it? He must do thiee things: (1) He must grow legumes and corn silage for roughage; (2) he must be careful in the purchase of concentrates; (3) if he sells money crops, he must aim to purchase enough commercial fertilizer to replace the material sold in the cash crops. We will suppose that this farmer sells from his farm each year the following: Five cows, weighing 1,000 pounds each; 15 tons of timothy hay, t.ooo bushels of potatoes, and 200,000 pounds of milk. The fertility sold from the farm would be :

Nitrogen, Phosphoric acid, Potash pounds pounds pounds

Therefore this farmer must balance these amounts with the same amount of fertilizing constituents brought onto the farm in one form or another. He can do it by the purchase direct of commercial fertilizers, but is it necessary for him to do this? No; only in part. If he is judicious in the selection of feeds, he can make up a large part of this loss through those that he purchases.

To produce 10,000 pounds of milk in one year, it will be necessary for him to feed each cow at least 12 pounds of a good mixture of grains 250 days in the year. At this rate for the 20 cows, 32 tons at least will be necessary. A good mixture at present prices is 500 pounds distillers' dried grains, 500 pounds hominy feed, 500 pounds wheat bran, 300 pounds gluten feed, 200 pounds linseed oil meal.

This is an example of the kind of mixture that should be fed to bring the most fertility to the farm and be of high feeding value also. Bow much fertility will 60,000 pounds of this mixture add to the soil after it has passed through the dairy cow?

First, we must see what becomes of the nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash in the feed when it is fed to a dairy cow. She is normally neither gaining nor losing live weight, Page Nine therefore, she is not storing anything in her body except what may go to the foetus, and that is a comparatively small amount during more than one-half the year. There are only three channels through which the fertilizing elements in the feed may disappear, the milk, the manure, and the urine. Seventy-five and five-tenths per cent, of the nitrogen appears in the manure and urine, and the balance, 24.5 per cent., appears in the milk. Eighty-nine and seven-tenths per cent, of the phosphoric acid and potash appears in the manure and urine, and the balance, 10.3 per cent., appears in the milk. Therefore, we see that a large part of the fertility purchased in feeds is available to the land. This has never been studied as carefully as it should be in this country, because up to the present, little thought has been needed to be given on account of the virgin condition of our soils and the immense stores of fertility in them. Of course, these stores are no way exhausted, but must be conserved. In older countries like- England, farmers have had to be careful of the fertility in their soils, and we will turn for a moment to the English law regarding this point.

This law is quoted from "Feeds and Feeding", by Henry & Morrison:

"British practice — in Great Britain, where many of the farmers are long period tenants, the manurial value of feeding stuffs is recognized by law in a manner that tends greatly to the betterment and permanence of her agriculture. The Agricultural Holdings Act, which is the law governing the relations between landlord and tenant, direct that when a tenant is vacating his leasehold he shall be reasonably compensated for the improvements he has made. Among these, credit must be given for the fertilizing value of feeding stuffs which the tenant may have purchased and fed out, and also, under certain conditions for the fertilizing value of grains produced on the farm and fed to stock. In order to furnish data to guide the valuers who serve in settlement between landlord and tenant, after full and extended study, Lawes & Gilbert and later Voelker & Hall, of the Rothamstead Experiment Station, drew up tables showing the compensation to be allowed for the fertilizing value of various feeds. The recommendations, as revised in 1913 and adopted by the Central Association of Agriculture and Tenant Right Valuers, are that the tenant shall be credited as follows for all manure resulting from feeding purchased feeds to stock on the leasehold.

Page Ten

Feeding Dairy Cattle "For all unused manure, or that which has been recently applied to the land, without a crop being grown thereafter, a credit of three-fourths of the total value of the phosphoric acid and potash in the feed is allowed. Because a greater loss of nitrogen commonly occurs in stored manure than in manure dropped in the field by animals at pasture, a' credit of 70 per cent, of the total value of the nitrogen is allowed when the stock have been fed at pasture and of only 50 per cent, when they have been fed in the barn or yard."

We all know that in all countries the material written into the law is conservative. Therefore, the following amounts of fertilizing materials estimated from the materials in the feeds in the 60,000 pounds of the mixture above suggested, are conservative estimates. The total available nitrogen, if the feed had been spread on the ground, has been multiplied by one-half, as allowed in the above extract from the English law, and the available phosphoric acid and potash by three-fourths. The 60,000 pounds of the mixture has been separated into its different constituents in order that the difference in feeds might be seen.

Available in Manure

Nitrogen, Phosphoric acid Potash,

pounds pounds pounds

15,000 lbs. Distillers' dried grains 368.2 76.5 19.2

It will be seen that the above goes a long way towards offsetting the fertility that has been sold off the farm. It almost completely offsets the fertility that is sold in the milk, leaving only that sold in the money crops to be replaced by the farmer.

This brings sharply to light the first fact that we wish to establish, that by the judicious selection of feeds, all the fertility that is sold as market milk may be fully replaced by the fertility in the feeds, even when the fertility in the feeds is conservatively estimated.

In the above tables, comparing milk with the feeds, there is a slight shortage in the nitrogen. We must remember, however, that only 50 per cent, of the available nitrogen in the feed has been computed. Then, if legume crops are grown, whatever of nitrogen is taken from the air is clear gain. This emphasizes the importance of the growing of legumes.

Nothing has been said about the money value of these

Pase Eleven fertilizing constituents. The writer leaves that for the interpretation of the reader. Nitrogen on the average for the past 10 years has been worth 18 cents per pound, phosphoric acid 4.5 cents and potash 5 cents. All are more expensive at present. Therefore, we see again the importance of getting what we can in feeds. As to choice of feed, without going into detail, the high protein feeds — cottonseed meal, gluten feed, etc. — yield the nitrogen, and the feeds like wheat bran made up of the outer coatings of the kernel, carry the most potash and phosphoric acid.

Upon looking at this first table, we can see that mature animals carry away relatively the least fertilizing elements, therefore, the Holstein breeder, who is feeding his milk and selling mature animals at high prices, is conserving the fertility of his farm. Therefore, the greatest gain to be made in dairy farming, from the standpoint of a permanent agriculturist, is to aim for the best blood there is and to make the surplus stock the main cash crop of the farm.

Then again, if milk must be sold, a glance at the first table will show that if the milk can be sold to a factory, so the skim milk can come back to the farm, or if butter can be made on the farm, a great saving of fertility is made.

Therefore, as far as possible, from the standpoint of a permanent agriculturist, the dairy farmers must learn to grow legumes and to market their crops in cream and butter and mature animals at high prices.

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