FEEDING DAIRY STOCK.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 320, 24 December 1929, Page 6

FEEDING DAIRY STOCK.

IMPORTANCE OF RIGHT RATIO. Blending of Fodders. The secret of successful feeding of dairy stock is the correct balancing of the foods by blending the different varities so that the animals receive the correct amounts of the required nutrients. It is advisable that every dairy farmer who wishes to take an intelligent interest in the feeding of his stock, and desires to obtain the maximum return for the feed given, should have some knowledge of the composition and feeding values of the different fodder crops. The fodder crops which are most common in Victoria are wheat, oats, barley rye, lucener, clover, grasses, maize, Japanese millet, and sorghums. Oats and wheat are sometimes grown for hay, either separately or mixed. A milking cow desires lib of digestible pcrtein, or flesh-forming constituents, to every 61bs of digestible carbo-hyd-rates, or energy-giving and heatgiving constituents. This hs what is meant when it is stated that the cow’s nutritive ratio is one to six. The senior herd-tester ox the Victorian Department of Agriculture (Mr A. J. Gill) has made a special study of feeding problems and the values of various foods for dairy stock, and strongly advocates that all dairymen should give the strictest attention to balancing the ration so that the best returns will beobtained for the food supplied. In comparing oaten and wheaten hay, Mr Gill states that the oaten has a nutritive ratio of 1 to 10 and wheaten 1 to 13; thus oaten hay is the more valuable. One ton of oaten hay contains lOOlbs of protein, 9791bs of carbo-hydrates, anl 34 lbs of fat. A ton wheaten hay contains 801bs of protein, 1,0321bs of carbo-hydrates, and 241bs of fat. The resulting crop from an acre of oaten hay yielding two tons would give lOOlbs less carbo-hydrates, but 401bs more protein and 181bs more fat. Thus the oaten crop is higher in food units and considerably richer in protein, and consequently is the better food. Mr Gill does not recommend growing mixed crops, for the reason that any given quantity of oaten hay is a more valuable food than a similar quantity of wheaten hay. Maize gives the greatest weight to the aero, 15 tons being an ordinary crop, and on good soil the yield may be as great as 30 tons. One ton of green maize contains 221bs of protein, 2501bs of carbo-hydrates, and 91bs of fat, so that 15 tons would yield 3301bs of protein, 3,9001bs of carbohydrates, and 1351bs of fat. The nutritive ratio is 1 to 12.6, and therefore maize alont is not a balanced ration, and the addition of another food is essential to supply the deficiencies. Oaten or wheaten hay is what is described as a “ broad ” ration, and is unsuitable with maize, so that one containing a greater proportion of protein, such as lucerne, must be selected.

Lucerne is a valuable fodder, and has much to recommend it for feeding dairy stock. One ton of lucerne hay contains 2761bs of protein, 8311bs of carbo-hydrates, and 361bs of fat, and its nutritive ratio is one to three. Lucerne would probably yield at the rate of four tons an acre a year, but, taking the yield as three tons, it would give S2Blbs of protein, 2,4931bs of carbo-hydrates, and 1081bs of fat. If three tons of lucerne chaff is mixed with 15 tons of green maize, or maize silagte, the result will be 18

tons of perfectly balanced food, with a nutritive ratio of one to six. N<| other two crops will give this result. Maize and lucerne lend themselves particularly well to the making of a perfectly balance food,' giving both'qtiali- t >> ty and quantity. Whenever they can be grown their cultivation is strong— A ly recommended. Maize stores very well as silage, either in the stacker » in the silo, and lucerne is best stored as hay. ,

Dairy farmers should remember that lib of lucerne hay to 51bs of maize silage gives a balanced ration. As oaten hay has a nutritive value of 1 to 10 it also requires balancing. If vetches are sown with the oat crop, and the resulting yield was two tons of oaten hay and one ton of vetches, the combination crop would constitute three tons of perfectly balanced food. Another point worth noting is that lib of leguminous hay added to 21bs of cereal hay of average quality givts a correct nutritive ratio of about one to six.

Meadow hay, that is the hay made from mixed pastures of clover axu| grasses, is in itself a properly balan- , ced ration, and therefore a vaulable- ✓ fodder. It is unfortunate that in so ( many cases the farmer makes no effort to save his surplus pasture, andeach year large quantities are wasted. This should not be so, and Mr Gill strongly advises every landholder to make a practice of conservingall the meaodw hay possible each year. It is comparatively easy tc stack, and when it has settled down, if the roof is raked down so that the W grass stems will lie straight downwards, the stack will turn the rain, and the hay will keep in good oder for a considerable period.