DAIRY COW’S FOOD

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 March 1939, Page 3

DAIRY COW’S FOOD

LARGE BULK OF FODDER. QUESTIONS OF NUTRITION. A dairy cow crops grass over approximately one-sixth of an acre a day. If the farmer imagines himself doing this job with a lawnmower he will realise something of the amount of work a cow must do to provide herself with the bulk of food she requires. To produce one pound of butter-fat an average cow will consume up to 1501 b of pasturage. In vi.ew of these figures it should be appreciated that when pasture is short it is essential to provide dairy cows with bulky foods such as hay or ensilage, and that where the nutritive value of the grass is low, but the bulk ample, the ration should be balanced by the addition of concentrates. The dairy cow is a wonderful factory for the conversion of fodder of all sorts to a highly .complex food in the forpi of milk, bijt, like all other factories, she must have a regular apd ample supply of raw materials if she is to turn out the finished article in payable quantity and quality.