Pratt's Practical Pointers on the Care of Livestock and Poultry

by Pratt Food Company

Where much soiling food is wanted from year to year, it would seem safe to say that it can be most cheaply supplied in the form of silage. Even when grass is abundant, cows will eat with avidity more or less of ensilage well made. They should not be fed in winter more than 25 pounds per animal per day, but the quantity needed is determined largely by the condition of the pastures. Because of the less quantity of the silage called for in summer, the silo that contains the silage should be of less diameter than the silo that holds food for winter use, otherwise the exposed silage will dry out too much between the times of feeding it.

In autumn soiling foods may be fed with profit that are possessed of less succulence than would suffice at an earlier period, as in the autumn the pastures are usually more succulent than in the summer. Corn may be fed at such a time with much advantage from the shock, and sorghum that has been harvested may likewise be fed from the shock or from the cocks. Pumpkins may be thrown into the pasture and broken when fed.

Viewed from the standpoint of milk production, the legumes (clover, cow peas, soy beans, etc.) must be assigned first rank. After these come grain fodders, corn and sorghum fodders, and fodders from grasses, suitable in the order named. Lowest of all is straw furnished by the small cereals. Fodders when fed are not restricted in quantity as concentrates are.

Among legumes, hay furnished by alfalfa, any of the clovers, cow peas, soy beans and vetches, is excellent for producing milk when these are cut at the proper stage and properly cured. Alfalfa should be cut for such feeding when only a small per cent. of blooms have been formed, clovers when in full bloom, and cow peas, soy beans, and vetches when the first forward pods are filling. Proper curing means by the aid of wind stirring through the mass rather than sun bleaching it.

When good leguminous fodders are fed, from 33 to 50 per cent. less grain will suffice than would be called for when non-leguminous fodders only are fed.

Leavenworth, Kansas.

When two veterinarians had given up a cow to die, I gave her Pratts Animal Regulator with the result that she was on her feed in about a week. I am a constant user of Pratt Products.

J.D. WATSON.

Fodder may usually be cheaply furnished from corn and sorghum, when grown so that the stalks are fine and leafy, and if cut when nearing completed maturity and well cured. Such food is excellent for milk production when fed with suitable adjuncts, even though the fodder is grown so thickly that nubbins do not form. The aim should be to feed the sorghums in the autumn and early winter and the corn so that it may be supplemented by other hay when the winter is past, as later than the time specified these foods deteriorate.

Rye and wheat straw are of little use in making milk, oat straw is better, and good bright pea straw is still more valuable. When fodder is scarce, these may be fed to advantage if run through a cutting box and mixed with cut hay.