Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 12, Number 9, DeMotte, Jasper County, 8 January 1942 — Dairy Cow Requires Protein Supplement [ARTICLE]

Dairy Cow Requires Protein Supplement

Overfeeding farm grains to dairy cattle in the food . production program in an attempt to supply sufficient protein and avoid the purchase of a high protein supplement is false economy, explains J. G. Cash, extension dairy specialist of the University of Illinois college of agriculture. For example, a cow requiring 10 pounds of a 15 per cent protein mixture a day to meet her needs could get the same amount of protein from .15 pounds of a mixture of equal parts of corn and cob meal and ground oats, but the cost would be greater and the cow probably would not produce as well because of the lack of balance between the protein and carbohydrates. A suitable mixture containing 15 per cent total protein could be made with 600 pounds of corn and cob meal, 400 pounds ground oats and 200 pounds soybean meai, at a cost of $1.47 a hundred pounds (figuring corn at 70 cents a bushel, oats at 45 cents a bushel and soybean meal at $2.50 a hundred pounds, and adding a grinding charge of 10 cents a hundred pounds for corn and oats). Ten pounds of this mixture would supply IV2 pounds of protein and would cost 14.7 cents.