214 BOARD OV AGRICULTURE. 



You know if I got them from him tlioy wore not stai'ved, in fact, they 

 wore in very j;ood condition. I Ihinlv two of the lierd liad l)ecn in their 

 sliow liord. Seven or oij^'lit of tlicni were imported lieifers. Tliey were 

 good cattle and were in good condition when they came tliere. In the 

 winter some of them began to lose their hair and were not in good con- 

 dition. I think most of the cattle we got did lose their hair before spring 

 that year. Six of the cows were in calf, and some of them were due 

 to calve soon after we got them. We had liad practically no experience 

 with Shorthorns, and were anxious to do the best we could, so we got 

 advice and direction aliout them. We had heard that silage was not a 

 safe food for cows with young calves. We thought we would take no 

 risks, so we did not feed the cows that were due to calve with the silage, 

 nor did we feed any of the cows silage until their calves were several 

 weeks old. We lost three and raised three very good calves out of the 

 first six. We thouglit we could not do any worse on silage. The bull 

 was not very well, either, and did not eat well. Then we began to feed 

 them all silage, and they did very well. Since the first year we have 

 had forty-six calves dropped on the place, and have raised forty-three of 

 them. The cattle have all been fed on silage for eight months in the 

 year. Last winter we did not have a single cow shed her hair until 

 springtime. Mr. Robbins was there a number of times and can probably 

 tell a great deal more about the condition of the cattle than I can. The 

 cattle are in good, healthy, thriving condition all the time. We feed the 

 cows about what silage they will eat, and about what oats and clover 

 hay they Avant. When they are nursing their calves we feed them half a 

 gallon of bran and a half gallon of gluten feed a day and keep them in 

 good condition. For a couple of weeks before calving we cut out every- 

 thing but the silage and a little oats and oats hay, and for a week Oi' 

 two after calving we don't give them any silage, but feed them oats hay 

 and bran, and we have not had any trouble with them. 



Mr. Quick, Sr.: In what shape does your feed go into the silo? 



Professor Hill: It is cut up into lengths of a quarter of an inch. 

 We have a machine to cut it. , 



Mr. Quick, Sr. : Can a man keep more cattle on a hundred acre farm 

 by using a silo than by not using it, with the same amount of tillage? 



Professor Hill: I have sixty head on one hundred acres. I expect 

 to keep one hundred head on one hundred acres. Of course I shall buy 

 gluten feed and bran, but I expect to raise the hay and roughage and 

 the corn for the hundred head of cattle on the hundred acres. 



Mr. Strange: You speak of three out of the first six calves dying. 

 What season were they dropped? 



Professor Hill: In February. We had ten in .January last year. I 

 don't think the calves were killed by the silage. They had a sort of 



