584 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



4.15 per tent, luoic milk aud 4.1(5 per cent, more butter were pro- 

 duced from the feed ration than from the alfalfa ration, though the 

 cost of the alfalfa ration was but 13.G cents, and of the feed ration 

 21.3 cents, or 50 per cent, greater, making the feed cost of 100 pounds 

 of milk, with the food ration 83.9 cents, and with the alfalfa ration 

 55.9 cents, and the cost of butter 10.7 cents with the feed ration, 

 and 11.1 cents with the alfalfa ration. Or, in other words, the use 

 of the purchased feed ration caused an increase of over 50 per cent, 

 in the cost of both milk and butter. 



Crimson clover hay was also used in another experiment the same 

 year, to substitute the feeds in the ration already referred to. This 

 ration consisted of 10.4 pounds of crimson clover hay and 30 pounds 

 of corn silage. 



The result of this experiment showed that the feed ration pro- 

 duced 18 per cent, more milk and butter than were produced by the 

 crimson clover hay ration, though valuing the crimson clover hay 

 at the market price, namely, |12 per ton, there was a very consider- 

 able saving in the cost of the milk and butter produced, namely, for 

 milk, from 89.5 cents per hundred, for the feed ration, to 71.2 cents 

 per hundred for the crimson clover hay ration, and for butter from 

 18.19 cents per pound to 14.40 cents per pound. 



If the cost of the crimson clover hay ration had been calculated 

 from the actual cost of the hay, rather than at the selling price, 

 ilie cost of the home-grown ration would have been reduced by 

 0.50 cents, or to 78 cents per day, making the feed cost of 100 pounds 

 of milk 38.7 cents, instead of 71.2 cents, or making the cost of the 

 product from the feed ration more than double the cost of the home- 

 grown ration. 



Another experiment conducted the same winter, in which cow pea 

 silage and crimson clover hay, were substituted for the feeds, and 

 corn and cob meal, another home-grown product, used to supply the 

 carbohydrates furnished by the silage, was carried out, and Avith 

 ([uite as satisfactory results. In fact, more satisfactory from the 

 standpoint of yield from the home-grown product, as the yield from 

 this ration was slightly larger than that from the feed ration. 

 While the cost was also reduced, though this was necessarily esti- 

 mated, as it was impossible to determine the exact losses that oc- 

 curred in the making of the cow pea silage, and known to be con- 

 siderable. Nevertheless, the point that these products can be sub- 

 stituted for the concentrated protein feeds on the market was clearly 

 demonstrated. 



In 1904, an experiment was conducted in which cow pea hay was 

 substituted for the concentrated feeds in a ration for dairy cows, 

 the rations used being from home-grown products: 17 pounds of cow 

 pea hay and 30 pounds of corn silage. The feed ration made up of: 



Corn silage, 30 lbs. 



Cut corn stalks, 5 lbs. 



Wheat bran, 4 lbs. 



Dried brewers' grains, 3 lbs. 



Cottonseed meal, 2 lbs. 



In these rations, as in the other cases, the aim was to supply prac- 

 tically the same amount of total nutrients, though the home-grown 



