264 EXPERIMENT STATION— BULLETINS. 



It will be seen that the milch cows gave 485^ pounds more milk on dry 

 fodder than ensilage. This is, in a measure, accounted for by the natural 

 shrinkage. This may be seen by comparing the yield for the first period of 

 ensilage feeding with the second period of dried fodder immediately follow- 

 ing. The greater yield was during the feeding of ensilage, showing that the 

 decrease was the natural result of the lengthening of the period of lactation. 

 Soutje drying off during the last period on ensilage should also be taken into 

 consideration. 



The 1£ acres of corn made 25,060 pounds of ensilage, 21,125 pounds were 

 weighed from the silo, a little more than one-eighth of loss. 



Of this 21,125 pounds, 15,890 pounds, or about three-quarters, were fed, the 

 remaining 5,235 pounds being classed bad. There was waste and loss in 

 being obliged to cart it from the silo to the barn where it was fed ; 1,892 

 pounds from another silo was required to complete the last four days of the 

 feeding. 



The acre and a half of ensilaged corn, therefore, furnished the bulk of the 

 food of ten cows for nearly six weeks. From 1£ acres was obtained 5,310 

 pounds of grain fairly dry. The stalks when put into the barn, November 

 23, weighed 5,975 pounds. The total weight of grain and stalks was 11,285 

 pounds, not quite half the weight of the corn ensilaged. 



The first load was put into the experimental barn Dec. 14, the last Jan. 

 31, they having been stored in the grain barn in the meantime. The total 

 weight was 5,625 pounds, a shrinkage of 350 pounds from Nov. 23. These 

 lasted until Feb. 6, when stalks grown in another field were drawn to be used 

 with the remainder of the cob meal, making something like a week of feeding 

 from the latter; 6,313 pounds were weighed out to the cows in the six weeks 

 when dried fodder was fed, and they consumed 4,545 pounds, a waste of 1,768 

 pounds, the larger, coarser parts of the stalks not being eaten. 



The 5,310 pounds of corn in the ear made 4,219 pounds of corn and cob 

 meal. 



The ten cows consumed 3,955 pounds'of corn and cob meal, 264 pounds 

 less than the full amount — not a very great difference when two facts are 

 considered: One lot of meal was very damp, and was spread and turned 

 frequently, and there was a large shrinkage; for the feeding of the ten cows 

 three times daily for six weeks, or 42 days, 1,260 weighings were necessary. 

 In so many weighings there would necessarily be some loss. 



The experiment shows that the ensilage, although nearly a quarter of it 

 had spoiled from a lack of care in filling and partly from exposure during 

 the interim of dried fodder feeding, lasted longer than the stalks and corn 

 and cob meal, that the cows made more pounds gain on it than on the dried 

 fodder and meal. There can be no doubt that it was cheaper. The fact of 

 the greater number of times the dried stalks were handled over more than 

 the corn made into ensilage, and the labor of husking the corn would add 

 to the cost of the dried fodder. The hauling of the corn and crushing into 

 meal would also add to the cost. 



The following items embrace the cost of preparing the corn fodder in the 

 ^ordinary way : 



