67 



cows — one Shorthorn and one Jersey — on changing- from dry feed to 

 pasture are also reported. The daily milk yield of l)()th (!ows increased, 

 that of the Jersey li.3 pounds, and of the Shorthorn 2 pounds, while the 

 percentages of solid and of fat remained nearly tlie same. In the Jersey 

 milk the total solids increased 0.2 per cent, the increase being in the 

 fat, while the casein and sugar remained the same. In the milk of the 

 Shorthorn cow the fat increased 0.05 per cent and the casein 0.15 per 

 cent, while the sugar fell oft 0.2 i)er cent; the percentages of total 

 solids remaining unchanged. 



The substitution of silage for dry fodder has by some writers been 

 characterized as a polite way to water milk. The results of experi- 

 ments with two Shorthorn cows which had been changed from dry 

 fodder to silage, are very briefly outlined. They gave no evidence that 

 the milk was made watery. The variations in composition were very 

 small, but so far as they went they implied a tendency of silage to make 

 more and richer milk than dry fodder, thus corresponding with results 

 cited for pasture feed. 



Nutritive ratio and composition of milk. — Eight cows in four lots, A, 

 B, C, and D, of two cows each, of different breeds, were fed with dif- 

 ferent rations. To a mixture of 5^ pounds of hay, 44 pounds of silage, 

 and 3 pounds of middlings were added pounds of "gluten" in one 

 ration, making the ratio of protein to non-protein (fat, starch, etc.) 

 1 : 5.2 which nearly accords with the German [Wolffs] standard, 1 : 5.4 

 .for milch cows. In another ration the gluten was replaced by an equal 

 weight (6 pounds) of corn meal, making the ratio 1 : 9. These were 

 fed in one series of experiments to two lots (A and B). Other rations 

 with ratios of 1 : 5.6 as compared with 1 : 8 were fed in another series 

 to the two other lots (C and D). "The lots were alternated, being fed 

 two weeks for each period." In other words, nitrogenous (narrow) 

 rations were compared with "starchy" (wider) rations in two series of 

 experiments. In one series the comparison was between ratios of 1 : 5.2 

 and 1 : 9, in the other it was between ratios of 1 : 5.6 and 1 : 8, In each 

 series two lots of cows were fed for fourteen days with the wider, and 

 for fourteen days with the narrower ration. With a fifth lot (G) 

 of two cows silage was compared with hay. Details are not given 

 as to analyses of food materials, preliminary and transition feed- 

 ing periods, and ways in which lots were " alternated" to eliminate the 

 influence of the period of lactation. It was argued that if the charac- 

 ter of the food exerts a marked effect upon the quality of the milk 

 " these rations ought to make themselves felt." As regards the quan- 

 tity of milk, there was in the average of each of the four trials a smaller 

 yield with the wider ration, the loss being from 8 to 10 per cent. As re- 

 gards the percentage comi)osition of the milk, there was with the wider 

 ration, in the percentage of total solids, again in each of the four cases 

 {i. e. each of the four lots of cows) of from 0.03 to 0,34 per cent; in the 

 fats, a gain in one case of 0.29, and in three cases a loss of from 0.06 to 0.53 



