244 PRODUCTIVE FEEDING OF FARM ANIMALS 



bran, or wheat bran and oats, throughout the season, in order to 

 enable them to maintain a maximum production. 



The use of soiling crops or summer silage on dairy farms is an 

 important feature of intensive dairy farming, as two to three times 

 as much green forage may be secured per acre by this system as by 

 pasturing; it also enables the farmer to maintain, so far as possible, 

 the milk production of his herd during late summer, when hot 

 weather and flies combine to reduce the production of the cows, 

 both for the time being and for the balance of the lactation period. 

 A variety of soiling crops is fed in different sections : Corn, alfalfa, 

 peas and oats, rye, rape, etc. (see p. 96). Some of these crops, 

 such as rye, rape, and oats, should be fed with care in small quanti- 

 ties at the start, and always after milking, so that they will not 

 taint the milk or the products made therefrom. 



Summer silage is a highly-prized feed on many American dairy 

 farms. Generally a small, separate silo is filled in the fall for the 

 purpose of feeding the silage in late summer, when drouth and 

 hot weather are likely to cause serious damage to the pasture. The 

 most common silage crops are Indian corn, alfalfa, and red clover, 

 corn being of most importance in the greater portion of our dairy 

 sections. Thirty pounds of soiling crops or silage are an average 

 allowance for dairy cows on poor pastures ; as much as sixty pounds 

 of soiling crops or forty pounds of silage may be fed in the case of 

 large cows during seasons of drought when pastures are scant. 



Winter Feeding of Dairy Cows. The cows are fed in the 

 stable during one-half of the year, or more in the North, and, as 

 the system of feeding during this period is necessarily most ex- 

 pensive, the profit of the dairy will depend, to a large extent, on 

 the economy of the winter feeding. Economical feeding in cases 

 of good dairy cows does not mean scant supplies, but the kind of 

 feeds and feed combinations that will be likely to produce best re- 

 sults for the least money. Only cows that respond to liberal feeding 

 and are fed liberally will prove profitable dairy animals. 19 * 



Succulent feeds should be provided for dairy cows during their 

 entire lactation period whenever 'possible; silage and roots are the 

 main available feeds of this character during the winter period, 

 and in corn-growing sections, at least, the former has been found 

 to yield the largest and cheapest amounts of feed materials per 

 unit of area. Boots are, however, valuable substitutes where there 

 is no silo on the farm; they are fed especially in Canada and by 

 farmers who adhere more or less to European methods of agri- 

 culture. In the case of heavy producers and cows " out of condi- 



19 a For amounts of hay, silage and concentrates to be fed to cows of 

 different productive capacities, see p. 77, 



