FEEDS FOR THE DAIRY COW 387 



red top, and clover hay at the rate of 3.5 Ibs. silage for 1 Ib. of hay, the 

 milk yield was increased 7 per ct. Silage would have been slightly 

 more economical at $4.50 per ton than hay at $15 per ton. In a trial 

 at the Maine Station 102 Jordan found that when cows were changed 

 from mixed hay (mostly timothy) as the only roughage to both hay and 

 silage, the amount of concentrates remaining the same, the milk yield 

 increased 7 per ct. When changed back to hay as the only roughage, it 

 decreased 8 per ct. The silage used was watery, containing but 16.7 per 

 ct. dry matter, while average silage from well-matured corn contains 

 26.3 per ct. dry matter. From the data secured by Jordan it is fair to 

 conclude that had the silage been of average quality, 280 Ibs. of silage 

 would have been slightly superior to 100 Ibs. of hay. 



The relative value of corn silage and alfalfa hay was studied by Car- 

 roll at the Utah Station 103 in a trial in which cows were fed either alfalfa 

 hay or both alfalfa hay and corn silage, with 4 Ibs. of a concentrate mix- 

 ture of equal parts wheat bran and rolled barley. When fed silage, the 

 cows yielded 2 per ct. more milk and 4 per ct. more fat, but were given 

 2.5 per ct. more grain. With alfalfa hay at $15 per ton and concen- 

 trates at $30 per ton, the silage was worth $6.02 per ton. In other 

 terms, 250 Ibs. of silage was worth as much as 100 Ibs. of alfalfa hay. 

 In trials by Foster and Meeks at the New Mexico Station 104 it required 

 3 tons of good corn silage to replace 1 ton of choice alfalfa hay, and 

 the milk production was no greater when silage and alfalfa hay were both 

 fed as roughage than when the alfalfa hay was the only roughage. 



From these trials we may conclude that about 250 to 300 Ibs. of good 

 corn silage is worth as much as 100 Ibs. of hay for feeding dairy cows. 

 In the feed unit system as revised by Woll, the value of corn silage for 

 dairy cows is placed at one-third that of alfalfa or clover hay and one- 

 half that of timothy hay per pound. (178) According to the Armsby 

 energy values, 243 Ibs. of good corn silage equals 100 Ibs. of red clover 

 hay in net energy content. (171) 



632. Corn stover silage. Silage made from cured corn stover, after 

 all the ears have been removed, is obviously a feed relatively low in 

 digestible nutrients, and thus is worth far less than normal well-eared 

 corn silage, especially for high-producing animals like good dairy cows. 

 Yet it is much preferable to dry shredded or cut corn stover, for it is 

 more palatable and is consumed with comparatively little waste. In a 

 trial by Morrison, Humphrey, and Hulce at the Wisconsin Station 105 

 normal corn silage was compared with well-preserved corn stover silage 

 in a trial with 2 lots each of 4 cows fed by the reversal method. The 

 cows were fed either corn silage or corn stover silage, along with alfalfa 

 hay and a well-balanced concentrate mixture, consisting of ground corn, 

 wheat bran, linseed meal, and cottonseed meal. On each ration the cows 

 were fed all the silage either corn silage or corn stover silage they 



102 Me. Rpt. 1889. 1M N. Mex. Bui. 122. 



m Information to the authors. 106 Wis. Bui. 323, p. 5. 



