station Tests with Feeds for Dairy Cows. 429 



cows were separated into two lots and fed dnring four periods 

 lasting fifty-three days. Rape was fed during Periods II and lY. 

 The cows were pastured during Period I, and fed hay and silcige 

 during Period III. Five pounds of meal were fed daily per head 

 throughout the trial. Lot I received forty pounds of rape per 

 day, and hay ad libitum; Lot 11 was fed rape ad libitum, consuming 

 on an average seventy-six pounds daily. The average daily milk 



^ield for each lot was as follows: 



Rape. No rape. 



Lot 1 19.13 pounds. 17.25 pounds. 



Lot II 18.20 pouuds. 17.74 pounds. 



The rape was fed both before and after milking without im- 

 parting any perceptible taint to the milk in either case. The 

 results obtained are promising for rape as a feed for the dairy 

 cow. (334-5) 



657. Roots versus concentrated feeds. — At the Copenhagen 

 Station, ^ eighteen series of experiments were conducted for three 

 consecutive years with 636 cows separated into 62 lots. The 

 addition of 40 pounds of mangels or 50 pounds of turnips to an 

 ordinary ration for milch cows increased the daily milk yield by 

 2.75 pounds, the cows increasing 3.63 pounds per head in live 

 weight, eating 3.08 pounds less straw daily. In two preceding 

 years, 2.86 and 1.76 pounds more milk were obtained on heavy 

 root feeding, the average weight being 5.5 and 3.74 pounds 

 more, and the quantity of straw eaten .55 and 1.98 pounds less 

 per head daily. No appreciable difference in the chemical com- 

 position of the milk was observed resulting from the more intense 

 feeding. These experiments show that one pound of concentrates, 

 made up of grain, bran and oil cake, proved equal to ten pounds 

 of mangels in feeding dairy cows. There was no appreciable dif- 

 ference in the water content of the milk produced by feeding 

 varying quantities of roots. The wat«r found in the milk was 

 within .24 of one per cent, for the different lots of cows, the lowest 

 water content appearing in the milk from cows receiving the 

 largest quantity of roots. These extensive experiments completely 

 refute the charge that milk can be indirectly watered by feeding 

 roots. (325) 



» 20th Rept. 1890. 



