FEED OF THE DAIRY COW 75 



Salt should always be within reach also. Where 

 cows are confined in stanchions there should be a 

 partition in the feed-manger to every second cow. 

 On this should be fastened a cast iron or other box ; 

 inside dimensions, about eight inches long, four wide, 

 and two deep. Over the top at the end farthest from 

 the cow should be fastened a strip of zinc or iron 

 about an inch in width to prevent the cow throwing 

 the salt out with her tongue. Salt should be kept 

 in this box at all times. Now and then a cow will 

 be found that will eat too much for her good. It 

 may be necessary to stint her to three or four feeds 

 a week. 



SILAGE 



Among the cheap modern feeds that go to make up 

 a ration none, when properly fed, surpasses silage. 

 It is a succulent food that aids in the digestion of 

 other foods, materially increasing their value for the 

 production of milk, butter, and beef. The partial fer- 

 mentation which takes place in silage, after it is cut 

 and stored, starts the process of digestion and renders 

 it the most valuable of succulent foods. Many feeders 

 depend too much upon silage as a balanced food, and 

 feed from forty to fifty pounds daily ; an ample ration 

 is thirty to thirty-five pounds daily for the milk- pro- 

 ducing cow. If eight to twelve pounds of hay and 

 what oat or buckwheat straw she will eat clean be 

 added to the grain food, a complete ration will be 

 formed. No greater mistake can be made than to 

 keep the manger filled with hay or straw. Give the 

 cow only what she will eat; when she stops, clean 

 the manger, and leave it so until next feeding time. 



