168 HOW TO FEED SILAGE. 



immature corn. The silage may be given in one or two 

 feeds daily, and, in case of cows in milk, always after 

 milking, and not before or during same, as the peculiar 

 silage odor may, in the latter case, in our experience 

 reappear in the milk. (See below.) 



Silage exerts a very beneficial influence on the secre- 

 tion of milk. Where winter dairying is practiced, cows 

 will usually drop considerably in milk toward spring, if 

 fed on dry feed, causing a loss of milk through the 

 whole remaining portion of the lactation period. If silage 

 is fed there will be no such marked decrease in the flow 

 of milk before turning out to grass, and the cows will 

 be able to keep up well in milk until late in summer, 



Fig. 30. Silage Truck. 



or early in the fall, when they are dried up prior to 

 calving. Silage has a similar effect on the milk secre- 

 tion as green fodder or pasture, and if made from well- 

 matured corn, is more like these feeds than any other 

 feed the farmer can produce. 



The feeding of silage to milch cows has sometimes 

 been objected to when the milk was intended for the 

 manufacture of certain kinds of cheese, or of condensed 

 milk, and there are instances where such factories have 

 enjoined their patrons from feeding silage to their cows. 

 When the latter is properly prepared and properly fed, 



