The Ensilage of Fodder. 233 



361. Pea-vine silage. — Especially in Wisconsin, great quantities 

 of the pea-vine silage, a waste product of the canning factories, are 

 employed in fattening lambs and cattle. According to The Breeder's 

 Gazette,^ western lambs fed 60 to 90 days on pea-vine silage fre- 

 quently top the Chicago market. Cases are cited where fattening 

 steers made an average gain of nearly 100 lbs. during 8 weeks' feed- 

 ing on pea-vine silage alone. A bunch of range cows gained 77 lbs. 

 in 6 weeks. 



362. Effects of silage on milk. — The largest milk condensing com- 

 pany in this country prohibits the use of silage by its patrons. On 

 the other hand, three companies, one of which has two factories in 

 Michigan and two in New York, permit or favor the feeding of silage 

 by patrons. The Michigan Condensed Milk Company not only accepts 

 milk from silage-fed cows, but some years since prepared and distrib- 

 uted to its patrons a pamphlet containing directions for constructing 

 silos and making and feeding silage. Mr. C. B. McCanna,- President 

 of the Wisconsin Condensed Milk Company, in order to thoroly test 

 the matter, constructed a silo on his own farm, and from it fed silage 

 to cows furnishing milk to his condensary with satisfactory results. 



Fraser of the Illinois Station^ fed a ration of 40 lbs. of corn silage, 

 with a small allowance of clover hay and grain, to one lot of cows, 

 while a second received clover hay and grain. The milk from the two 

 lots was sampled by 372 persons, 60 per ct. of w^hom, without knowl- 

 edge of the feeds used, expressed a preference for the silage-made 

 milk. Experts, as a rule, can detect a silage odor or flavor in the 

 milk of silage-fed cows, but such flavor is rarely as marked as that 

 of cows freshly turned to grass in springtime. With over 100,000 

 silos in use by the dairymen of this country, thousands of whom are 

 furnishing the choicest of dairy products — milk, cream, and butter — 

 to critical customers, the time is surely at hand when objections to 

 silage should cease, just as have the early charges that it would burn 

 the farm buildings, destroy the cows' teeth, eat up their stomachs, 

 induce tuberculosis, etc. Like any other feed, silage may be abused. 

 Only that which is well made should be used, and this should be fed 

 after milking and be eaten up clean at each feed, none being left 

 scattered on the floor of the stable, the air of which should be kept 

 pure and wholesome by proper ventilation. If such conditions 

 prevail, no one need fear ill effects from feeding silage to dairy 

 cows. (620) 



' Vol. 55, 1909, p. 450. - Communication to the author. ^ Bui. 101. 



