2 

 FEEDING EXPERIMENTS WITH MILCH COWS. 



Fodder Corn, Corn Stover and. Corn Ensilage vs. English Hay. 



Id preceding communications under the stated heading it will be 

 found that some years ago, November. 18.S5, a series of observations 

 with milch cows was inaugurated at our institution for the 

 purpose of securing, under well defined circumstances, information 

 needed to assist in answering the following questions : 



1. What is the comparative feeding effect of dry fodder corn, of 

 dry corn stover and of a good corn ensilage when used in part or in 

 the whole as a substitute for Englisli hay (upland meadow hay) in 

 the daily diet of milch cows, and also that of a good root crop in 

 place of corn ensilage ; the amount and the kind of grain feed 

 remaining for obvious reasons the same under otherwise corresponding 

 circumstances? 



2. \\hat is the total cost, as well as the net cost of the daily feed 

 per head in case of the different fodder combinations used ; making 

 in all cases alike, an allowance of a loss of twenty per cent, of the 

 fertilizing constituents contained in the feed consumed, in conse- 

 quence of the sale of the milk ? 



3. What is the commercial value, at current market rates, of the 

 manurial refuse obtainable in case of the different fodder combina- 

 tions used as a daily diet for the support of the cows, assuming that 

 eighty per cent, of the value of the fertilizing constituents contained 

 in the fodder consumed, can be secured to the farm by a careful 

 management? 



The results of experiments carried on in this connection during 

 a number of months of the years 1885, 1886. 1887 and 1888, have 

 already been described in detail in our respective annual reports and 

 periodical bulletins. A short abstract of more recent observations 

 in the same direction forms part of this bulletin. 



As a careful consideration of all our results to date leads practi- 

 cally to the same conclusions, the subsequent final summary of our 

 work has been prepared with a view of enabling, as far as practi- 

 cable, all parties interested in our special line of inquiry into the 

 economy of milk production, to draw their own conclusions, and to 

 ascertain for themselves whether the standpoint taken in our several 

 reports of progress is justifiable by the facts presented. 



