16 



BULLETIN 1097, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUEE. 



20 pounds per cow. The cows on experiment would not consume 

 more than this weight at a feeding. 



Table 7. — Effect of feeding .5 to 20 pounds of alfalfa silage once daily one 



hour lie fore milking. 



Result of sampling. 



Milk from cows fed 

 silage. 



MUk from 



Before After 

 aeration, aeration. 



fed silage. 





11 



11 



11 







Off flavor 



11 

 



11 

 







No off flavor 



11 







Off odor 



11 

 



11 

 







N off odor 



11 







The results in Table 7 show that the feeding of alfalfa silage to 

 cows one hour before milking imparted a feed flavor which could be 

 detected in all cases. The off flavors were described as " slight feed," 

 " feed," " slight silage," and " alfalfa silage " as the quantity was in- 

 creased up to 20 pounds. The odors were described with the same 

 terms. When the milk from the cows receiving 5 pounds was aerated 

 the flavor and odor were very faint. When 10 pounds per cow was 

 reached, the milk contained sufficient feed flavor and odor even after 

 aeration to be ordinarily detected bj^ consumers. "^^Hien 15 pounds 

 had been reached sufficient was present, in the opinion of the examin- 

 ers, to cause rejection of the milk by the average consumer. Without 

 question, the cream from this milk would be rejected by the sweet- 

 cream trade, 



EFFECT OF AERATION. 



In this experiment it was noted that while aeration removed a 

 great part of the feed taste and aroma, sufficient remained to be 

 noted in all examinations. 



Standing in the bam in alternate stalls were the cows which did 

 not receive alfalfa silage. It is seen in the table that no feed flavor 

 or odor was noted in the milk produced by these cows. It is to be re- 

 membered, however, that throughout this work, with the exceptions 

 of Experiments Xos. 1 and 2. the barn was well ventilated. 



2. FEEDING ALFALFA SILAGE AFTER MILKING 



As in the feeding of corn silage the importance of feeding alfalfa 

 silage only after milking has been noted. To determine how much of 

 this may be fed per cow, after milking, without rendering the milk 

 objectionable to consumers, the following work, shown in Table 8, 

 was carried on. 



