EFFECT OF SILAGE ON FLAVOR AND ODOE. OF MILK. 



19 



Table 10. — Effect of feeding 5 to 15 -pounds of sweet-clover silage once daily 



one hour after milking. 





Result 



sampling - 



Milk from cows fed 

 silage. 



Milk from 

 cows not 

 fed silage. 





Before 

 aeration. 



After 

 aeration. 





30 



30 



30 











Off flavor... .. . 



28 

 2 



20 

 10 



2 





28 











Off odor 



29 

 1 



21 

 9 



2 



No off odor - ^ 



28 







The results with unaerated milk show that when sweet-clover silage 

 was fed after milking in quantities from 5 to 15 pounds, a ieed flavor 

 and odor were imparted to the milk. In explanation of this table it 

 may be said that in 2 cases there were no feed flavors and in 1 case 

 no feed odor when 5 pounds were fed. When this quantity was in- 

 creased to 10 pounds, the notations were, " slight silage," and " slight 

 feed " ; when 15 pounds were fed the samples were marked " feed," 

 " strong feed," and " clover silage." \Vhile the feeding of sweet- 

 clover silage is a desirable practice from an economic standpoint, the 

 above results show that even when fed under ideal conditions it af- 

 fected the flavor and odor of the milk produced, 15 pounds, fed after 

 milking, tainting the milk sufficiently to be noted by the average 

 consumer. 



EFFECT OF AERATION. 



Aeration, however, produced a marked change in the degree of the 

 flavors present. By sprinkling the grain ration on the sweet-clover 

 silage, each cow consumed up to 15 pounds of silage at a feeding. 

 "\¥hen this milk was aerated, in the opinion of the judges, the feed 

 flavor was sufficiently diminished to be unobjectionable to the av- 

 erage consumer. These results show that sweet-clover silage should 

 be fed only after milking, and the milk should be carefully aerated 

 while still warm. When this is done, up to 15 pounds at each feed- 

 ing may be fed per cow without permanently injuring the commer- 

 cial value of the product. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH SOY-BEAN SILAGE. 



Another protein roughage, soy beans, is also sometimes ensiled. 

 When put in the silo alone soy beans make rank-smelling silage. The 

 effect of this feed on the flavor and odor of milk is shown in the fol- 

 lowing experiments. 



