THE SUNFLOWER AS A SILAGE CEOP. 29 



lieved that the ration could be improved by the addition of more 

 sunflower ensilage. 



FEEDING SUNFLOWER SILAGE TO HOGS. 



The Montana Agricultural Experiment Station (4, p- 25-26) has 

 done the principal work in comparing sunflower silage with alfalfa 

 liay in a ration given brood sows. It was found that the sows would 

 eat sunflower silage readily. During a part of the feeding period 

 they consumed 4 pounds per head daily, in addition to a small 

 quantity of skim milk and grain. The silage was fed for two months 

 before farrowing began, throughout the farrowing period, and for 

 a period of about four weeks thereafter, with no unfavorable results. 

 It is acknowledged by the authors of the report on these experiments 

 that but little of the grain in the ration can be replaced by sunflower 

 silage. It did serve an excellent purpose, however, in keeping the 

 sows in splendid condition, being as satisfactory in this respect as 

 alfalfa hay. 



SUNFLOWERS AS A SOILING CROP. 



Sunflowers have been fed as a soiling crop to dairy cows by a 

 number of experimenters, with good results. The chief disadvan- 

 tage of this method of feeding-is that the plants must be run through 

 a cutter before they are used. 



The Montana Agricultural Experiment Station (^, p. 22) com- 

 pared sunflowers to corn as a supplement to pasture. Both crops were 

 cut as needed and run through a silage cutter before being given 

 to dairy cows during the latter part of their grazing season. " The 

 cows ate the green sunflowers readily, kept up their milk flow, and 

 apparently did well on the feed." The conclusion reached was that 

 under the conditions of the experiment as described the sunflowers 

 and corn were of equal feeding value. 



A more extensive feeding test was later carried out at the same 

 station, comparing sunflowers and corn as soiling crops. Six cows 

 were fed all the chopped sunflowers they would eat and another 

 six cows all the chopped corn they would eat. Both lots had access 

 to a small pasture and in addition received the same grain ration. 

 At the close of the test the corn was in the roasting-ear stage and 

 the sunflowers were about 40 per cent in bloom. The cows fed sun- 

 flowers produced an average of 39.4 pounds of milk and 1.41 pounds 

 of butter fat and those fed corn 38.1 pounds of milk and 1.38 pounds 

 of butter fat per cow daily. During the feeding period of 28 days 

 the cows fed sunflowers lost 7.8 pounds and those fed corn 20.4 

 pounds of live weight. The slight difference in results favoring sun- 

 flowers is no doubt due very largely to the fact that one cow in the 

 corn-fed lot went " off feed " during the period. The results seem to 

 confirm those of the first test and justify the conclusion that sun- 

 flowers can be used effectively as a soiling crop for dairy cows. 



