122 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I904. 



FEEDING EXPERIMENTS WITH COWS. 

 Chas. D. Woods. 



SOY BEAN SILAGE AND CORN SILAGE COMPARED. 



A rough feeding experiment was made by the Station in the 

 winter of 1903-4 in which the feeding value of the soy bean and 

 corn silage was compared with clear corn silage. Six cows 

 were employed and the rations fed and milk produced during 

 each period of the experiment are given in the table below. 



It will be noticed that the grain ration during the second 

 period when the soy bean silage was fed, was reduced one pound 

 per day for each animal. The grain mixture was very rich in 

 protein and as the soy bean silage was richer than the corn 

 silage, it was thought this reduction could safely be made with- 

 out affecting the milk flow. The experiment was not so satis- 

 factory as it would have been had not an epidemic of winter 

 scours attacked the herd when the experiment was in progress. 

 This attack was most severe during the period when the soy 

 bean silage was being fed, consequently the yield of milk from 

 some of the cows was much reduced. From this cause the milk 

 flow of Gertrude was greatly reduced during the second period 

 and her records are not included in the totals in the table. 



The details of the experiment follow : 



NAME OF COWS AND RATIONS FED FOR THREE PERIODS OF THREE 

 WEEKS EACH. 



First period when corn silage was fed. 



Name of cows. Rations. 



Ruthele ) Corn silage 30 lbs. per day per cow. 



Addie 4th [ Hay 15 lbs. per day per cow. 



Addie 3d ) Grain mixture 8 lbs. per day per cow. 



Cummings ) Corn silage 30 lbs. per day per cow. 

 Ruth [ Hay 15 lbs. per day per cow. 



Gertrude ) Grain mixture 10 lbs. per day per cow. 



Second period when soy-bean silage was fed. 



Ruthele 1 Soy bean and corn silage 30 lbs. per day per cow. 



Addie 4th [ Hay 15 lbs. per day per cow. 



Addie 3d ) Grain mixtme 7 lbs. per clay per cow. 



Cummings \ Soy bean silage 30 lbs. per day per cow. 

 Ruth [ Hay 15 lbs. per day per cow. 



Gertrude ) Grain mixture 9 lbs. per day per cow. 



Third period same as first. 



