PRESERVATION FOR STOCK FOOD 74, 



process. The stover dries so much after maturity that a great chap. 

 deal of nutriment in the stalk is lost before the maize is eaten. xv - 

 Because of this over-curing, the palatability of the maize is 

 greatly lessened ; hence much of it will not be consumed. A 

 large proportion of it becomes broken down and fouled, which 

 causes still further waste. The cattle are often required to 

 graze upon it when the weather is unfavourable, hence there is 

 a loss in thus exposing the animals. Of course it is better to 

 pasture the maize than not to use it at all, but the stover 

 would furnish much more food if it were harvested and feci to 

 the animals as needed. The prodigality of some of the western 

 farmers of this country [United States] furnishes a striking illus- 

 tration of this wasteful method of handling, or rather not 

 handling, maize stover. Each acre of the food, if properly 

 utilized, is worth as much as an acre of average timothy hay " 

 {Shaw, I). 



The most nutritious part of the stover is the leaf; but the 

 leaf left in the field becomes so brittle in a dry atmosphere 

 that it is easily broken into minute fragments by the animals 

 which wander over the field in search of stray ears of grain ; 

 these pieces are carried away by the wind or, falling on the 

 ground, are trampled under foot ; a few clays after the stock are 

 turned into the standing stover very little is left but bare stalks 

 which are the least nutritious and least digestible part. 



The less wasteful way is to harvest the maize stalks before 

 the ears are quite dry, and to stook them in the field ; by this 

 method there is not so much loss of dry matter and of feeding- 

 value. Even when stover which has been harvested is fed to 

 stock, there is a considerable waste, not only in loss of leaf, but 

 the Wisconsin Station found that 34 per cent of the whole 

 stover was not eaten. 



Stooked maize may be passed through a " combined husker 

 and shredder" (Fig. 235), which removes the husks, shells the 

 ears and "shreds" the stover into short lengths which are 

 more readily eaten by the animals and are thus less wasteful 

 than whole stover. 



In some countries maize stover is feci with the addition of 

 a little molasses to render it more palatable. 



704. Stover for Dairy-cows. — Cows are fond of the finer 

 parts of the maize stalk, and if the stover is run through a 



