266 THE MANAGEMENT AND FEEDING OF CATTLE 



food for COWS. The cost of growing the corn is less 

 than in the case of roots, the dry matter furnished is 

 usually more and the labor of feeding is less. But when 

 a few pounds of roots can be fed daily, they certainly 

 do, in a sense, safeguard the health of the animals to 

 which they are fed. Roots are also decidedly superior 

 to corn and sorghum ensilage when the roughage fed is 

 carbonaceous ; that is, when it is composed of such foods 

 as corn stover, sorghum, or hay made from the grasses. 



The amounts of succulence to be fed will vary. In 

 those areas far south, where more or less pasture is ob- 

 tainable in winter, the amount of ensilage to be fed will 

 be proportionately less. The necessity for succulence 

 increases also with the degree of the curing in the fod- 

 ders. Succulence is more necessary in larger amounts 

 when fed with over-ripe and over-cured clover hay 

 than when fed with clover hay cut at the proper stage 

 and properly cured. 



The amount of corn or sorghum ensilage that may 

 be fed for a prolonged period with safety and profit to 

 a cow weighing i,ooo pounds should not exceed, say, 

 40 pounds daily. This does not mean that an amount 

 considerably higher may not be fed for a limited term, 

 nor does it mean that harmful results will certainly fol- 

 low, though more should be fed in prolonged feeding. 

 But it does mean that such feeding is attended with 

 some degree of hazard which may show itself in more 

 or less disturbance in the digestion. It is either true 

 or not true that green corn fed ad libitnin to dairy cows 

 all the year is a safe food. In the opinion of the author, 

 it is not true, and yet it is not easy to demonstrate why. 

 But it may be said, first, that it is not a balanced food ; 

 second, that unless dry food is given to some extent, 

 there will probably be disturbance in the digestion; 

 third, when ensilage is fed alone the acid in the food 

 is excessive; and, fourth, the appetite calls for variation 

 in foods because the system craves it. 



