CORN SILAGE COMPARED TO HAT. 211 



In an experiment with milch cows conducted at the New Hamp- 

 shire Station, the silage ration, containing 16.45 pounds of digesti- 

 ble matter, produced 21.0 pounds of milk, and the hay ration, con- 

 taining 16.83 pounds digestible matter, produced 18.4 pounds milk; 

 calculating the quantities of milk produced by 100 pounds of 

 digestible matter in either case, we find on the silage ration, 127.7 

 pounds of milk, on the hay ration, 109.3 pounds, or 17 per cent, in 

 favor of the silage ration. 



In a feeding experiment with milch cows at the Maine Station, 

 in which silage likewise was compared with hay, the addition of 

 silage to the ration resulted in a somewhat increased production 

 of milk solids, which was not caused by an increase In the digesti- 

 ble food materials eaten, but which must have been due either to 

 the superior value of the nutrients of the silage over those of the 

 hay or to the general psychological effect of feeding a great variety 

 of foods. 8.8 pounds of silage proved to be somewhat superior 

 to 1.98 pounds of hay (mostly timothy), the quantity of digestible 

 material being the same in the two cases. 



In another experiment, condueted at the same station, where 

 silage was compared with hay for steers, a pound of digestible 

 matter from the com silage produced somewhat m6re growth than 

 a pound of digestible matter from timothy hay. The difference 

 was small, however, amounting in the case of the last tw6 periods, 

 where the more accurate comparison is possible, to an increased 

 growth of only 15 pounds of live weight for each ton of silage fed. 



Corn silage compared with fodder corn. — The cost of produc- 

 tion is the same for the green fodder up to the time of siloing, in 

 case of both systems; as against the expense of siloing the crop 

 oomes' that of shocking, and later on, placing the fodder under 

 shelter in the field-curing process; further husking, cribbing, and 

 grinding the corn, and cutting the corn stalks, since this is the 

 most economical way of handling the crop, and the only way in 

 which it can be fully utilized so as to be of as great value as pos- 

 sible for dry fodder. Professor King found the cost of placing 

 com in the silo to be 58.6 cents per ton, on the average for five 

 Wisconsin farms, or, adding to this amount, interest and taxes on 

 the silo investment, and insurance and maintenance of silo per ton, 

 73.2 cents. The expense of shocking and sheltering the cured fod- 

 der, and later cutting the same, will greatly exceed that of siloing 

 the crop; to obtain the fuH value in feeding the ear corn, it must. 



