68 ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



then weighed into a feed box and to this silage in the box was 

 added about one-third of the grain which had been previously 

 placed in the locked box. This mixture of silage and grain was 

 given to each cow immediately after the noon milking, which 

 began at 11 :30 and was finished about 1 :00 p. m. By 1 :30 p. m. 

 the cows had eaten their grain and silage and they were given 

 one of the three rations of hay, which had been previously weigh- 

 ed and sealed up in sacks. After feeding the hay the cows were 

 all watered by carrying water to them in buckets. 



From 2 :00 to 5 :00 p. m. was a period of rest for man and 

 beast. At 5:00 p. m. a ration of silage was weighed out for 

 each cow ; to this was added a portion of the grain from each 

 cow's locked box and this mixture was fed immediately after 

 milking, which began at 6 :00 p. m. After eating the grain and 

 silage each cow was given one sack of hay and all were watered 

 and left for the night at about 8 :30 p. m. 



In the morning the first thing done was to milk the cows, 

 then feed silage, grain and hay as at previous feedings. The 

 cows were watered again at about 8 :30 a. m. It will be noticed 

 that in this barn the cows were not feeding while they were being 

 milked. In some of the other barns the cows were fed their 

 grain ration just before milking to that they were eating while 

 being milked. 



There was quite a difference in the proportion of grain 

 and roughage fed the cows in the different herds. Two herds 

 were fed large quantities of green feed, such as green clover, 

 green corn stalks, etc., with the grain, and other herds fed no 

 green stuff but larger amounts of concentrated grain feed with 

 silage and hay. 



Some idea of the amount and variety of feed consumed 

 daily by one cow in the different herds is shown by the following 

 figures : 



