48 ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN S ASSOCIATION. 



Food required for 100 pounds of butter when feeding corn-stalks: 

 3,880 pounds of corn stalks. 

 514 pounds of corn meal. 

 719 pounds of wheat bran. 



Pood required for 100 pounds of milk when feeding mixed hay: 

 71 pounds of mixed hay. 

 26 pounds of corn meal. 



36 pounds of wheat bran. 



Food required for 100 pounds of butter when feeding mixed hay : 

 1,348 pounds of mixed hay. 

 500 pounds of corn meal. 

 700 pounds of wheat bran. 



Food required for 100 pounds of milk when feeding clover hay : 

 60 pounds of clover hay. 

 26 pounds of corn meal. 



37 pounds of wheat bran. 



Food required for 100 pounds of butter when feeding clover hay: 

 1,179 pounds of clover hay. 

 513 pounds of corn meal. 

 718 pounds of wheat bran. 



From the data here given one can easily calculate the cost of food necessary 

 to produce one hundred pounds of milk or butter. Supposing hay is worth 

 $8.00 per ton; then the corn-stalks would be worth $2.66, or one- third the value 

 of the hay, as shown by these experiments. Suppose, further, that bran can be 

 had for $12.00 and corn meal for $15.00 per ton. Assuming these prices we will 

 find that the food necessary to produce one hundred pounds of milk costs, as 

 the average of the before detailed experiments, about 66 cents, and the food to 

 produce one hundred pounds of butter costs about $12.84. 



In considering these experiments the reader should bear in mind that dur- 

 ing each of the four periods, lasting three weeks each, including the week of 

 preliminary feeding, the cows were upon one variety of food, and that only. 

 Variety in food is as essential to beast as to man, if we wish the best results, and 

 these results may be looked upon as the lowest we should receive from these 

 food articles, rather than average or high results. Any careful feeder of dairy 

 cows has observed that the cow is the quickest of all animals on the farm to 

 appreciate and respond to variety and a change of diet from time to time. 



The corn-stalks used in these experiments were from a plot of ground 3.27 

 acres in area. This corn was grown upon tile-drained land that in former years 

 had been of little value, owing to crops drowning out almost every year. 



The corn was of the Pride of the North variety, a small-stalked, small-eared, 

 early yellow dent corn. The 3.27 acres produced 14,684 pounds of stalks and 

 16,160 pounds of ears, or 4,490 pounds of stalks and 4,941 pounds of ears of corn 

 per acre. This was 68 bushels of 72 pounds each. 



With these facts and those of the experiments before us, let us attempt to 

 estimate the butter that can be produced from an acre of our corn land. 



For this purpose let us assume that the 4,941 pounds of ears from an acre 

 would make 4,000 pounds of corn meal, allowing for shrinkage and grinding 

 about 20 per cent., which is fully enough for corn as dry as this at husking. 



