gO ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



quality of milk and butter after changing from dry feed to ensi- 

 lage, corresponding with the effects of a similar change to 

 fresh pasture. A few seeming exceptions are noted, which will 

 probably find explanation in defects easily remedied, rather than 

 in such as are inherent. 



Ensilage has been fed to all classes of farm stock, including 

 swine and poultry, with results almost uniformly favorable. 

 Exceptions are noted in two statements, where it appears that 

 horses were injuriously affected. It should be borne in mind in 

 this connection that ensilage is simply forage preserved in a silo, 

 and may vary as much in quality as hay. The ensilage that is 

 best for a milch cow may be injurious to a horse, and that on 

 which a horse would thrive might render a poor return in the 

 milk-pail. 



Cows giving milk are commonly fed fifty to sixty pounds 

 with some dry fodder and grain. 



The condition of stock, fed on ensilage, both as to health 

 and gain in weight, has been uniformly favorable. 



There is hardly a doubt expressed on this point — certainly 

 not a dissenting opinion. 



Mr. Samuel Adams, of Massachusetts, in relation to the 

 method of feeding, says : " For milch cows I should feed fifty 

 pounds ensilage, ten pounds hay; if shorts were not too high 

 would feed two quarts per day, and if the dairy product was in 

 demand would give a little meal of some kind." 



My own opinion expressed at the time was that, in the 

 west more grain and less ensilage would naturally be fed. 

 When corn is used as ensilage we should recommend bran, mill 

 feed and oil-cake in preference to the corn in the grain. A mix- 

 ture of one-quarter prickly comfrey (strong in nitrogen), one- 

 half corn fodder, and one-quarter rowen hay, with fifty pounds 

 of bran to the ton of green fodder, will make a perfect food for 

 milch cows. Then fifty pounds of ensilage and five pounds of 

 corn-meal would make a rich ration for each cow. But in this 

 every person must be guided by circumstances and personal 

 experience. To return, Mr. Jason, Massachusetts, says: I fed 



