ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 1 27 



cheaper food than dry food in the proportion of about three to 

 one. Now I would like to know what is the value of ensilage 

 as a meat producer." 



Mr. Boyd : " I can say what a gentleman told me about the 

 matter. The president of the First National bank of Lafayette, 

 Ind., called on me last summer. He said that he was in the 

 habit of feeding a thousand head of steers every winter, and 

 that he built two silos for the purpose of experimenting. In 

 feeding out the ensilage to the cattle he found that he had 

 gained 50 per cent, by feeding the ensilage to the fat stock. 

 That was his statement and he is a very close figurer; 

 does business on a large scale; quite a rich man. He feeds 

 1,000 head of cattle every winter." 



The secretary: " You all know the effect of feeding brewer's 

 grains. I believe that scientific men have demonstrated the influ- 

 ence of brewer's grains to be somewhat similar to that of green 

 fodder or ensilage feeding. And brewer's grains are quite fattening 

 food. It is a fact so well recognized that it now passes as 

 an axiom, that '•grass will make milk'' and grass also makes 

 beef. You will also say that hay is grass, but grass is not hay, 

 not by a long ways. The radical difference is produced by the 

 drying of the plants. In ensilage you preserve the watery con- 

 ditions that are not preserved in hay or other dry feed. In the 

 green plant there exists, a natural combination so subtle indeed, 

 that it has been impossible up to the present time for scientific 

 men to discover any process by which they can restore these 

 watery conditions in the form in which they are first found. 

 This applies to the subject of cattle fattening as well as the sub- 

 ject of producing milk, and feeding dry fodder as against ensi- 

 lage is exactly similar to feeding dry hay as against green grass 

 for the purpose of cattle fattening." 



Mr. Sawyer: " I have had some experience in feeding calves 

 with ensilage. You know it is quite expensive to winter them 

 and keep them growing right along without any check at all: 

 Ensilage will come in here just like turning them on grass, and 

 as far as I have been able to observe there is no stop at all. 



