16 
BULLETIN 1097, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
20 pounds per cow. The cows on experiment would not consume 
more than this weight at a feeding. 
Table 7. — Effect of feeding 5 to 20 pounds of alfalfa silage once daily one 
hour oefore milking. 
Result of sampling. 
% 
Milk from cows fed 
silage. 
Milk from 
Before After jfed silage, 
aeration, aeration. 
1 
11 1 11 11 
Off flavor 
11 11 
No off flavor 
i J 11 
Off odor.... 
No off odor. 
11 

11 

The results in Table 7 show that the feeding of alfalfa silage to 
cows one hour before milking imparted a feed flavor which could be 
detected in all cases. The off flavors were described as " slight feed," 
" feed," " slight silage," and " alfalfa silage " as the quantity was in- 
creased up to 20 pounds. The odors were described with the same 
terms. When the milk from the cows receiving 5 pounds was aerated 
the flavor and odor were very faint. When 10 pounds per cow was 
reached, the milk contained sufficient feed flavor and odor even after 
aeration to be ordinarily detected by consumers. When 15 pounds 
had been reached sufficient was present, in the opinion of the examin- 
ers, to cause rejection of the milk by the average consumer. Without 
question, the cream from this milk would be rejected by the sweet- 
cream trade. 
EFFECT OF AERATIOX. 
In this experiment it was noted that while aeration removed a 
great part of the feed taste and aroma, sufficient remained to be 
noted in all examinations. 
Standing in the barn in alternate stalls were the cows which did 
not receive alfalfa silage. It is seen in the table that no feed flavor 
or odor was noted in the milk produced by these cows. It is to be re- 
membered, however, that throughout this work, with the exceptions 
of Experiments Xos. 1 and 2, the barn was well ventilated. 
2. FEEDING ALFALFA SILAGE AFTER MILKING 
As in the feeding of corn silage the importance of feeding alfalfa 
silage only after milking has been noted. To determine how much of 
this may be fed per cow, after milking, without rendering the milk 
objectionable to consumers, the following work, shown in Table 8, 
was carried on. 
