News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-02-14
GREEN FOOD FOR CATTLE,
NEW PHASES OF ENSILAGE DIS
CUSSED IN THE ANNUAL CONGRESS.
Concerns that Will Not Buy the Milk of
Ensiln2e-Fed Ccws-Its Effect on Horses
The Government Asked to Investigate.

The Government Asked to Investigate.
Nearly one hundred farmers interested
in preserving summer growths green and
juicy in winter met in New York city
They represented the Ensilage Congress.
Ensilage has been tested in this country
for five years. The object of the annual
meetings is to compare experience and
results. As an art, ensilage is yet in its
infancy. 1t was practiced filst in France
IN 1873 on large scale, and was adopted
in America in 1878. The system has
enemies, who insist that the preserved
grass or corn spoils the milk, and that.
being the first stage of fermentation, it
must eventually undermine the health
of cattle.
At this Congress both sides of the
! question were presented. Edward Grid
ley, of Wassaic, N. Y, gave an account
OF the difficulty the Wassaic farmers had
with New York condensed milk COM
! pany which had its factory near Wassaic.
| Milk was furnished to this factory by
farmers from great distance around it.
In 1880 three farmers experimental with
| s1los. Milk increased in quantity, and
milk inspectors at the factory tried in
vain to detect something wrong in it.
| They pronounced the milk good. In
1881 eight additional silos were made
and in 1881 and 1882 a great deal of milk
was furnished to the factory from cattle
fed on ensilage and no fault was found.
In 1882 four more silOs were built.
There were then more silos in Wassaic
than IN any other part of the country in
territory of similar extent. In Febru-
ary, 1888, the milk was refused at the
factory. The farmers were told that
some milk which came from COWS fed on
ensilage had been condensed by itself
and it was found that the milk would
not remain fit for consumption as long a
time as other milk. It was asserted,
too, that New York consumers COM
planned that they could taste something
bad in the milk. The President of the
milk company offered to furnish the
usual food for COWS if farmers would not
fill their silos last summer, and refused
to make contracts with them from Octo-
Der 1, 1888, to March 81, 1884, if the
farmers filled their siIos.
Corn had been planted when this
proposition came from the condensed
milk company, and the farmers per-
mitted the question to remain open I'M
til the time came for them to decide |
whether to fill their silos. When that time |
eight arrived seven silos were filed and |
were allowed to remain empty. They are |
empty yet The speaker was one who |
refused to yield to the condensed milk |
company. He had bought thirty steers
and was fattening them for market. DR.. |
Tanner, Mr.. Chaffee, and others had |
done the same. Mr.. Gridley thought it |
a question which was the way to make |
most money, but he thoug twas by sell
ing milk. However, he was not so certain
of that when he found two old oxen
gain two and one-third pounds day
on ensilage:
DR. Tanner of the same town said he
is-7 &c ~o"s, eAIu ttlGer LIE IrouDIe WILL
the factory he sold 100 of them and TOOK
the milk of fifty to New York city. The
customers who used the milk did not
complain of it. If they did he had hay
enough for the COWS.
B. Rogers of Binghampton said he
furnished the milk of ensilage-fed COWS
to many people in Binghampton. They
complained of the milk just after the silo
was opened in winter. Out of three
hotels one had complained.
A resolution was passed asking the
Department of Agriculture at Washing
ton to make an analysis of ensilage milk
and of that produced by the ordinary
feeding and to publish the result, and
also requesting the State Experimental
Station of New York to make similar
comparative analysis.
Elder Evans, of the Lebanon Shakers,
said the Shakers filed three silos last
summer, and had fed out two of them.
Their butter was as good as ever. Elder
Evans thought that it is easy to make
poor article, but that there is no reason
why ensilage is not a perfect food. He
saw no injurious effect on the cattle.
Professor Miles of the Amherst Agri-
cultural College read paper on the pre-
vention of acidity in ensilage. He said
that fermentation is the result of pro-
cess of vital activity in which microscopic
germs are nourished. These germs are
called bacteria, and they produce the
acidity. If the bacteria could be killed
there could be no acidity. The way to
kill them, he thought, was to fill the silo
leisurely, and not put Oh the weights un-
til the temperature is high enough to
prevent its falling below the point neces-
sary to kill the bacteria. This tempera-
ture, he had found, was from Is degrees
to 122 degrees. The result, he believed,
would be uniformly sweet ensilage.
John Myer, of Mr.. Theodore A. Have
meyers Mountain Side farm, near Nah
wah, N. J., said he fed each of his 100
Jerseys twenty pounds of ensilage in the
morning and twenty pounds at night,
with seven pounds of hay at noon.
With each meal was given also a quart
of ground oats and Indian meal. The
cattle were never turned out to pasture,
and had been fed in this way for three
years. Their health is perfect. The
ensilage had been taken from sixty-three
acres of land, producing about twenty
tons to the acre.
Some one asked whether ensilage is
good for horses. DIR. Baxter, of Virginia,
said 81 fed my horses ensilage for a
week. So did neighbor. My neigh
boris horses died. About that time L
heard of some mules dying in Kentucky
from eating ensilage. Then 1 con-
cluded to stop feeding ensilage."
Henry Goodwill, of Passaic, said he
had an old horse which he fed on ensil-
age because he didn't care whether the
old plug lived or died. It got fat.
J. Costigan, of Frederick Bronson's
farm in Greenfield Hill, Conn.,, said he
had fed ten horses for a week on ensil-
age, and eight of them had died.