The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1893-09-06
Four Ways of Preserving Fodder Corn.


Cost of Harvesting and Grinding.
-Four Ways of Preserving Fodder Corn.
Six acres of fodder corn from the three
fields of the station in the fall of 1892
We're harvested in such way that they
were divided into four exactly even
parts.
One-fourth was run through the cut
ter and cut into quarter inch pieces and
put into the silo ears and all. This was
called "whole ensilage."
The second quarter, called "stover en-
silage," had the ears picked off in the
field, then the stalks ran through the
cutter and put into another silo. The
ears, after living ON the ground for few
days, We're brought to the barn, husked.
and the ears dried and ground into cob
meal. The husks were run through the
cutter and, together with the meal fed
to the cows that were eating the stover
ensilage.
The third part, called the corn fod-
der, was placed i'll large stocks near the
barn, the top of the stocks being bound
very tightly so as to shed rain and snow,
and as fast as needed this corn fodder
was taken into the barn, run through
the cutter and fed ears and all together.
The last quarter, called the corn sto-
ver," was treated the same as the corn
fodder, except when it was taken into
the barn the ears were picked off, dried
and ground, and the resulting meal fed
at the same time with the cut stalks.
Twelve COWS were used, divided into
four groups, and the manner of feeding
was so arranged that each COW was fed
at one time or another on each of the
four portions, and at the end of the ex-
pertinent, which lasted five months, there
had been the same number of COWS for
the same number Of days on each one of
the four portions.
Each COW was given 10 pounds of very
fine clover rowen, three pounds of wheat
bran and two pounds of cornmeal daily,
and in addition all she would eat of the
fodder corn in some form or other.
The experiment went through very
successfully. The corn kept well in all
the different ways, was relished and well
eaten by the cows, and none of the cows
was sick or even off her feed during
the whole five months. Every milking
was weighed and the milk analysed for
"a millings out of each feeding period.
which lasted % days. Full records We're
kept of weights as harvested, amounts
fed, orts and residues, with very large
number of samples for chemical analy-
sis. The results, briefly stated, are as
follows:
Dry Matter Saved.
The whole ensilage lost 1S per cent of
the dry matter in the original crop AS
harvested-that is, there was saved for
feeding 50 pounds of dry matter for every
100 pounds in the original crop as har-
vested. The slower ensilage lost 81 per
cent of dry matter, the corn fodder Is
per cent and the corn slower II per cent;
average of all, Is per cent. Three of the
methods, therefore, gave almost identi-
cal results. The slightly better showing
of the corn slower over the corn fodder
can be accounted for by its being brought
into the barn from a week to 10 days
earlier each time for husking. The
slower ensilage showed the largest loss,
and this loss seems to have been due to
the heavy rains that fell on the ears and
husks while they We're lying in the field
before they We're brought to the barn.
The stalks of the slower ensilage kept
just about as well in the silo as the
whole ensilage. The same result was
found in similar experiment two years
ago.. e., that stocked corn fodder I'M
der the best conditions kept with as lit
tie loss as good ensilage But while the
ensilage in this experiment was handled
with no more care than is given by most
farmers with silos the stocked fodder
was treated much more carefully than
is ordinarily done on the farm, and the
losses here given of IS per cent are prob
ably much less than those usually ex-
perienced in this state.
Results of Feeding.
There was essentially the same return
in milk, total solids and fat from the
four methods of handling the corn crop.
These results will probably be a surprise
to many who would expect to see the en-
silage surpass the stocked fodder, and
more of surprise to the still larger
number who would expect decidedly bet
ter returns where the corn was husked
and ground than where it was fed whole
on the ear or put whole into the silo. In
milk yield the whole ensilage does the
best and the stover ensilage the poorest,
but these differences are only 3.3 per
cent or one-thirtieth of the total yield.
1t would be difficult to get any closer re.
suits if the cows had been fed without
change of rations during the entire win
ter.
Even these slight differences disappear
if the average of the two ensilages i,
compared with that of the two stocked
folders, or if the average of the two
parts in which the ears were separated
from the stalks and fed as meal is com
pared with the average of the parts il
which the ears and stalks were fed to
gether without grinding. The result
may be fairly interpreted to mean tina
all four ways of handling the corn GRO
preserve it in good palatable condition
and if the cows are allowed to eat al
they want they will give about the sam
return during the same number of day
from each method.