The record-union., 1899-03-29


lactaticn requires three or four pounds
more food than at any other period
An overWorked and underfed horse
grows thin, but an underfed milch cow
refuses to yield the quantity and qual-
ity of milk desired. An. OK at rest re-
quires only about seventeen pounds OF
food day, but one being fattened re-
quires about twenty-five pounds per
day, a large part of it nitrogenous. OF
nutrient protein, this proportion being
about what is fed on the Henry Miller
ranch and at like places.
After finishing his talk ON food tor
dairy cattle, Professor Jaffa talked on
Advantages of Silo'' for preserving
green foods. He said that when the
subject was first talked of in Califor-
MIA it was believed that silages were OF
no use in California, though of great
value in the countries of dry winters;
but experience had shown that silos
are as useful in California during the
dry summers as they are IN the East
during long, cold winters.
The speaker favored round sllos
rather than squares orsrectangular ones
It was found of advantage to cement
the bottom of silo and to watch care
fully to prevent the loss of silage by
excess of fermentation. He said there
should be care to paint the boards OF
the silos with antiseptic paints, so as to
prevent trouble from the juices ana
acids of the foods. Experience had
shown that the area of a siio should De
about five feet square per day for each
animal. and about two inches in DEPTH
giving each animal about one and a
quarter cubic feet per day.
Some Of the hearers did not quite
understand the speaker, and he ex-
planned in detail that he meant that
each animal would eat down to the
depth of one inch per day over an area
of five feet. It would be necessary to
use about that much anyhow to keep
ahead of fermentation; for when sllo
is once opened fermentation is likely to
run very fast
alfalfa, oats, peas and corn make
fine silage'' said the speaker. but corn
is best. for we lose but per cent. OF
the nutriment. as against % by drying
corn. Alfalfa loses more nutrient quail
tiles in silage than hay; but in feeding
silage the greatest care must be taken
TO see that the animal does not get
enough to make it sick"
The speaker said corn should be cut
into pieces five or six inches long rath-
er than put into the silo long. Sugar
beet pulp, he said, had been tried long
enough to demonstrate its value as
silage.
1T is easy to preserve the sugar beet
pulp silage.'' said the professor, . for
it may be preserved in trenches at
small cost. In fact, all silages are
much easier preserved than other
foods''
A great advantage of silage as food,
the speaker held, lis that il prepares
the animals, especially COWS, for pas
ture feed. If we have been feeding
silage cattle and animals do better on
pasture food than if we have been feed
ing dry food
QUESTION-BOX.
Questions were asked at the end of
the talk One dairyman asked wheth-
er beet pulp would have to be put into
silos at once to save it from loss by
drying.
You may wait few days. said the
Professor, "and the beets will be lit
tie drier and richer, that's all"
Another question-"Is it fact that
condensed milk manufacturers have re-
fused milk from silage fed cows?"
.Some of them have refused" was
the reply, but because bad silage was
used or good silage improperly"
Professor Fowler said he believed the
manufacturers had refused because Of
a bad flavor of the milk, but he thought
there was a way Of overcoming the bad
flavor.
Professor Jaffa said the silage should
be fed after milking, not before.
A voice-"How much should 1 feed per
day?"
About thirty-fve pounds to an ami
NAL"
mo, I mean from the silo?"
"Oh, about four inches from the top;
less from the bottom
rs there any advantage in wetting
silage?"
Not usually. but it is at times ad-
vantageous in the very dry valleys to
sprinkle the silage."
Should the silage be weighted
DOWN."
"Oh, no, but it is an advantage to put
straw over the top of the silage"
In reply to a fusilade of questions
the Professor said there were about 100
silos in California; about 10000 in the
United States, extending as far as
Alaska. Silage was better food than
SQUASH, and squash seeds would not in
jure mich COWS; silage and squash
should be fed together. Carrots and
squash together Were better food than
either alons Green alfalfa and alfalfa
hay together were not considered good
feeding. The best plan was to cut
alfalfa and feed it thereafter, rather
than to pasture it. Alfalfa hay and
squash cannot be fed together in such
a way as to insure balanced ration