Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-09-29
Quality Of siIaoe. Milk.

Noauty OF SiIaSe M''N'
! We have been advocating the value
| and Importance Of our dairy farmers
feeding silage to their dairy cows. The
| shortage this season of both pasture
| and hay crop brings this subject to
the front. There is no gainsaying the
| fact that every farmer keeping any
considerable number of cows will
| find it economical to have silo and
| feed silage. If one with herd OF
! twenty to twenty-five good COWS hao
| had good silage during this past sum
mer in the dry season When the
| pastures We're practically burned up
it would have paid for itself.
| The building Of silos, however
should on account of the expense OF
| filing them be cooperative. If three
| four, or five neighbors should each
decide to build silo, they could Sc
cure the material and labor for con-
structing them at less price than
if they builded Independently of each
other; they could join in exchanging
work. and in this way fill them With
out any outlay other than their Ia
Dor. but the great saving would be
in their buying and owning one set
of machinery for filling all their
! silos. 1t is not too late yet to build
them for this years crop: it is well
worth the farmers time and in
vestigation.
We have observed more or less
comment on the effect ensilage has
on the milk of silage fed cows. We
think, it has been conclusively proven
that the quality of silage milk is
| quality in this instance we refer To
/ I'D nd n the
| percentage of butter fat which is
often treated as the standard of quail
ity; we think, however. that prac-
| tically all who feed ensilage concede
that when of good quality and fed
with proper concentrated grains it
| causes an increase in the flow OF
| milk. 1t is a mistake 10 suppose
that the odor that good silage gives
| milk IS Objectionable. Again and
against tests have been made to ascer-
| tain whether the consumers Of milk
| have any we'll founded objections t.
milk from silage fed COWS In all of
| the tests, as far as we know. it has
been proven that silage milk gave
greater satisfaction than milk pro-
duced from other kinds of food
| For some years Pro. W j. Fraser, of
| the Illinois experimental station, made
exhaustive tests to get al the facts in
| the case. In one test he divided his
dairy herd into two lots, one lot was
| fed forty pounds of silage per COW each
| day, and the other lot vas fed clover
hay and grains. Both lots Of milk
We're handled and cared for in the
same way. Samples Of the milk of these
| two herds were sent 10 80 persons
FOR an opinion as to the difference in
| flavor of the two samples submitted
each person was asked 10 state his
| preference Without knowing which
kind of milk they were approving.
so per cent preferred the milk
made from silage; % per cent. the
milk not made from silage and IL per
| cent expressed no choice
| We must turn our attention to the
economical phases of the subject, and
| we think all will agree-certainly all
who have tried it-that with ensil-
| age two cows can be kept in the
ordinary way and that the silage
| fed cows will give about % per cent
more milk. These are the points we
would emphasize. With our higher
priced lands and labor, the economical
| production of the raw material to be
manufactured into a finished product
| is an essential one. and is being fully
considered by all prosperous manu-
| facturers.