DAIRY COWS AND ENSILAGE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 366, 8 May 1889, Page 4

DAIRY COWS AND ENSILAGE.

The Farmer has encouraged so many to go * in for making ensilage that we feel it ooru r , duty to keep our readers informed as to 1 the recorded results of experience in using j this kind of fodder, whether these, result t are in favour of ensilage or the c i We have published a great deal tending to show that properly made ensilage was not I only anexcellentfoodfor horses and ordinary ' stock, such as young and dry cattle and j sheep, but also that it was suitable for feeding dairy cows in milk. Many dairy- | men, both at home and America, have ] spoken in high praise of ensilage a& a milk , producing food, but the expeiience of a cor- , respondent of the Agricultural Gazette, would , seem to show that under certain conditions ( ensiled fodder has an injurious effect upon tho milk returns of dairy cows. We , quote below what this correspondent .says, not because his experience convinces v?, in the face of all the evidence to the contrary, that ensilage is harmful to milk production, bub simply that our readers may have the advantage ot a knowledge of the facts he l'elates, whatever they may bo worth. It is quite possible that not enough ensilage was given to be an equivalent lor the former ration of hay. Besides, it has always, been admitted by the advocates of ensilage that it is nob a food to be used except as supplementary to other foods, and also care should be taken to aerate the ensiled fodder fora few hours before it is given to stock. This writer gives us no debails as to how his cows were fed with the ensilage — how much weigh b of that fodder they were allowed as a substitute for the hay, or anything else connected with the feeding of the cows that may have been responsible for the falling off in milk. However, this is what he says : "When anyone meets with reverses or troubles, it is a great comfort to find that there are other people in the same predicament. It is with the greatest pleasure, therefore, that I read of the ill-success of J.W.M., in a late issue of the Gazette, in giving, or rather offering ensilage to his cows. I was slightly better off than he was, however, because in my case the animals ate the stuff readily, but the result was most disastrous. Sixty cows were yielding sixty barn gallons of milk before they tasted this stuff, but as soon as a feed of ensilage was substituted for a foddering of hay, they dropped at the rate of three gallons daily. At the end of three days they were down to about fifty gallons, when, fearing they would be put dry altogether, we stopped it. They immediately began to l'ecoyer, but did not regain all the ground lost. Ib was bried a second time with similar results, and now the ensilage is being given to young cattle who relish ib, and seem -to be thriving on ib. " I expect to be told, of course, that it is not good ensilage, and that the fault lies with my manipulation of it. Perhaps this is the case, bub there are several circumstances in my favour, which, in justice te myself, I crave space to narrate. The grass of which ib was made was from a meadow which, in previous years, yielded the finest hays, being mostly foxtail, and though it was carted in a wet stabe, it was pub up directly it was cub. I am — or rather I was — a believer in ensilage, and have read a great deal about it, and seen many specimens, and I endeavoured to make this on tho sweet system. It was put up three or four feet at a time, and allowed to heat, and when tho height of twelve feet was reached ib was left so itself for some days. Then the elevator was drawn up, and a stack of hay built on the top for pressure. I calculated this out to be 301b per square foot The 12ft. of grass is compressed into 4ft. o ensilage. Tubes were built in the sidet and the thermometer showed the tempera ture l-ising bo 170 deg. where ib remained for a month ; even now the temperature is over lOOdeg. It comes out brownish green in colour, and I do not think it is sour, though it may not be sweet. The readiness with which the animals eatib is a proof that it cannot be a bad sample, but I am having it analysed, and it I find I am libelling it will retract my words. " I am more than ever persuaded of the truth ot the opinion ot Sir John Lawes and Dr. Gilbert about it, that ib is a mistake to ensile stuff if you can make ib into hay. If we have another season like last we may make a stack of it again, but not if jolly old Sol lifts on us the light of his countenance. I may add that our farmyard is like the battle to which the war-horse was advancing — it can be smelt afar off since the ensilage 3tack was opened, and I think I taated the smell of it in the milk while the cows were getting an allowance. " In the face of so much that is said in favour of this system, and of the experience of personal friends, I would hardly have dared to write the above, but J. W. M.'s letter gavo me an opening. Each man's experience is the best for himself — the above is mine, and may be taken for what ib is worth. "M."