Pea Haulms for Dairy Cows.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXVI, Issue 149, 28 June 1902, Page 2 (Supplement)

Pea Haulms for Dairy Cows.

The industry of canning peas is a very large one in the State of New York, and the following letter to a New York paper by a dairy farmer will be useful as conveying a hint as to the value of pea fodder for dairy cow feeding, although here the pea canning industry is not yet established.

I have purchased pea haulm ensilage at the canning factories at 8s per""lto^r~X'Hav^^t^erI*SitSS--i--*Hts* with maize ensilage. Capacity, 125 tons. I feed 20!b maize ensilage with about 3 or 4lb grain, composed of: one half ground oats and poas, one-half gluten feed, mixed with it. After milking I feed 201b pea haulms per head. After this is eaten the cows are watered and fed with what hay they will eat clean. Before milking at night they are fed the same amount of maiza ensilage and grain as in the morning. After "milking they are again fed clover hay, but no pea haulms. My dairy cons;sts mostly of thoroughbred Holsteios. They are fed ensilage ten months, but pea haulms mostly from November to May, and during canning season, when they can be. bought at 4s per ton. The Port Stauwix Canning Company filled the past season nine silos; capacity, 200 tons each. All this was sold to farmers at 83 per ton.

As high as 401b of pea haulms a head per day has been fed with good results, where no other ensilage was on hand. My experience has been that the combination of maize and pea haulms produces the best results. I expect to build another silo this summer, which I expect to fill with crushed sweet maize cobs from the canning factory. "I have been experimenting with the crushed cobs. I am feeding them now, and, as a milk producer, get better results even than with the pea haulms.