THE VALUE OF POTATOES FOR FEEDING DAIRY COWS
Twenty Ayrshire and twenty Holstein-Friesian cows were used at the Experimental Farms, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and Fredericton, New Brunswick, respectively, in an evaluation of the use of raw potatoes for feeding lactating dairy cows. The experiments were of the changeover design and were conducted in the period 1956–59. It was concluded that potatoes were equal to grass silage on a T.D.N. basis, provided that the protein content of the grain mixture fed with the potatoes was also increased. Better T.D.N. consumption was obtained when both silage and potatoes were fed than when silage was fed alone. Increasing the protein content of the grain mixture fed with potatoes resulted in increased production of F.C.M. and S.N.F., but not of butterfat.