154 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



the machines, and the length of haul. Mr. Carrier, in the 

 United States Department of Agriculture, investigated the cost 

 of filling silos upon thirty-one farms. The distance from the 

 fields to the silos ranged from lo to 320 rods, and the cost 

 varied from 46 cents to 86 cents per ton, with an average of 

 64 cents. This cost included labor of men and teams, twine, 

 fuel and engine hire. 



THE VALUE OE SILAGE. 



As to the value of silage in the feed ration, I believe that^ 

 except under special conditions and in limited localities, it is 

 impossible to conduct dairying in Maine on a profitable basis 

 without feeding silage. I modified that statement, not to avoid 

 criticism, but simply because I know that occasionally there are 

 men whose conditions are such that they can afford to run a 

 dairy without a silo ; and there are men in certain localities 

 who can best afford to grow root crops, or substitute by- 

 products for their silage. 



We farmers have not always an opportunity to weigh our 

 animals, and to note their production to determine the value 

 of a certain feed, but our Experiment Station can do this for 

 us. At the Ohio Experiment Station with five cows of differ- 

 ent breeds fed silage, they found that 96.7 pounds of milk and 

 5.8 pounds of butter-fat were produced per 100 pounds of dry 

 matter fed. With the ration, where the silage was dropped 

 out, but with an equal nutritive value, the five cows in the same 

 test and in the same time alternated at different periods, pro- 

 duced 81.31 pounds of milk and 3.9 pounds of butter-fat per 

 100 pounds of dry matter fed. Compare these two productions 

 and note the value of the silage in the ration. The silage feed 

 cost, per 100 pounds of milk, was 68.7 cents ; the cost of butter- 

 fat, 1 3. 1 cents; the grain feed cost, per 100 pounds of milk, 

 was $1.05, and the cost per pound of butter-fat, 22.1 cents. 

 Now, these figures were obtained under carefully conducted 

 experiments, and they show that there is a difference of between 

 13 and 22 cents per pound for butter-fat. This difference in 

 the cost of butter-fat might mean the difference between profit 

 and loss in the whole dairy business. 



In Ohio at the same time they conducted an experiment of 

 fattening cattle on silage. With 42 steers divided into six lots, 



