34 The Bulletin. 



THE SILO FOR THE STOCKMAN AND SMALL 



DAIRYMAN. 



By J. FRANKLIN DAVIS. Guilford College, N. C. 



Tliere are comparatively few silos in North Carolina, and tliese are almost 

 exclusively owned by the larger daiiymen. There will be many more bnilt this 

 fall, but relatively few of those who do something in the dairy line have yet 

 realized what the silo means for them. So few have ever seen good silage that 

 even if they have read about the silo, tliev liave an indefinite idea of what it 

 really means, either as a matter of convenience or as a matter of economy. I 

 have never yet seen a dairj'man who has tried feeding silage who would think of 

 keeping milking cows through the winter without it. The best dairyman in my 

 neighborhood built a silo last fall, and now he says he does not see how he got 

 along so long without one. There had been silos in the community, but to him 

 it still seemed something of an experiment. The cost of liuilding loomed up 

 before him; he had been too busy to give much attention to the success of his 

 neighbors; and the prospect of losing his feed kept him in dread. But one 

 season's experience showed him that a silo is a necessity. No dair_\niian can 

 afford to do without silage for winter feed. And the same may be said of the 

 farmer who feeds beef cattle, and raises his own feed (and if he does not he 

 cannot afford to feed them ) . 



In the first place, one can get more feed-stuff from a given piece of land in 

 corn than in anything else. On good land in a favorable season one may get, 

 at very little expense, from ten to twenty tons of the be.st feed per acre planted 

 in corn and peas, or sorghum and peas. 



Now the silo is the means for saving every pound of this vast amount of feed 

 in the best manner. A good home-made sinnll stave silo may be made by any 

 fanner who can use tools, or by a common carpenter, at a cost of from twenty-five 

 to fifty dollars; or if a farmer is full-handed, and wishes to make the silo a per- 

 manent improvement on his farm, he mav get one of the ready-made small silos 

 wdth patent doorway and cover for from $75 to $100, The first silo I built was put 

 up by myself and sixteen-year-old boy in one day. and did not cost over ten 

 dollars — a small one, to be sure, 7 feet in diameter and 12 feet high. I should 

 not again build one so small; but that was something of an experiment. By 

 elevating the cutter to a level with the mow of tlie barn, tliis silo was filled by 

 means of a two-horse lever-power without a carrier. It was made of Tindressed 

 boards three inches wide, Tliey were simply set up edge to edge without either 

 matching or beveling. But the experiment was a success, Tlie dampness and heat 

 of the silage closed the joints so that they became air-tight; and as I had but one 

 door, there was only a small quantity of spoiled feed around it, and the necessary 

 loss on top. The rest of it was as good silage as I now have in a oatent silo 

 made with staves that are tongued and grooA-ed and beveled edijes. Even a silo 

 of that si/e will hold enough feed for tliree cows four months. ]\[y present one is 

 8 feet in diameter and 18 feet high, and for the last two winters has fed five 

 cows four months. If I were in a reijular dairy business I should provide silage 

 for all my milking-cows for six months in the year, 



r have spoken of the amount of feed one can get from com. In the silo it is 

 practically all utilized. Corn fed imder the most favorable circumstances in any 

 other way results in large loss. T have fed shredded fodder for a number of 

 years and it is n rare thing to avoid a larje loss of the feeding value of the 

 stalks and fodder by this juethod because of both weathering and wastage of the 

 harder parts, for it is almost impossible to get the whole crop properly shredded 

 at the time of year when it has^ to be done. But corn put into the silo is all 

 eaten. If the silage is properly made and properly fed. there need not be a half 

 bushel of wastage from the whdle l)in. Tlie coin is cut into half-inch lengths 



