The BuLLKn:N. 35 



while it is yet succulent, and even the hardest parts of tliir stalk so slireildod 

 and so softened by the heat and juices of the othor ])ar1s all Ihcohic puiatalde 

 and cows lick up tiic last vestige of \;vcry feed. 



J5ut llic utilization of tlie crop and tiic convcniciicu for feeding art; only two 

 points in favor of the system. The dairyman cannot afford to be without silage 

 on account of the saving of grain feed which it enables him to make. Good 

 silage of corn and peavines is the nearest approach one can mak(! for his cows to 

 the conditions of June pasture. The succulence of the feed kecsps the cows in 

 good condition, the palatability of it gives tlu^m a good appetite, and the rich- 

 ness of it does away with the necessity of buying so much concentrated feed-stuffs. 



My experience in feeding silage for a number of years has proved to me that 

 one can keep his cows in better flow of milk on a ration of silage, with from 4 

 to G pounds of grain per day, than he can with dry feed, or dry feed cut and 

 mixed with from 8 to 10 pounds of grain. This past spring, when ni}' silage 

 gave out before grass had come, I doubled the amount of bran and cotton-seed meal 

 I had been feeding with silage and still my cows failed perceptibly in the amount 

 of milk and butter they gave. I \\as feeding- i\\'e cows. An increase of four 

 pounds of grain feed per cow meant an increase of five cents in the cost of the 

 ration per day for each cow; or twenty-five cents a day for the five. My silage 

 had saved me twenty-five cents a day for four months; that is, it had saved me 

 $30 in my bill for grain feed for one winter for five cows. In the same way, one 

 feeding ten cows and liaving silage for them six months in the year, would effect 

 a saving in liis grain feed of $90. At this riate even the best silo mil soon pay 

 for itself. Nor can this saving be offset by the cost of silage itself. Under no 

 circumstances should it cost the farmer who raises his ovm corn and peavines 

 more than $2 per ton. Can any one, then, afford to get along without a silo? 



