46 



KANSAS. 



Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station. 



Department of Kansas Stale Jgricnltnral College. 



Location, Manhattan. Director, E. M. Shelton, M. So. 



BULLETIN NO. 6, JUNE, 1889. 



Silos and silage, E. M. Shelton, M. So. (pp. 3-lG), — This bulletin 

 discusses the objections to corn fodder on account of the cost of hand- 

 ling and losses in fodder making and feeding, and the advantages of 

 silos and silage for Kansas. " Every practical man familiar with the 

 facts understands that corn fodder in Kansas is a very different thiug 

 from the article of the same name raised in New Eugland and the 

 Middle States." The proportion of leaves and blade on Kansas corn is 

 much less than in the case of the varieties grown in the Eastern and 

 Middle States. In Kansas the ripening period is very brief, allowiug 

 very little time to cut and shock the corn. The tyiug and shocking 

 of the bundles of fodder at husking time is a difQcult task, owing to 

 the dry and brittle condition of the stalks and to their bulk. A great 

 amount of fodder is unavoidably wasted in this process a*nd its coarse 

 and bulky character makes the fodder difficult to store. The cost of 

 cutting up the corn and of husking from the shocks must also be con- 

 sidered. 



For these reasons chiefly, and because of the cost of cutting up the corn and the 

 added cost of hnslcing from the shocks, we have ceased upon the college farm to 

 attempt further to grow corn and fodder in the same field. The same facts have com- 

 pelled us to look to the silo as a means of utilizing the wealth of vegetation which is 

 otherwise largely wasted in our corn-fields. 



Waste of fodder in feeding. — The experiments of 1SS7 and 1888 are 

 epitomized in a table which gives the period of each experiment, num- 

 ber of cows fed, daily and total feed, total waste, length of cut of fod- 

 der, per cent of waste, and the quality of the fodder. The author is 

 convinced that the chief value of cutting fodder lies in the fact that the 

 chopped fodder can be more conveniently handled. 



The addition of meal to the cut fodder diminished the waste greatly without a 

 doubt, although it may well be questionable whether cattle are benefited by con- 

 suming a large amount of indigestible, woody fiber to which they have been 

 tempted by a very small amount of adhering meal. 



The striking fact is that even with the very excellent fodder used in this experi- 

 ment, and fed as it was in a tight manger, the cattle rejected 31 per cent of all placed 

 before them. Consider for a moment what would likely— certainly, I may say— be 

 the case with ordinary, coarse fodder fed on the ground in the field or yard and often 

 necessarily in the mud ! 



The loss of corn in fodder maldng. — The experiments of last season 

 (see First Annual Report of Kansas Station, p. 42) indicate that the 

 loss of corn when cut even slightly green is very great. 



