322 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



Prof. Haecker: I have had no experience on that, but I pre- 

 sume that would be very much the same as good corn fodder or 

 shredded corn. I do not think I would advocate that because the 

 main object of silage is to provide some succulent feed. You would 

 lose the sueculency so you would not gain very much. 



Shilling: I am an enthusiastic silo man. I take the position 

 that there isn't a man on a farm in the State of Iowa with the 

 present values of land who can afford to be without one. I wouldn't 

 try to run my farm today without a silo. I believe that there is 

 nothing in the world that a farmer can mortgage his farm to build 

 except a silo. You will get your money back with greater dividends 

 than in any other way. Farmers today can not afford to o\^^l the 

 land without feeding silage. 



Haecker: I believe if I lived in a locality where there were two 

 or three silos I could fill my silo for 50 cents a ton, but I have 

 figured conservatively. To make a long story short, I have found 

 with the most conservative figures, allowing a good price for the 

 corn and for the help that I can just simply double the money value 

 of an acre of corn. I have been pounding away in Nebraska for 13 

 years talking the silo. I say with the utmost confidence in the state- 

 ment that one farmer out of every four who keeps stock in the State 

 of Iowa would be greatly benefited by a silo, and I will say the 

 same thing for Nebraska, Illinois, Wisconsin and Kansas. 



President: I would like to hear from Mr. HiU, of Rosendale, 

 Wis. 



Mr. Hill: I am glad to add my testimony in favor of the silo. 

 We have used ensilage on our farm for 22 years. Mr. Shilling voices 

 my sentiment exactly. I really would not want to continue in the 

 dairy business unless I could have ensilage. It seems strange to a 

 man who hasn't had experience with a silo to think that a cow 

 would come in off of green pasture to eat ensilage, but she will do 

 it. After 25 years of pegging away Wisconsin is coming into her 

 own in the silo business. There were built in Wisconsin last year one- 

 third as many silos as there were in the state, and I look forward to 

 the time when not one out of four but nine out of ten of our farm- 

 ers will be feeding ensilage. In the neighborhood where I live there 

 are 55 silos, so I say Wisconsin is making progress in building silos. 



Member: I would like to ask a question about the effect of sil- 

 age on butter. I built a silo this summer and my neighbors tell me 

 that silage has a bad effect on the flavor of butter. 



