448 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



prototypes of the pit silos that are becoming so popular in sections where 

 the ordinary silo is apt to blow over, or to cause trouble in various ways. 

 Pit silos are undoubtedly of great value to farmers in meager circum- 

 stances, but they have no advantage over the other silos in those sec- 

 tions where prosperity will permit the regular silo to be built whether 

 it be a stave, hollow tile, or a cement structure. 



The next step in silo building leads us back to the pioneer days of the 

 dairy industry, which in terms of time means about forty years ago in 

 this section. A few of the more venturesome farmers saw fit to construct 

 in corners of their barns square bins, air tight, or as nearly so as possible, 

 and into these they put the green crop, especially corn. 



These square bins could not permit of thoroughly packing the silage, 

 and, as a result, there was much lost feed in the corners and around the 

 outer edges. To prevent this, the next stage in silo building shows the 

 corners cut off, making a sort of an octagon structure that was superior 

 to the previous one, but not equal to the perfectly round, smooth surface 

 of the modern silo that is found practical for every up to date farm 

 of today. 



Comparatively a few years ago, a speaker on the subject of silos found 

 it necessary to introduce his remarks very clearly and in definite defini- 

 tion of what the silo is, what its purpose is in the economy of the farm, 

 what its reason for existence in the equipment of modern up to date dairy 

 plants. It was necessary in those times to discuss fully all the crops that 

 were available for silage purposes. It was necessary to tell how to plant, 

 to harvest and to store the silage. We also found it necessary to tell 

 how the silage should be used in winter. Today it is no more necessary 

 to go through with all this preliminary explanation than it is to explain 

 the purpose and use of the corn crib. 



SILO IS POPtTLAB. 



The growth of silo popularity has been phenomenal. In one com- 

 munity not far from this office there is practically a silo on every farm, 

 and on a number of farms there are two. Seven years ago this was not 

 the case. At that time it was a problem to convince the farmer that he 

 should have a silo. He felt that it was just carrying a lot of useless 

 water up with the corn and storing it away for winter use. But these 

 people have come to see the necessity of succulent feed for winter use. 



The cow is so constituted that she makes her best record during the 

 early summer, before the excessive heat, before the flies annoy and 

 while the pastures are in their prime. Now, if the farmer can duplicate 

 these conditions in the barn, he can keep his cows on the standard of 

 pasture production throughout the entire year. That is the ideal system, 

 and that is the reason a succulent feed is so necessary and is used so 

 generally by all successful dairymen. 



A few years ago Chas. L. Hill, one of the most prominent breeders of 

 Guernsey cattle in the United States, and president of the American 

 Guernsey Cattle Club, in speaking of the Iowa State Dairy Association, 

 said: "I find that my cows will eat silage every day in the year, even 

 though they come up from a rich, luscious pasture." This may not be 

 the gentleman's actual words, but it is the thought he expressed, and 



