FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 107 



The Silo for Lamhs and Steers. 



BY A. M. WELCH^ IONIA. 



I think naturally that my topic is one of the most interesting on the 

 program. I shall give no theories but simply tell my own experience. 

 It is now thirteen years since I built my first silo, and I grow more 

 enthusiastic about silo every year. When I first started I was laughed 

 at for going into the silo business, but I am glad to say that nearly every 

 prominent stock farmer in my county is using from one to three silos. 

 In Ionia county the dairymen and feeders of sheep and cattle are build- 

 ing silos ; and when I remind you that Ionia county is far more a feeding 

 county than a dairy county, and further tell you that thirty silos were 

 completed in one township last year, you will see how our stock farmers 

 are coming to feel about the place of the silo in feeding lambs and steers. 



I will say a word about the gains I made last winter. I fed a ration 

 1% pounds of corn silage, and 14 pound of culled beans. This we feed 

 morning and night. For a noon feed I used hay one day, corn fodder the 

 next, wheat straw the next, oat straw the next, and then repeated. Just 

 now I am also feeding a little corn and cob meal. 



I bought 1,000 lambs last November. They were put into the barn 

 December 8. The whole lot when weighed in averaged 56 pounds. I fed 

 eleven weeks and the 1,000 lambs weighed out 77 pounds, or a gain of 

 21 pounds in 11 weeks. They were dipped during the cold weather. Three 

 hundred of these lambs which were considered the tops and which weighed 

 in 63 pounds, I expect to turn off a little earlier. This bunch of 300 

 weigh 80 pounds today. 



Now as to sales. I have fed western lambs every year but one. For 

 instance, in 1899 I bought Montana lambs which weighed in at 58 pounds 

 and we're sold June 2, in Buffalo at 92 pounds. There were three double 

 decks of these lambs, they brought the top of the market, |6.75, and not 

 one out. A year ago my lambs weighed in in November 45 pounds, they 

 sheared five pounds of wool, and on May 30 they weighed 85I/3 pounds 

 and brought |5.75, the top of the market. Thirteen head of these weighed 

 122 pounds and brought |5.25. Two years ago I figured that the lambs 

 gained practically two pounds a week and made me practically six cents 

 a head per week. I feed silage and a light grain ration. 



As to cattle. I agree that the best food for a steer is fine succulent 

 pasture, but I claim that the next best is silage and particularly because 

 it is succulent. One of our feeders feeds cattle annually and gets gains 

 of nearly three pounds a day. In fact his gain more than pays for his 

 ration. He feeds 8 pounds of corn, 25 pounds of silage, and 4 pounds of 

 hay. Another neighbor with a bunch of 18 steers made them gain over 

 three pounds a day. He fed silage and a light grain ration. 



