494 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURfi 



ority It is said that one acre of silage will keep three cows seven montha, 

 that two acres of hay will keep one cow seven months; also that one 

 acre of pasture will keep one cow six or eight months, and one acre of 

 silage will keep two cows one year. Frcm th's it would seem possible 

 to carry more stock with a silo than without it, and we might add that 

 this has been almost verified in cur own experience. 



The cost of a silo ranges according to size, somewhere from $300 to $400, 

 the cutter $150 to $200, and the engine from $600 to $700. It is advisable 

 to get a large cutter, a No. 18 or 20 size, and plenty of power, a 15 or 16 

 hcrse power engine. Three or four neighbors may reduce the cost of 

 machinery and labor materially by purchasirg and working together. 

 To avoid the rush in filling their silos, one can plant an early variety for 

 h's silage, another a medium and another a late variety. This is the 

 method in our country. 



As a feeding propcsition the use of the silo has proven a success in 

 providing a nutritious, palatable and easily digested ration adapted to 

 the winter feeding of all classes of live stock. And the cheapness of the 

 ration economically stored, ready for use any seascn of the year are 

 features that can net be overlcoked, to say nothing of the extra stock 

 one might be able to carry. The days of experiment are passed. The silo 

 is everywhere commended as an important factor in profitable stock 

 husbandry. 



SILAGE FOR SHEEP AND HORSES. 



W. A. MCKERROW, IN WISCONSIN INSTITUTE ANNUAL. 



The topic of silage has been one of long experiment and comment. 

 Seme years ago it was a common thing to hear people say that corn 

 silage was of little value; in fact, some would even assert that it was 

 not equal to our other rough feeds. Now we find that the advent of 

 the silo has continued, its value is fully realized by feeders in general. 

 Dairymen understand its part as an essential in economical milk pro- 

 duction. The majority of progressive dairymen here in Wisconsin have 

 silos, and as silage has proven itself a benefit to one class of live stock, 

 it is natural that men should reach out and seek to apply it to others. 

 The internal mechanism of the cow is not widely different from that of 

 a sheep or horse. A feed that a cow can assimilate at a profit should 

 be valuable as a feed for other classes of live stock. 



It does not pay to maintain a silo fcr cattle alone if silage can be 

 adapted to the use of our other farm animals. This has been the sub- 

 ject of much thought, not only to use silage as a succulent feed, but a 

 chief ration for sheep and horses. The results of experiments in the feed- 

 ing of -silage to these animals are probably not as widely known as they 

 should be. If they were, it is my belief that farmers would derive added 

 benefit from their silos. 



There are always reasons why failure is pronounced on new discoveries, 

 and we find this particularly applicable with silage. The first silos were 

 built oblong, giving great surface but little depth. This caused moldy 



