SIXTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VIII. 765 



will make about eight tons of silage as taken from the silo, there of 

 course being a greater weight as it goes into the silo. If the corn were 

 cut green according to the practice of many dairymen it would make 

 probably ten to twelve tons per acre, but we alwaj-s let our corn get 

 ripe enough to put in shock, and much of it becomes dead ripe before 

 going into the silos. Fifty bushels of ears equals 3,500 pounds of ears 

 for each IG.OOO pounds of silage, which makes the ears equal about 22 

 per cent of the total weight of silage. The soy beans, we think, have 

 about the same proportion of grain to total weight, so that we count our 

 silage 20 per cent grain. In ^0 pounds of silage a steer would therefore 

 get 10 pounds of grain, and .5 pounds of cotton seed meal added would 

 make 15 pounds of grain, or 1^^ pounds per hundredweight for a 1.000- 

 pound steer. An important feature, toe, is the fact that the grain is thor- 

 oughly mixed with the roughage so that it is all well digesed, thus 

 making a smaller grain ra-tion sufficient. 



Whether silage, in the case of any particular feeder, should be 

 adopted for steer feeding, dpeends upon the net balance of advantages 

 and disadvantages in his special situation and circumstances. Not all 

 men, by any means, who handle cattle should build silos. 



The advantages, as we have found them, are substantially as follows: 

 First — Corn put into the silo has a greater feeding value than when 

 fed dry. 



Siloing does not increase the food content of the corn. You cannot 

 take anj- more out of the silo than you put in, nor as much, but the 

 increase in digestibility of the whole plant by reason of the heating and 

 fermentation incident to siloing exceeds the loss of food value due to that 

 process (and there is some), so that there is a net gain. This gain is not 

 much, running, according to the experiments made at several of the 

 stations, about 10 to 12 per cent. This is not enough in and of itself t© 

 justify ensiloing the corn; but it must be remembered that theee experi- 

 ments have all been conducted upon the basis of the dry corn plant 

 being cared for so as to lose as little as possible of its feed value and 

 palability, and that it has been prepared and fed in the best possible 

 condition for the cattle to get the largest benefit therefrom. This 

 renders these experiments of little practical value to the average cattle 

 feeder, because he has not such means of caring for the dry corn plant 

 as is usually employed in making these experiments. With three-fourths 

 of the feeders in the principal cattle feeding sections of Ohio shock corn 

 only is fed, ^and the corn stands out in the field all winter and is hauled 

 to the feed lot as needed. Many shocks twist down and partially or 

 wholly rot, all are seaked with the rains and beaten by the winds, g&t 

 bard and v^-^oody, and are thus mere or less damaged. It is a matter of 

 common knowleege among feeders that after the first of March the fodder 

 i^i shock corn is of little value. Under favorable conditions fattening 

 cattle will eat only the best portions of the fodder, aad the great bulk 

 of it is wasted and thrown out to keep them wp out of the mud. With all 

 these things taken into consideration the gain in feed value to the 

 average cattle feeder who uses shock corn by siloing the corn is, in our 

 judgment, not lees than 50 per cent. We carry upon the same land 



