252 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Then to sum iiy the advantages of a silo to the dairyman, we find 

 these: 



1. The production of more and cheaper protein per acre than by 

 any other means that has been demonstrated as practical. 



2. The ability to give our cows a succulent food, during the winter 

 months, closely resembling June pasture. 



3. The prtoduction of the bulk of our dairy products during the win- 

 ter season, when we realize the best prices and have the greatest amount 

 of time to devote to the work. 



4. By the use of the silo we are enabled to store the greatest amount 

 of feed in the least possible space. 



5. The necessity of purchasing large amounts of commercial feed is 

 largely done away with. 



6. The producing capacity of the farm and the herd is increased, 

 thus necessarily increasing the profits of this branch of our work. 



7. It is the cheapest and best supplementary feed that can be pro- 

 vided, thus obviating the danger of too closely cropping the pasture. 



These are by no means all of the advantages to be derived from 

 the use of the silo but enough to convince the most skeptical that it 

 fills a long felt want, and its use is a long step toward improved dairying. 



Your State, like a few others in the upper Mississippi valley, has 

 made marvelous strides in the production of dairy products during the 

 past decade, but your possibilities in this direction have not even been 

 dreamed of. With better cows, better care, better feed and better dairy- 

 men, the net returns t)f the industry in your State will be greatly 

 enhanced. 



But I beg your pardon; I am diverging. Although the subject as 

 assigned me, "The Advantages of a Silo to the Dairyman," does not clearly 

 give me the right, still I wish to call your attention to a few of the 

 mistakes that the average dairyman is in danger of making when plan- 

 ning a silo and buying the machinery necessary to fill the same. 



When planning a silo two ideas should be kept constantly in mind, — • 

 the necessity bf using the entire surface at least every forty-eight hours; 

 and the fact that the bottom five f&et is worth about as much as the 

 top ten. To illustrate — if we have a herd of twenty-five cows and desire 

 to feed an average of thirty-three and one third pounds of silage per 

 day for a period of three hundred days, we will need one hundred and 

 twenty-five tons. A silo sixteen feet in diameter and thirty-two feet high 

 has a capacity of one hundred and twenty-eight tons, the required 

 amount, and will give much better satisfaction than will one of greater 

 diameter and less height. I have seen in Minnesota a silo twenty-four 

 feet in 'diameter and twenty-four feet high, the first bne built in my 

 home county. While this silo will store a large amount of feed, still it 

 is by no means satisfactory to its owner, owing to the large surface 

 exposed to the air. With greater height and smaller diameter the 

 pressure would be greater, expelling the air more completely and result- 

 ing in a better quality of silage. 



A safe rule is this, the height should be twice the diameter. 



But a silo without the necessary machinery to fill it is of no more 



