632 IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 



spoiling. Silos too large have in some localities made the silo unpopular, 

 because the farmers using them have not had enough stock to feed off 

 the two to four inches daily that is necessary if silage is to be kept from 

 spoiling. Every man should consider whether or not he wishes to build 

 two silos. On most farms there is a period of 100 days during the late 

 summer and fall when pasture is short and then silage would be of great 

 benefit. Especially is this true on the dairy farm. On the average corn belt 

 farm we consider two silos, one about 14x30 feet, and the other 10x30 

 feet as ideal. To fill these two takes about fourteen acres of average corn. 



Before any man puts up a silo, he should consider the difiiculties which 

 are likely to be in the way when it comes to filling. If there are no 

 other silos in the neighborhood, he should try to get his neighbors to go 

 in with him. This will cut down his investment in a silage cutter, how- 

 ever, and distributer, and will make it much easier when it comes to filling 

 in the fall. To fill a silo promptly takes a force of fifteen to twenty men 

 working from one to two days. A powerful engine, preferably one with 

 at least 18-full horsepower, should be used. It may readily be seen that 

 co-operation in siloing pays more than in almost any other farm opera- 

 tion. 



We will now assume that our prospective silo builder has considered 

 all the difficulties in the way of filling, and has decided to build. He is 

 undecided as to what kind. He sees the advertisements of wood silos, 

 hollow tile silos, brick silos, and concrete. Some of these claim greater 

 durability than others, while others claim that the silage keeps better. 

 But we do not care to enter into any controversy as to which silo should 

 be put up. So far as we have observed, all of the silos advertised in 

 standard farm papers are good. In the present state of our knowledge 

 we would say that the important thing is to get the silo put up. It does 

 not make so much difference Vv^hat kind you put up, just so it is done at 

 once. As a rough average, and merely to give our uninformed readers an 

 idea of the price, we would say that the ordinary 14x30 foot silo, fully 

 erected, and with concrete foundation, would cost $300 to $400, the exact 

 price varying greatly according to freight rates, and, in the case of tile 

 and concrete, according to availability of good labor. Properly cared for, 

 a wooden silo should last at least twenty years, and the hollow tile, 

 brick and concrete, if properly put up, should be practically permanent. 



Many men make mistakes in feeding silage. They think that because 

 the animals like it so well that it is a "cure-all." They forget that it is 

 poor in muscle building material, and that young animals cannot make 

 large gains on a ration of corn silage, corn and oat straw. They fail to 

 realize that while it increases the milk flow when fed in connection with 

 a good grain ration, that nevertheless it is weak in milk building mate- 

 rial. What we wish to impress on the minds of all feeders of silage is 

 that when silage is fed in large amounts it becomes especially necessary 

 to use either clover hay, alfalfa hay, oil meal, cotton-seed meal, or some 

 other feed rich in muscle builder. 



Even in the best packed silos there will sometimes be moldy silage. 

 As a rule, this does not seem to hurt cows, but very often causes sheep and 

 horses to become dangerously sick. A careful feeder must do his best 



