120 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
you are getting only about one-thirteenth of what they are worth. We 
in Ohio are feeding our corn out of the shock. If we count the expense 
that we put on that fodder in order to get it in shape, w^e would get 
nothing out of it. We cut it and put it in shock merely for the purpose 
of getting the land in wheat; the feeding value in it ordinarily would 
not justify the usual way of handling it. 
Putting that corn in the silo gives you the full feeding value. This 
feeding cattle ensilage is a new thing, and, like many another new thing, 
some people get very enthusiastic over it and say that all of it ought 
to be done that way. You must remember that the putting of the corn 
in the silo is not going to increase the feeding value of it a particle, but 
it will render the grains more digestible. The food in a large silo is 
always so hot that you can't hold your hand in it, through the process 
of fermentation; and it therefore puts the grain in condition so that it 
is more easily and completely digested. But with a practical feeder 
of cattle that is not a very material thing. It does not matter if the 
cattle do waste a great deal of the corn; he has he hogs to gather it up; 
so there is no increased value in the grain by putting it in the silo, not- 
withstanding the fact that the steer will digest a larger per cent of it. 
The only place that the benefit or gain comes in is through getting the 
full value of the stalks. You do get every pound of that, because the 
steer will eat it up completely. Our experience covering a period of eight 
years is that the figure of forty per cent value in the stalks is not too 
high; in fact, I think it is too low. Practically I believe the feeding 
value of corn by putting it in a silo is doubled. We have been able to 
carry twice as many cattle as we could before. Before that we fed with 
clover hay and shock corn, blue grass, etc., much the same as you men 
here in Iowa are feeding. It is therefore apparent that there is a great 
gain in utilizing the whole of those stalks. As the gentlman that 
preceded me said, the waste in the state of Iowa is simply enormous. 
Two-thirds of the value of all that you get out of this corn crop is 
wasted every year, except that there is a distinct advantage in your 
leaving these stalks on the field. Your land would be reduced in fer- 
tility just that much faster if they were taken off, and it will be reduced 
in value if you cut that corn off and put it in the silo. For that reason, 
if you leave these stalks there and waste $12.00 or $13.00 per acre every 
year, it is not an entire waste, but is simply that much less taken off the 
soil. The ideal way is to feed all of that corn down on the ground, and 
we endeavor as much as possible to handle the crop that way with cattle 
and hogs. Whenever you do that you are taking practically nothing off of 
the land. 
The next thing to determine in order to solve the question as to 
whether there is any profit in it is, how much expense is there going to 
be in utilizing and saving that $12.00 or $13.00 per acre of value of the 
corn plant. I told you about the enormous expense in Ohio involved in 
handling this crop after it is raised. You don't have so much expense 
here. The principal question with us is whether there is more cash out- 
lay involved in putting the corn in the silo than in handling it as we 
used to. We have found by experience that it costs much less to handle 
the corn and put it in the silo than to cut and feed it the other way. 
