234 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
in silage that a hog needs. If you want them in good condition it would 
be well to give them a little oil meal but a small portion of that is all 
that is needed. Silage keeps the digestive tract open and keeps the 
animal strong and healthy. 
I would rather be talking silage to you for dairy cows or beef, for 
growing hogs with us is only a side issue. We have grown them though 
and wintered our hogs with good results. It is a very cheap ration. 
As I said in starting out that is what we are looking for and what we 
are after and I don't think it is worth while for me to take up your 
time. At any time any of you want to talk to me along my line, that is. 
silage for all animals on the farm, I would be glad to talk. We have 
never had an animal refuse it on the farm except the dog and the 
hired girl. 
We have not had any hay on the farm for several years.. We pasture 
all the land every year except the corn field. In pasturing we always 
have plenty of grass, white clover and red, and blue grass — plenty of 
hogs and cattle and we shorten the winter two months by having lots of 
pasture. Whenever the grass is not covered with snow we have plenty of 
grass for every animal. 
If I told you all the good things concerning a silo, it would be like 
the old man's bear story. He was telling about picking strawberries on 
the mountain side one August day when he heard the stones begin to 
rattle and looking up saw a big grizzly coming at him. He turned and 
ran with the big sixteen hundred pound bear in pursuit. Then he hap- 
pened to think that the river was frozen over with a thin coate of ice that 
would hold him up but wouldn't support the bear. So he ran till he got 
to the river and as he had thought he went over in safety and the bear 
went through the ice. When he was through one of his listeners said, 
"I thought you said it was August when you were picking those straw- 
berries," and the old man said, "I might have kept you here to tell all 
the story, but it was August when I was picking the strawberries and 
January when I got to the river." So that is the way it would be with 
me. It would be January before I got through telling you all of the 
good things about silage. 
Ck)rn in our part of the state has sold above forty-five cents every 
August for the last five years, and it has given us an idea that corn will 
always be high. Those of you that live west have bought your corn 
cheaper but if you will save your com stalks properly they will be 
more valuable to you for feed than the ears. Corn stalks is worth more 
in the silo than the corn in the crib. When the farmers get down to 
studying their business along that line and get economical they will 
produce pork and beef cheaper. My talks are not very popular generally 
with farmers because I talk of what the farmer must do for himself. 
Better methods means better preparation of the soil, better care of grow- 
ing crops, and better care of the crops at harvesting time. A little 
deeper study of our own business and by pursuing better methods is 
the only way that we can produce cheaper. We are looking for something 
better and if we expect these meetings to do us any good we must 
have some faith in what other men say. 
