EIGHTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII. 281 



and by this time the cutter may be moved back to its former position and 

 the first silo refilled. In this manner, by changing from one silo to the 

 other, the greatest possible capacity of the silo is taken advantage of. 



Once the silo is full there is no reason for w^aiting longer to begin 

 feeding the product, unless it be that the pastures are luxuriant and it is 

 desired that the silage be kept for later winter uses. In this case some 

 precaution should be taken to keep the top layer from decay. This is best 

 accomplished by running some hay, straw or grass through the silage 

 cutter and covering the green corn to a depth of 12 to 18 inches. This top 

 layer should then be thoroughly soaked with water, using 15 or 20 barrels 

 on a silo 18 feet in diameter. This wetting down produces decay and 

 five or six inches of the top layer is readily rotted and seals up the sur- 

 face in such a manner that the air will not be permitted to enter the lower 

 parts. Unless this decay is very rapid the sealing process does not take 

 place so readily and oftentimes three or four feet of silage is spoiled 

 from the top downward. An additional precaution which may be taken is 

 to sow oats thickly over the top of the silo before the water is placed in 

 it. The heat which is brought about by the decay of the silage and 

 moisture from the water germinates the oats so that they quickly form 

 a dense sod on the top of the silo by their roots and in this way seal up 

 the silo and exclude the air. 



In feeding the silage to cows in winter it will be found a very simple 

 task. In the first place the silage is very palatable to the cow after she 

 has cultivated a taste for it, and she eats it very readily. But it is under- 

 stood by feeders in the corn belt that corn is used too exclusively for the 

 best of results. Silage, like corn, contains a great amount of carbo- 

 hydrates or fattening materials in proportion to the protein, which is an 

 all important essential in the production of milk. Again, silage contains a 

 very great amount of water and if fed by itself it is necessary for the cow 

 to eat a very great amount of the food in order to obtain for herself a 

 sufficient amount of dry matter. In view of these facts it becomes evi- 

 dent that the cow should be fed other foodstuffs in conjunction with the 

 silage which will not only supply protein to balance up the ration, but 

 also foods that will supply dry matter in sufficient amounts to overcome 

 to an extent the watery nature of the silage. 



In the countries where alfalfa hay can be successfully raised there is 

 no better food to feed with silage. We find on one hand the silage is low 

 in dry matter and high in carbohydrates; on the other hand we find 

 alfalfa hay low in carbohydrates and high in dry matter and protein. 

 Fed together in proper proportions these foods make a perfectly balanced 

 ration and it is safe to say that a proportion which would be proper 

 would be to allow the cow to receive all of each of these foods that she 

 will consume. She will thus solve the problem of the balanced ration 

 for herself even better than her feeder can do. For cows that are dry or 

 giving a very small amount of milk no other food is necessary, but for 

 cows that are fresh and yielding a large flow of milk some concentrates 

 should be used, because the alfalfa contains a great amount of indigestible 

 matter, and as before stated, silage contains a great amount of water. 

 Because of this the cow producing a large amount of milk does not re- 



