286 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



piled up in circular shape in a stack, then rods are placed on top 

 and by a system of chains and pressure the stack of green corn is 

 drawn down very tightly; after this water is placed on the top of 

 the com. The manufacturers advise sowing oats and the roots 

 form a sod which prohibits the air from getting down from the 

 top. Of course the outer butts of the corn are exposed all the time 

 to the air. The idea of the manufacturers is that about six inches 

 of butts will rot off and seal up the remainder and soak the silage 

 so it will come out in the winter and spring in good shape. What 

 the outcome of this will be I cannot at the present time say. One 

 disadvantage I can see is that it is very difficult to make your 

 stack straight and it is very difficult to get these bundles of corn 

 so as to make your stack as high as you desire. The quality of 

 the silage will be governed by the size of the stack to a great extent 

 so it is very necessary to have a large stack both in diameter and 

 height. If we were better prepared to make an extremely large 

 stack there would be rather a small percentage of com wasted, 

 but this system would not be successful for a small stack. 



Member: How about a steel silo? 



Mr. Van Pelt: The acid in the silage eats out the steel and 

 the life of it is not long. Each year you would need to treat it 

 with some material to keep the acid from coming in contact with 

 the steel. 



Member: Would you have the inside of the foundation of a 

 stave silo come flush with the outside of the silo? 



Mr. Van Pelt : It is not absolutely necessary. You may have 

 your foundation say eighteen inches thick, your staves could set 

 right in the center of that ; then on the inside you need to dig out 

 a dish shape for your bottom, fill that with cement to keep the 

 rats out and make it smooth, then have this bottom extend on to 

 your wall three or four inches. It should not form a shelf; the 

 inside of your silo should be absolutely smooth so the silage will 

 settle along the edges to the best advantage. 



Member : That is the point I wanted to bring out. Some years 

 ago my father built a silo in Wisconsin and made the mistake of 

 digging down four feet in the ground and then built the silo so it 

 left a shelf four inches wide, and that caused a great deal of trouble 

 until we lined the inside of the silo, after which we had no more 

 trouble. 



Member: Is silage good for other farm animals than cows? 



