THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VI. 281 



then build a cheaper one. The less expensive silo will give good results 

 for some time and will do much towards putting the farmer in shape to 

 build a better one when this is gone. Where one has means I believe 

 the better silo is the thing, such a one, for instance, as the round one 

 I built last season. In this there is no wood work to come in contact with 

 the moist silage except the doors and inner edges of the door frames. 

 Consequently if the outside is kept painted it will last almost indefinitely. 

 It seems to me that the time has come in all our buildings when we 

 ought to build not only for the present but for the future — for those who 

 will come after us. I do not believe one can leave a better inheritance to 

 his children than a well built silo. This is my word on the silo, and if 

 any reader of the Farmer gathers anything from it that is of value to 

 him my purpose will have been accomplished. 



SILAGE AS A FEED FOR THE DAIRY COW. 



8. Remington in Kansas Farmer. 



Silage may be fed with advantage to all classes of farm animals, suc\i 

 as milk cows, horses, steers, mules, sheep, hogs and even poultry. 



The feeding of silage can be traced back for centuries. The semi- 

 barbaric people in different parts of the world have known and practiced 

 this method of feeding. They buried their feed in underground pits to 

 save it for the future and to save it from their enemies. 



Silage should not be fed as an exclusive coarse feed to the farm ani- 

 mals but should be mixed and fed with some other roughage, such as hay, 

 straw, etc., and should not be fed more than twenty-five or thirty pounds 

 per head daily where the keeping quality of milk is an important consid- 

 eration. In feeding the dairy cow, always feed after milking as the pecu- 

 liar silage odor will be apt to affect the flavor of the milk. 



Silage exerts a very beneficial influence on the secretion of milk. 

 Where winter dairying is practiced cows will usually drop considerably 

 in the flow of milk toward spring if fed on dry feed and cause a loss of 

 milk during the whole lactation period. Where silage is fed there will 

 be no decrease in the flow of milk before turning out to pasture in the 

 spring, and the cows will be able to keep up the flow of milk until late 

 in the summer or fall when they are dried up before calving. 



Silage has the same effect as green fodder or pasture. A failure in 

 feeding silage to cows comes from its being improperly prepared or fed in 

 a poor manner to cows that are confined to the one feed. 



There is good evidence at hand showing that where good silage is 

 fed in moderate quantities it will produce an excellent quality of milk and 

 butter. According to the butter experts, silage not only in no way injures 

 the quality of the butter but better flavored butter is produced by judicious 

 feeding of silage than can be made from dry feed. 



