THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VI. 241 



FILLING THE SILO. 



The silo being ready, it may be filled with any green crop. Corn is 

 the most important silage crop for this section of the country. It may 

 be put in the silo whole, or shredded, or cut in short pieces, the cut fod- 

 der being the easiest io handle in filling and feeding. The cost of put- 

 iing corn in the silo is in the neighborhood of 50 cents per ton. 



The force needed for a quick job, besides the engineer and the man 

 with the cutter, is about this: 



One band cutter 



One man in the silo. 



Four men and teams, with low wagons. 



Two men in the field to help load. 



A corn binder in the field, with the necessary men and horse power. 



This force should be able to put the corn in the silo as fast as binder 

 will cut it. Binding is a great advantage in loading, and a still greater 

 advantage in unloading. With loose fodder, one cannot throw off fast 

 enough to keep the cutter running smoothly. Even feeding is highly 

 important if a blower is used for elevating, because the high speed de- 

 veloped when the cutter becomes empty shakes both engine and cutter 

 Uadly. With bound fodder much larger loads can be hauled, and the 

 driver can always have a bundle ready for the feed table, one man being 

 able to throw off a ton in five minutes. 



ADVANTAGES "| SILOING CORN. 



The advantages derived from siloing the corn crop are many, the 

 principal one being the greatly increased amount of feed to be obtained 

 from an acre. The corn should be cut at a stage in its growth when it is 

 at its best, preferably about a week before it would do to shock. Accord- 

 ing to analysis, corn fodder loses in digestibility very rapidly as the corn 

 approaches maturity. So the corn is secured at its' most digestive 

 stage, and preserved in this shape with a loss of not more than .2 per 

 cent. In fact it does not look as if there is any loss in feeding value; 

 for stock certainly eats silage up cleaner and with a better relish after it 

 has stood in the silo a month than when it is fed directly from the field, 

 either whole or chopped. I think this is largely due to, the fact that 

 the corn is steamed and partially cooked in the silo. Then, too, the cattle 

 tike it warm, especially in cold weather. My cattle prefer corn silage 

 to the finest clover of alfalfa hay or any other roughage I ever tried. 



In handling the corn crop in the usual way of shocking in the field, 

 the loss begins before it is cut and continues until it is fed out, amount- 

 ing under the most favorable circumstances, according to calculations 

 of the Colorado experiment station, to from 31 to 55 per cent of the orig- 

 inal nutrient matter. In siloing corn this loss is stopped before it begins, 

 and in addition the corn is rendered more digestible in the process. 



There are other minor advantages, such as getting the ground cleared 

 early, greater convenience in feeding, and so forth. 



