244 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



a mass of chopped ear corn, leaves, husks and stalks, all moist and appe- 

 tizing. After a little experience he shows his appreciation of this prov 

 ender by burying his nose deeply into the mass, filling his mouth quickly 

 and showing contentedly. Later he is found lying down ruminating iu 

 contentment. This new feed, moist as pasture grass, has a satisfactory 

 taste. His grain is taken with more satisfaction because he has had a 

 partial fill of moist, appetizing food. He gets considerable grain in the 

 silage in the shape of broken ear corn. These fragments are easily mas 

 ticated and the grain must be quite easily digested since it is thoroughly 

 softened. We all know that the heavy use of corn burns up the steer. This 

 dry, intensely rich, heating food, while greatly relished, is at the same 

 time of a more or less destroying character. Georgeson at the Kansas 

 experiment station showed us that when steers were fed on dry shelled 

 corn that some of the grains passed through the animals without abstori) 

 ing as much water as it could naturally take up. How can such corn be 

 properly digested? It is true that the steer fed on corn makes large daily 

 gains, but at wnat a heavy cost! When from twenty-five to thirty pounds 

 of corn are fed per day it required something like ten pounds of the 

 grain to make a pound of gain. And does it pay?" 



The question will arise as to how silage should be fed. Professor 

 Henry suggests that it be as rich in ears as possible and that the steers- 

 be allowed to have all they want of it at the first with two or three pounds 

 of bran or oil meal sprinkled over it, and with all the dry forage that they 

 like. He would then gradually add broken or crushed corn and gradually 

 increase this to eight or ten pounds per day and when the fattening period 

 is about two-thirds over to ten or twelve pounds, gradually reducing the 

 silage in order to harden the beef and meet the demands of the butcher. 

 Now, do not all commence to build silos. The silo is not the thing 

 for the inexperienced feeder, but we do not think there are -any of our 

 experienced feeders who feed from one. to five carloads that cannot afford 

 to put up a cheap stave silo and make the experiment. We have personally 

 no doubt as to the profit of an investment of this kind, but we do not 

 care to urge our readers who have no experience in beef feeding to under- 

 take new enterprises until they see for themselves tat it will pay. 



SILAGE FOR STEERS. 



Wallaces' Farmer. 



A number of our steer feeders are investigating the problem of feed 

 ing steers in part on silage, and for their information we quote from the 

 experience of Mr. Humphrey Jones of Washington Court House, Ohio. He 

 commenced with 178 steers on the day he finished filling his silos, Octo 

 ber 7th, last year. The steers were taken off dry pastures, where thev 

 were losing flesh, and weighed 1,159 pounds. A week was taken in gel 

 ting them used to the silage, when they consumed forty-five pounds per 



