494 IOWA DEPARTMENT. OF AGRICULTURE. 



corn. After using both the square and round silo, I unhesitatingly recom- 

 mend the round form as being the most practical and modern. One of the 

 most important things is to get a silo as deep as possible in proportion 

 to the diameter. This lessens the feeding surface exposed and prevents 

 molding that may set in after a few days. We feed one-half of the top 

 surface one day, and the other half the following day. This gives us 

 silage every day that has not been exposed long enough to be effected by 

 the air. 



A silo thirty-six feet deep will hold nearly five times as much as one 

 twelve feet deep. The weight of the silage per cubic foot at thirty-five 

 feet deep will be close to sixty pounds, within two feets of the top it will 

 weigh about twenty pounds. The mean weight will be forty pounds in a 

 silo of this deplh. Too much attention cannot be given at time of filling to 

 see that corn is well mixed, well spread and thoroughly tramped at the 

 edges. I think that poor work in the silo has had more to do with people 

 abandoning their use after they have been built, than any other one 

 thing. All the conditions this year were aginst the making of good silage 

 in northern Iowa. The heavy frosts early in September caught our corn 

 before time for filling. We made up our mind that if there ever was a time 

 when careful work was necessary it was this year. 



The corn was quite dry when it went in. By the use of about fifty 

 pails of water per day and six or eight barrels put on top when we had 

 finished, we are now feeding some of the best silage we have ever used. 

 Water cannot take the place of the natural juices but it helps to soften 

 the tissues and the silage packs more firmly. Four or five inches on top 

 was of little value. The indications are that there will not be ten bushels 

 in the 350 tons, aside from the top that will be wasted. As to the value of 

 silage for dairy cows and young stock it is in my opinion hard to over 

 estimate it. 



For the economical production of milk there is nothing its equal. The 

 silo is, we believe, the best safeguard against summer drouth. It is very 

 difficult to have a soiling crop ready to feed when pastures fail, as this 

 varies from year to year. Many of the most prosperous dairymen now 

 have one ready to open at any time in summer. 



If your field is not more than one-third of a mile from your silo, the 

 cost of labor and machinery for putting in a ton will be close to fifty- 

 five cents, while the cost of the silage put in is estimated at from 

 §1.25 to $1.50. 



We had some silage left last summer and were quite surprised to find 

 that our cows prefered it to the green corn. We opened our silo this 

 winter about December 26. Our reason for not opening earlier was that 

 we had an abundance of other feed. Our cows are now giving about 

 twenty per cent more milk than before feeding silage. My experience is 

 that they assimilate and digest the other feeds much better when fed 

 silage than without it, and that they prefer it to any other kind of feed. 



Hoard's Dairyman of recent date gives the following ration for Hol- 

 stein Friesian cows weighing about 1,350 pounds: 



