146 Oat and Tare Silage 



Similar considerations arise when forage is dried in the field and stored 

 in the stack. If this could be carried out without undue fermentation 

 takiiij; ])la(p. then there seems no particular reason why tlie mere drvinp 

 clown should result in any appreciable depression of the dij^estibility. In 

 the usual practice of hay making, however, field fermentation and heat- 

 ing in the stack tend to deprive the forage of quite considerable amounts 

 of its more easily assimilated organic matter, and the usual effect is to 

 cause a decrease in the digestibihty of the protein and the nitrogen- 

 free extractives. 



The pos.sibility must not be lost sight of that the changes which occur 

 in the silo and the haystack may be accompanied by an actual increase 

 in the digestibility of the less easily assimilated ingredients of the green 

 forage. For instance, evidence is not lacking that the heating which 

 occurs both in the silo and the haystack leads to an increase in the 

 digestibility of the crude fibre constituent. 



The changes which affect the protein ingredient of ensiled forage, 

 resulting in an increase in the amount of amino acids, may be expected 

 to lead to an increase in the "ease" of digestibility of the material, 

 rather than to an increase in the actual protein digestion <-ocfficient, 

 since the same type of change is readily brought about in the digestive 

 tract of the animal. The palatable and succulent nature of good silage 

 sliould give it a distinct advantage over the dried fodder in regard to 

 the ease ^\-ith which the animal is able to digest it. Like other succulent 

 foods, silage is reputed to have a beneficial effect on the digestive organs, 

 although, of course, a poor quality of silage possessing undue acidity 

 may have the reverse effect. 



The available data in connection with digestibihty trials on corn 

 forage agree substantially with the foregoing considerations. The follow- 

 ing table gives the average digestion coefficients obtained in a large 

 number of American trials for corn silage and green and cured corn 

 fodder^. 



These figures afford some idea of the relative digestibilities of the 

 different ingredients of the three types of fodder, although it is not 

 certain that in every case the results were obtained by strictly comparable 

 trials. It will be noted that there is no appreciable difference in the 



1 Henry, Feeds and Feeding, 1902, p. 248. 



