SUGAR BEET TOP SILAGE 



By Ray E. Neidig 

 Chemist, Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station l 



The growing of sugar beets in the Pacific Northwest for the manufac- 

 ture of sugar is rapidly becoming a major occupation, but the beet root 

 from which the sugar is produced is not the only source of revenue when 

 sugar beets are grown. There remains for the farmer a considerable 

 portion of the crop in the form oi sugar beet tops, which represent a 

 large amount of value as a feed for stock. In recent years the farmer 

 has utilized this source of feed, thereby securing additional revenue in 

 the form of live stock and also in increased fertility of the soil. 



It is estimated that a normal crop of sugar beets produces from 50 

 to 60 per cent of the weight of the crop in the form of salable beets and 

 the remaining percentage in beet tops. This being true, it is evident 

 that beet tops furnish no mean supply of feeding stuff for the farmer, 

 and the careful preservation of this by-product of the beet-growing 

 industry should be practiced. 



The older countries many years ago realized the food value contained 

 in the by-products of the sugar beet industry. Many methods have been 

 used for the preservation of the sugar beet tops, but the siloing has re- 

 ceived the popular choice because more food value is retained bv this 

 method than by any other. In the United States, siloing sugar beet tops 

 has been practiced for many years. Recently the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture 2 has estmated that beet tops, when properly siloed 

 and when fed with alfalfa hay, will reduce the hay requirement by ap- 

 proximately one-half. With the high prices of hay that have prevailed 

 for the past few years, it is evident that the proper preservation of beet 

 tops is a subject of no little economic importance. 



During the past two years, numerous instances have come to the 

 writer's notice of stock dying when fed beet top silage, and the cause of 

 their death was attributed to the feeding of this product. However, 

 since thousands of head of stock are successfully fed on this silage, it 

 appeared to the writer that the fatalities were due mainly to the feeding 

 of abnormal rather than normal silage. With the idea in mind of secur- 

 ing knowledge of the chemical nature of the average beet top silage as 

 found on the average farm in the sugar beet districts, several samples of 



1 Published by the permission of Director E. J. Iddings, Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station. 



2 Jones, James W. beet-top silage and other by-products of the sugar beet. U. S. Dept. Agr. 

 Farmers' Bui. 1095, 24 p., 12 fig. 1919. 



Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. XX, No. 7 



Washington, D. C Jan- 3. 1921 



w f Key No. Idaho-4 



(537) 



