CORN-STOVER SILAGE 



By J. M. Sherman, Bacteriologist, and S. I. Bechdel, Assistant Dairy Husbandman, 

 Pennsylvania Agricultural Experiment Station 



INTRODUCTION 



The ensiling of com stover and cured com fodder is not a new idea. 

 In a few localities farmers have followed this practice to a limited extent 

 for some years, and there have appeared several Experiment Station 

 publications which deal briefly with the process. Experimental data 

 on the subject are, however, very meager; little has been established with 

 reference to the practicability of stover silage, while nothing is known 

 concerning the nature of the fermentation which takes place and the 

 factors operative other than what may be deduced from knowledge 

 of ordinary silage. The present necessity for more economic produc- 

 tion, with the conservation of concentrates and the utilization of more 

 roughage in the live-stock and dairy industries, makes a reconsidera- 

 tion of corn-stover silage of especial pertinence. 



The object of the present study was partly to test the practicability 

 of ensiling stover, and partly to determine the nature of the fermenta- 

 tion which takes place therein. 



PRACTICABILITY OF ENSILING CORN STOVER 



The stover used in this experiment was ensiled early in April, 191 6; 

 the material had been kept in a shed since fall and was quite dry. The 

 condition of the material was not good; it was moldy in spots and on 

 the whole represented an inferior grade of stover. This stover was 

 run through a silage cutter and packed in the silo by means of tramp- 

 ing. Water was added in a continuous stream through a hose which 

 was cairied and the water distributed by the man who did the packing. 

 A water meter was attached to the hose so as to enable the regulation of 

 the amount used. A wooden-stave silo 16 feet in diameter was filled 

 with 32,000 pounds of stover to which were added 66,000 pounds of 

 water. 



vSamples of the silage, which were taken at frequent inter\'als, were 

 examined for general appearance, texture, and aroma. The stover 

 was soon observed to undergo a fermentation with the formation of a 

 product quite similar to normal silage made with green com. The 

 material softened, regained a slightly greenisli color, and developed an 

 aroma simulating that of normal silage, though inferior in all these 

 respects to silage made in the usual way from green com. 



Feeding tests made at the end of the experiment showed that cattle 

 ate this silage with little waste and apparently with a relish. While 



Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. XII, Ko. 9 



Washington, D. C. Mar. 4, 1918 



mi Key No. Pa. — 5 



(589) 



