502 Journal of Agriculture. [8 August, 1907. 



about 60 tons of silage made from green oats. But one thing I cannot 

 understand is this : about three inches all round the outside of silage were no 

 good being black and useless. The silage was trampled tightly in the making 

 and it did not fail away from the sides after being finished. The silo is lined 

 out with sheet iron and weather-boarded outside and has a good roof on it. The 

 only thing that I can account for damaged silage is that some of it was a bit rustv 

 when put in silo. 



Mr. A. Brebner, Newstead. goes intO' practical and valuable details: — • 



After the silo was erected, I set a No. 2 Buncle chaffcutter and horse-works 

 at it and commenced filling it about the middle of October, 1906, with a crop 

 of rape in flower and seed, from 4 feet 6 inches to 7 feet high. To every three 

 small loads of rape I put in one of Cape barley out in ear. This took up about 



4 to 5 feet, well trampled by foot between each load. Then followed a couple 

 of loads of each of the following alternately ; a mixture of spear grass, trefoil, and 

 lucerne, thousand headed kale, marsh mallows, and thistles (both sow and varie- 

 gated). After that, I put in wheat with a good deal of undergrowth, followed 

 by 3 acres of Algerian oats in the milky stage. As it was getting somewhat 

 dry towards the end, I occasionally put in a bucketful of water, finishing up 

 with a load of old straw made very wet, ehalfed, and then again watered well, 

 trampled solidly and about 4 tons of cord wood packed on top. I had a pipe 

 inserted whilst filling and kept thi; temperature about 95 to 105 degrees 

 from 2 to 3 feet from the surface, cutting and filling when the temperature 

 got up to the 100 degrees and letting it stand when it went down below 

 90 degrees. After being weighted the glass stood at 122 degrees for three weeks, 

 then gradually receded to 106 degrees when it was opened on the 9th of January 

 of this year. It had sunk 22 inches only, and the coat of wet straw chaff had 

 formed a mould which appeared to be practically air proof, for there was not 



5 an inch of waste between the two, and only an occasional patch of mould now and 

 then near the iron, the bulk being good right up to the wall. I have not yet got 

 through the oats, although feeding g cows, 4 calves and 4 horses, the latter get 

 a bucketful each per day. Of course they also have the run of the paddock, which 

 does not contain much nourishing feed now (February). Six of the above are 

 milking cows. 



As to the cost of filling, it is only a rough estimate, as I cut a good deal 

 with the scythe in out of the way corners ; getting to the paddock I used a 

 mower and horse rake. It was cut one day and chaffed the next. One horse 

 carted, and another worked the cutter and elevator at short spells. The silage 

 was well trampled between each load, especially the outside edge, which was 

 kept about i foot higher than the centre. Roughly speaking, I consider the 

 cost of filling at 6s. per ton, apart from the cost of crop. Through the 

 lower 10 feet, I spread i cwt. of fine salt, a layer now and then, but cannot 

 judge of the benefits or otherwise for a time, not having reached it yet. I con- 

 sider that one cannot tramj)le it too much whilst filling, so as to press out the 

 air as soon as possible. It is turning out good quality and it is not an easy 

 mntter to keep the cattle away from the silo. I am feeding at the rate of 

 40 lbs. per day to a full grown beast. 



After Mr. Brebner's experience, there should be no hesitation in 

 putting almost any kind of crop into the silo. It should be noted that 

 his cost for filling includes that of harvesting. 



Mr F. C. Curlewis, Rutherglen, is not perfectlv satisfied but is 

 observing closeh' with a view to improvement: — 



I have the silo about half emptied. The barley part of my ensilage is not 

 as satisfactory in appearance, etc., as the white oats part; it is drier and much 

 more liable to mould and has retained its heat right through, whereas any separate 

 [latches of white oats are quite cool and much greener and sweeter. The cows 

 eat it all very greedily, but during January and February they did not do so 

 well as one was led to expect by the reports. Our dairy herd is not yet a repre- 

 sentative one as we onlv started milking last May and in this, a non-dairying 

 district, it is not easv to pick up good cows and as most of the heifers were 

 young or else calved during April or May, we cannot really judge of the merits 

 or demerits of the cows or of the ensilage. There is no question, however, that 

 compared with other suppliers to our creamery, our returns have gone down very 

 little and less so since we have fed on bran and reduced the ration of ensilage 

 15 to 20 lbs. per cow to 5 to 10 lbs. according as the cow is freshly in or not. 



