5°*^ Jour7ial of Kgriciiliitrc. [8 August, 1907. 



once a day and two milch cows twice a day, about one kerosene tin at a feed. 

 The cows have the run of a stubble paddock and so far are keepinj^ up their 

 milk which I was not able to do last year on the irrigated green stuff. 



^fr. James Baker, Gheringhap, adds to his previous report: — 



I have been waiting to see if the sheep would take to it, which I am glad to 

 say they have done, and I hope to be able to speak well of it for feeding sheep 

 later on. I have got a nice crop of maize coming on to refill the silo. Feeding 

 results : — I have been giving about 25 lbs. of barley silage to steers 2^ years old 

 to keep them in good condition which it is doing well. Loss through 'damaged 



sides : — On an average about 6 inches, being mostly at the joints, and in places 

 good to the side in the centre of sheet. All the rest is coming out in good con- 

 dition, no mouldy patches. The crop of barle^ was very coarse, 4 acres filling 

 the silo, 15 feet by 21 feet, which settled 4 feet before being opened. As far as 

 my experience goes more care is needed to make silo airtight than for maize, and 

 I am going to put in more rivets before filling again. 



Tlie settlement in this case was too great, more trampling \vhile filling 

 is advisable. 



jNIr. J. L. Todd, Bulleen Road, writes: — 



I started feeding it to about 50 cows on the 2ncl December and fed two Vjig 

 bucketfuls to each cow every day. It lasted till the qth March. I ahvays had 

 from 48 to 52 cows feeding on it, so consider it lasted marvellously well. This 

 was no doubt due to it having been so w'ell trampiled. There was practically no 

 loss except at the bottom where there were about two bags of a mouldy patch. 

 When the silo was filled no weights were placed on the top of the silage at 

 all. The excellent condition, which was uniform throughout, was due I think to 

 the great amount of trampling which Mr. Connor of your Department insisted 

 on having done. Although filling the silo seems to be a great labour at the 

 time, I consider it a lot less libour thrin having to stook your hay, then stack 

 it, and finally to cut it into chaff before you can feed it to your cows, and 

 it also saves the cost of bags. Of course it is needless toi say the cows were 

 exceedingly fond of it. The thing that struck me most about the silage was 

 the length of time it lasted. 



]Mr. John R. Orr, Murchison, writes : — 



We filled the silo with dirty oats, &c., chaffed up, and finished filling about 

 14th November. About i foot of earth was put on top for weight. It was opened 

 about the 6th of February. Under the dirt, about i inch of silage in the centre, 

 and around the outsides about i foot, was rotten till it got down about 3 feet. 

 Then there is about i inch all round the walls that has never turned into silage, 

 being quite green, and 4 or 5 inches in from that again are musty (it is empt.ed 

 down 7 feet from top). The cows have eaten the silage well, including the bad 

 and rotten stuff, it being all cleaned up. About twenty cows have been fed on it 

 at the rate of about 20 lbs. a cow per day for about a fortnight. Since then we 

 have been feeding on green maize and sorghum. These w-ill be done in about two 

 or three weeks, when we will go back to the silage. There is more butter per week 

 from the silage than there is from the maize and sorghum. I think the wall of 

 the silo is not thick enough, it will not hold the heat in long enough to turn the 

 stuff around the sides into silage. Have there been any silos built yet with a 

 double wall and filled up between the two walls with charcoal or sawdust, or some 

 other material that will not rot the timber in the walls? 



The thickness of the wall has nothing to do with the matter. The 

 bright green colour is due to the chemical effect of the lime Avash while 

 the damaged stuff inside that is due to air escaping as the silage settles. 

 Well trampling and well weighting will reduce this to a minimum. It 

 is not, however, waste as if not in great (juantity it is as readily eaten 

 by the cows as the rest of the silage. 



Messrs. Gray Bros., Wedderburn, say: — 



We started filling silo on 23rd October, with 12 acres of crop, half wild oats 

 and half wheat, oats well out in ear, and wheat budding — no dry flag. We com- 

 pleted filling on the 27th. The crop was cut into chaff with stearn cutter, ordinary 

 length, and elevated with chain elevator. The cost of cutting, carting, chaffing. 



