8 Oct., 1907.] Im-proving the Milk Yield. 593 



thereby, she will gi\'e a considerably less quantity of milk when she comes 

 in next season as a contra account against the bad treatment she has 

 received at the hands of her neglectful owner. Underfeeding has a serious 

 tendency in producing stunted calves, and if we are to ha\e good dairy 

 cow^s, we must certainly breed them. 



Silage versus Hay. 



It must not be surmised that the main object of converting into silage 

 the green succulent grass and fodder, which is so plentiful in all parts 

 of the State during the spring of the year, is because there is any risk of 

 its being spoilt by bad weather if made into hay. It is because by prac- 

 tical experience it has been shown that by ensiling a crop much more of 

 the nutriment is preserved than if dried into hay, and that a given acreage 

 will carry more stock ; also by converting it into succulent silage the crop 

 i-i available for jxir poses for which hay by itself would not be suitable, 

 viz., for milk producing or fattening stock, without going to the expense 

 and trouble of growing root crops to mix with, the hay, to make the equi- 

 \'alent nutritive ratio. 



The advantages to be gained by the use of silage have been proved 

 wherever used, and it is within the means of every industrious dairy farmer 

 to have a quantity of green fodder all the year round dn the form of 

 silage. The most suitable time to cut for silage is when the fodder has 

 reached its highest state of maturity, and before there is any chance of 

 its entering into the ripening stage. The overhead silo is now to be seen 

 in most dairying centres of the State, but as this is beyond the means of 

 large numbers of dairy farmers at the present time, it is necessary for them 

 to know that holes any shape, simply dug in the ground where you can 

 depend on the earth being sound, may be used with the greatest success. 

 From my own knowledge, good silage can be produced by putting into the 

 pit the green fodder, chaffed or loose, and simply covering it with 2 feet 

 of earth,; in six or nine months' time it will come out succulent and sweet. 

 All kinds of weeds or thistles, if pitted whilst green and succulent, have 

 been turned out six months afterwards in excellent condition, and during 

 the cold winter months stock have devoured them ravenously. By saving 

 the green fodder by this system, 30 to 40 tons can be silaged off one 

 acre, thereby allowing a dairyman with a little land to keep a large number 

 of stock, and at one-half the cost of other foods. I have known animals 

 to fatten as well on silage as they would on the best of spring pastures. 

 Another important factor is this, that the greater the number of animals 

 you can keep on a small farm, the more manure you can save, and thus 

 be in a position to put back into your land what the crop has taken out, 

 and thereby keep up the fertility of the farm, and enhance its value at the 

 same time. 



In building a silo, whether overhead or under ground, the best form of 

 a silo is one small in circumference and deep ; the contents can then be 

 removed from the whole of the top surface, and waste is thus avoided. 

 Chaffing the fodder, if convenient, is the best method, as it presses tighter 

 together, and thereby takes up less room than it would do if loose, and 

 the mass subsides more evenly. If a crop is grass, loose filling will do; 

 but if maize, or any prepared crop, it is advisable to cut into chaff for the 

 reasons stated above. Barley, tares, and beans sown immediately after 

 the first rains are very suitable crops for the first filling, as under ordinary 

 circumstances they are ready to pit about October, when the same land 



