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Journal of Agriculture. [lo Dec, 1908. 



The most complete information to date on the subject of ensilage 

 making in Australia is that furnished by Dr. Cherry, Director of Agri- 

 culture, in the Year-Book of Agriculture for 1905.* 



This State is fortunate in being practically sure of a good growing 

 .season each spring ; and it therefore rests with every dairy farmer to cul- 

 tivate enough land each season that will enable him to harvest whatevei 

 quantity of fodder will be sufficient to keep his stock up to their full 

 measure of productiveness throughout the whole of the ensuing year. It 

 is estimated that a cow will annually consume from 12 to 18 tons of green 

 fodder if it is obtainable; but, as in normal years fully half of this feed 

 ■can be gathered by the cow on any fair pasture land, the providing of 

 about 8 tons yearly of ensilage for each cow should suffice for all require- 

 ments. It is only a very medium crop of maize that does not yield more 

 than this weight of fodder per acre if properly cultivated ; and in favorable 

 situations and seasons from two to three times this amount is frequently 

 Jiarvested. As a general and safe estimate therefore it may be taken that 

 the systematic cultivation of an acre of ground for green fodder for each 

 cow kept, and the storage of the crop as ensilage, will enable every dairy- 

 farmer to keep up a regular milk supply from his cows from year tO' year. 



Almost every plant that is useful as fodder in its green state can be 

 preserved as ensilage; and even the coarser grasses, and thistles, that are 

 inferior in quality, or not easily gathered by stock, and are thus seldom 

 eaten by them except under forced conditions, will make into fairly profit- 

 able ensilage when sufficiently abundant to be easily harvested. It cannot 

 be claimed that ensiling improves the nutritive composition of any fodder. 

 All that can be looked for under the most favorable conditions is that the 

 material will come out of the silo as good in the way of nutritive properties 

 and palatability as it went in. What does occur in silage making, how- 

 ever, is that during the process of fermentation the hard and fibrous 

 structures of the plants become softer and more easy of digestion ; and 

 therefore, whatever feeding value is contained in a coarse fodder is made 

 more easily digestible when it has been ensiled. In the latter case also the 

 plants would be harvested when in the fittest stage for digestion ; whereas 

 iTiore often they are past that stage before stock have occasion or will 

 endeavour to use them in their natural state. In putting down as silage 

 any extra soft or immature fodder, it is as well to allow it to wilt to a 

 partially dry stage before chaffing it ; or else it should be evenly mixed in 

 Avith some less juicy material ; otherwise there will be an excessive flow of 

 sap from the silo as the fodder settles. 



Ensilage is made by the exclusion of air from a bulk quantity of green 

 fodder by close packing; and its quality is mainly dependent on the com- 

 pleteness with which the bulking process is effected. Green fodder when 

 cut and exposed to air either dries up or rots, according to whether the 

 air has free or only partial access to it. As already stated, most grasses 

 or fodder plants in an advanced stage of growth can be made into ensilage ; 

 and the best feeding results are obtained when the material preserved is cut 

 in the stage just prior tO' its ripening. There is then sufficient of the plant 

 juices still present in the stalk to uphold its value as a succulent green 

 fodder ; and, with the flower and seed formation well advanced, the plant 

 will then have within itself all the constituents that make it most valuable 

 as food for stock. 



* Year-Book of Agriculture for 1905, 448 pp. This work, written by the 

 •officers of the several branches of the Department, contains information on general 

 farm and orchard work. Obtainable from all booksellers, or direct from the De- 

 partment. Price, Cloth edition, 3s. 6d., paper 2S. 6d. ; postage 8d. 



