164 GUIDE TO DAIRYING IN SOUTH AFRICA 



Many different crops may be used for converting 

 into ensilage such as oats, oats and pease, vetches, 

 lucerne, cowpeas, wheat, barley, rye, sorghum. But 

 one of the surest and most productive of forage 

 crops suitable for this purpose is undoubtedly the 

 humble mealie, to which all the other crops have 

 to give pride of place. Mealies or maize can be 

 grown in nearly every part of the Union where 

 dairying is carried on, and its reliability, together 

 with its enormous yield of green fodder per acre, 

 and the ease with which it may be handled, makes 

 it almost indispensable for making ensilage where 

 the production of milk is required to be profitable. 



Ensilage may be defined as green food which 

 has been preserved in its succulent state by 

 fermentative changes brought about by the absence 

 of air and by the force of pressure ; while the silo 

 is the means by which this problem is solved. 



The silo may consist of a deep pit in the ground 

 which is lined with boards, corrugated iron, bricks 

 and cement, stone or concrete ; or it may be a 

 raised structure built of wooden staves after the 

 style of a huge barrel ; or it may be a raised 

 structure built of brick or concrete with small doors 

 to facilitate filling and feeding. 



Whichever form of silo is adopted and what- 

 ever it is built of, it should be made circular, as it 

 is stronger than a rectangular form to withstand the 

 weight of the sinking ensilage, which increases with 



