SILOS AND SILAGE 161 



Corn-soybean silage gave better results with dairy cows than straight 

 soybean silage, in experiments by Professor Humphrey and the 

 author at Wisconsin station. 9 



Pea or corn cannery refuse is often put up in large silage 

 stacks near the factories or in ordinary silos. It makes a valuable 

 feed for fattening cattle, sheep, or dairy cows, and compares favor- 

 ably with corn silage ;-by some feeders it is considered superior to 

 this silage, especially for dairy cows. It is also fed to horses, mules, 

 and hogs to a limited extent. 10 Like other kinds of silage, it should 

 be fed with dry hay or cornstalks, and, for best results, with some 

 grain feed, and not as exclusive feed, as is sometimes done. 



Green oats and other cereal fodders are occasionally siloed when 

 grown for forage or in case they cannot be used for grain. They 

 are cut when the kernels are past the milky stage and filled into the 

 silo after having been run through a cutter. If the grain has be- 

 come nearly ripe, it is necessary to add considerable water to the 

 green fodder as it goes into the silo, either through the blower or in 

 the silo after each load, and the cut mass must be carefully dis- 

 tributed in the silo and tramped down along the wall of the silo. 

 Oat, barley or wheat silage made in this manner is of excellent qual- 

 ity and furnishes a very palatable, nutritious feed for cattle and sheep. 



Beet tops and leaves are generally siloed in European beet- 

 growing countries by being placed in large trenches in the field and 

 covering these with boards or straw and a layer of dirt. Preserved 

 in this way, they make a slimy, strong-smelling silage, which is, 

 however, greatly relished by milch cows and fed heavily on the 

 dairy farms on the Continent. Because of the shallowness of the 

 pits, large losses of feed materials are sustained by this method 

 of siloing, viz., 25 to 33 per cent or more of the dry matter in the 

 leaves and tops. 



Beet pulp is preserved in similar trenches or shallow pits in the 

 western States where the manufacture of beet sugar is an important 

 industry. The siloed (" cured ") beet pulp is an excellent feed for 

 fattening steers, sheep, or dairy cows; as it is made mostly in re- 

 gions where alfalfa is the main hay crop, it is generally fed with al- 

 falfa hay, which it supplements nicely, being high in insoluble carbo- 

 hydrates (2.8 per cent) and relatively low in protein (1.0 per cent 

 crude protein and 0.3 per cent digestible crude protein). Its feed- 

 ing value may be considered equal to about one-half that of corn 

 silage. 



"Report 21, p. 67* Cornell Bulletin 310. 



10 Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Circular 45. 

 11 



