SILAGE SOILAGE THE PREPARATION OF FEED 267 



The greater expenditure for labor, seed, and fertilizer in producing the 

 crops and for labor in cutting and carrying them to the animals 

 are the chief disadvantages of soilage. In warm weather soilage will 

 ferment and mold in a short time if left in piles. When but few animals 

 are fed the green forage may be spread thinly on the barn floor, where 

 it will keep, but soilage thus handled dries out and is less palatable. 

 Where a considerable quantity is harvested at one time much labor may 

 be saved by using the mower and horse rake. During wet spells the 

 palatability of the soliage is reduced, and it is difficult to harvest and 

 cart the food to the animals without injury to the land. On the other 

 hand, pastures also suffer if grazed while wet. 



419. Yield of pasturage and soilage. Quincy reports that he main- 

 tained 20 cows in stalls, allowing exercise in an open yard, on the soilage 

 from 17 acres of land where 50 acres had been required when the land 

 was pastured. 



The senior author 28 kept 3 cows for 122 days in summer on 3.7 acres 

 of excellent bluegrass pasture at the Wisconsin Station and maintained 

 3 others in stable'and yard for the same period by feeding soiling crops 

 (green clover, fodder corn, and oats) from 1.5 acres. On this area a 

 total of 44,835 Ibs. of green forage was produced. The product from 

 an acre under each system was as follows : 



Yield of milk and butter from 1 acre of soiling crops and pasture 



Milk per acre Butter per acre 



Lbs. Lbs. 



From 1 acre of soiling crops 4,782 196 



From 1 acre of pasture 1,780 82 



This shows that in Wisconsin 1 acre of soilage crops equalled about 

 2.5 acres of good bluegrass pasture for feeding dairy cows. 



Otis of the Kansas Station 29 found that it required 0.71 acre of 

 soiling crops, half the area being alfalfa, to furnish a cow roughage for 

 144 days, while, when the cow was grazed, during the same period it 

 required 3.6 acres of pasture composed of prairie and mixed grasses. 

 After allowing for the grain consumed, soilage returned $18.08 and 

 pasturage $4.23 per acre. Voorhees 30 found that to produce a ton of 

 dry matter in soiling crops yielding from 3 to 4.5 tons of dry matter 

 per acre annually, cost on an average $6.50, and that the total cost per 

 ton of dry matter, including cutting and hauling to the barn, would 

 be about $9.00. 31 The feeding value of this dry matter was nearly equal 

 to that in purchased concentrates costing over $20 per ton. 



420. The place of soilage on American farms. It has been shown 

 before (412) , that silage is a more economical means of supplying succu- 

 lent feed in summer than is soilage. On farms where too few animals 

 are kept to prevent the molding of the surface of the silage as it is fed 

 off or where a silo is not available, soilage should be provided to prevent 



ffl Wis. Kpt 1885. M Kan. Press Bui. 71. 30 Forage Crops. 81 N. J. Kpt. 1907. 



