Alfalfa in Kansas. 265 



silage is the method of caring for alfalfa on the V. V. Akin farm, near 

 Manhattan, Kan. Mr. Akin generally has on hand a large number of 

 steers. Some are sold from grass and others are full fed during the 

 winter. The steers that are full fed during the winter months receive 

 alfalfa silage along with cottonseed meal, corn, and oftentimes molasses 

 feed. This so-called alfalfa silage is made by cutting the hay as soon as 

 any bloom appears. If allowed to come to full bloom before being cut it 

 becomes hard and does not make good silage by this method. After mow- 

 ing the alfalfa is immediately raked into windrows and then stacked 

 while in the green condition. If any of the alfalfa becomes dry it is 

 cured for hay. The stacks are made round, about 25 to 35 feet in di- 

 ameter and 20 feet high. Round stacks are preferred on account of hav- 

 ing less outside surface than rectangular stacks, and they also cut down 

 the amount of spoiled material that would be found at the corners. When 

 the stacks are made they are generally covered with old hay, fodder, 

 manure or other cheap material and allowed to stand. 



Upon standing the stacks gradually settle into very compact masses. 

 The exposed hay dries and the outside appears as any stack does upon 

 standing. Inside this six- or eight-inch outer coating of alfalfa hay will 

 be found six or eight inches of charred and moldy alfalfa, which perhaps 

 forms the seal to the stack, just as the rotten portion at the top of the 

 silo keeps the silage from spoiling. On the inside the alfalfa is found 

 with a dark-brown color and characteristic odor, which resembles alfalfa 

 silage in every way, with the exception of not being cut into short lengths. 

 Mr. Akin states that the hardest work of the whole method is in getting 

 the alfalfa out of the stack. The feed is taken from the top and is 

 generally packed very hard. It can not be cut with a hay knife, and it 

 is impossible to get it out with a fork. Thus far a good sharp axe has 

 been most satisfactory in getting the feed out. Steers eat the feed 

 greedily, and even the dry and moldy parts on the outside are eaten with- 

 out any loss. During the ten years that Mr. Akin has been using this 

 method of handling alfalfa he has full-fed thousands of cattle, and 

 has always found it a most satisfactory feed. He prefers alfalfa in this 

 condition to alfalfa hay. At present they have 150 acres of alfalfa on the 

 Akin farm, and when they start putting up the crop they do not stop 

 unless the fields are in too soft a condition for the teams. In a few cases 

 dry hay has been placed on partly made stacks of green alfalfa without 

 any bad results. In Mr. Akin's experience he has never lost a stack by 

 spontaneous combustion, and he attributes this to the rule he follows of 

 either stacking the alfalfa very wet or in a perfectly dry condition. The 

 stacks are generally fed out after standing six or eight months. At 

 present Mr. Akin has two stacks of alfalfa silage, which he estimates will 

 contain about 400 tons each. 



This method of making silage has been used by other men in the state, 

 but Mr. Akin is, perhaps, the most extensive user of alfalfa silage in 

 Kansas. If equally as good silage can be made by stacking the alfalfa 

 as putting it in the silo the stack method would be cheapest. It has 

 been Mr. Akin's experience, however, that small stacks are not a suc- 

 cess, and for the farmer with a small amount of alfalfa for silage it is 

 best to run it through an ensilage cutter and put it into the silo. The 



