The Ermlage of Fodders. 257 



plainly not adapted to pig feeding. Some silage may be fed to 

 idle horses, but for work horses the amount must necessarily be 

 limited because of its bulky, soft character. 



404. On the rational use of silage. — The silo and its product 

 must now be regarded as a fixed factor in American agriculture. 

 Those farms which carry a relatively small amount of stock do not 

 require the silo. On such farms corn is rarely planted for forage, 

 and the straw stacks in the barn yards, slowly rotting to manure, 

 show that grain is grown for the market rather than for home 

 feeding. 



On the other hand many farms are heavily stocked with cattle, 

 and everything raised finds waiting mouths with demands for still 

 more. In such cases the feeder will find his best ally in the 

 Indian corn plant. On heavily-manured lands enormous crops of 

 corn forage carrying much grain may be grown, and this utilized 

 as dry fodder serves admirably, while the silo will matei'ially ex- 

 tend its availability. Corn forage carrying many small ears, 

 placed in the pit at one operation, rests in the most compact 

 form, safely awaiting the time for use. Dried fodder corn stored 

 in the stack or mow deteriorates rapidly with the coming of 

 spring, the stalks becoming brittle and losing in palatability. 

 Silage keeps with less loss than does fodder during this time, and 

 what is not needed for spring feeding will help out the short 

 summer pastures. Where intensive farming is practiced the silo 

 will prove an impoitant factor. 



405. Effect of silage upon quality of milk. — Milk-condensing 

 factories have quite generally refused to accept milk from dairies 

 where silage is fed. Whether there is a just foundation for this 

 prejudice remains unsettled at the present time. Not all con- 

 densing factories, however, are averse to the use of silage by their 

 patrons. The Michigan Condensed Milk Company, with factories 

 at Lansing and Howell, Michigan, accepts milk from silage-fed 

 cows. In the winter and spring of 1897, about one-fourth of the 

 milk received at the Lansing factory was from this source and 

 the company was urging its patrons to erect and use silos, at the 

 same time insisting that well -matured corn only be used. ^ 



' From information furnished by G. H. True of the Mich. Agl. College. 

 17 



