(^n<i^ Sd^<^ ODORS 



— no longer a problem 



By JOHN G. ARCHIBALD, Department of Dairy and Animal Science 



FARMERS can no longer offer ex- 

 cuses for foul-smelling silage. 

 Thanks to agricultural research, the 

 odor of grass or legume silage can be 

 as mild as, or even milder than, the 

 best grade of corn silage. 



Control Water Content 



Although early cut crops are of 

 high nutritional value, they contain 

 too much water to make good quality 

 silage. High water content favors the 

 development of bad odors. 



One way to control the water con- 

 tent is to allow the freshly cut crop 

 to wilt for several hours in the swath. 

 For success with the wilting method, 

 water content should be reduced to 

 less than approximately 72 percent 

 but not less than 58 percent; 65 per- 

 cent is ideal. 



Wilting is not practicable with a 

 field chopper because it involves 

 going over the ground twice. More- 

 over, weather conditions sometimes 

 are not favorable for wilting. 



Conditioners Effective 



When wilting is not practicable, 

 the water content can be lowered by 

 mixing a dry conditioner with the 

 grass. One hundred and fifty to 200 

 pounds of a material containing 10- 

 to 12-percent water added to a ton 

 of green grass containing 75-percent 

 water will reduce the water content 

 of the entire mixture to 70 percent 

 or less, giving a silage of satisfactory 

 odor and texture. 



If the water-absorbing conditioner 

 contains sufficient sugar, starch, or 

 other readily fermentable carbohy- 

 drate, the quality of silage will be 

 excellent because fermentation gets 

 under way rapidly. These conditions 

 are unfavorable to the formation of 

 butyric acid and to the breakdown 

 of protein to ammonia and other vol- 

 atile products responsible for bad 

 odors in silage. 



Old hay, straw, or oat feed absorb 

 moisture, but they lower feed value 

 and are recommended only in emer- 

 gencies when grass is very succulent, 

 and when more effective materials 

 are not available. 



Conditioners that assist in starting 

 the proper lactic acid fermentation 

 as well as in absorbing moisture are 

 corn-and-cob meal, corn or hominy 

 meal, ground wheat, and to a lesser 

 extent citrus pulp or citrus meal. This 

 method is especially recommended if 

 a farmer has his own ear corn. 



Recent Developments 



Two recently tested mild antisep- 

 tics, less expensive than corn meal or 

 other meal, are sodium metabisulfite 

 and Kylage (a mixture of calcium 

 formate and sodium nitrite). 



These fine white powders are easily 

 applied to the top of the grass load 

 as it comes to the silo. Eight pounds 

 of the bisulfite or five pounds of Ky- 

 lage are sufficient for a ton of grass. 

 Please turn to page 15 



