SILOS AND SILAGE 



253 



stone, concrete (Fig. 120), or cement (Fig. 118). If the inside 

 walls are perpendicular and smooth and the air is excluded, the 

 silage will keep as well in one kind of material as in another. 

 Other important considerations are cost and durability. 



328. Feed the silage when fresh. As soon as silage is ex- 

 posed to the air, at the ordinary temperature, molds begin to 

 grow, and in a short time a distasteful flavor and a disagreeable 

 odor develop, due to the decay of the protein of the silage. If 

 the weather is too cool for molds to grow, the silage dries out 

 and animals do not eat it 

 with a relish. Silage may 

 be exposed to the air one 

 day at any season without 

 injury, and in winter for 

 several days. For sheep, 

 silage should not be exposed 

 more than a day if this can 

 be avoided, for sheep have 

 very discriminating appe- 

 tites. For cows in milk two 

 days' exposure should be 

 the limit under ordinary 

 conditions, and for horses 

 the silage should always be 

 fed perfectly fresh. 



It is important, therefore, 

 that the diameter of the silo, which determines the amount of 

 silage exposed to the air, be adjusted to the size of the herd to 

 be fed. To keep the surface silage fresh, at least 2 inches should 

 be fed daily in winter, 3 inches in early fall and spring, and 

 4 or 5 inches in midsummer. The surface exposed in a round 

 silo varies as the square of the diameter. Thus, the area exposed 

 in a silo 20 feet in diameter is four times the area exposed in a 

 silo 10 feet in diameter, and four times as many animals will be 

 required to eat the silage rapidly enough so that it will always 

 be fresh on the surface. 



FIG. 122. Tile silo construction 



Showing how the hollow tile are laid and how 



the steel rods hold them together ; also mortar 



is placed between the layers of tile 



