354 SOILING CROPS AND THE SILO. 



it may be used with much effectiveness in lifting 

 the silage in the silo, and the shorter the lengths to 

 which the food has been cut, the more readily may 

 it be removed. None of the silage thrown out of 

 the silo should be allowed to remain unfed, or it will 

 at once begin to deteriorate. 



Carrying Silage Over to Another Season. As 

 previously intimated, it is possible to carry silage 

 over from one season to another. But it cannot be 

 thus carried over without some loss. As soon as the 

 feeding of the silage ceases for the season, decay 

 begins on the exposed surface and it penetrates the 

 same to a certain depth, more or less according to 

 the degree of compactness in the silage. In any 

 event it will be spoiled to the depth of several inches, 

 and up to the present time no effective method of 

 preventing such decay has been discovered, which 

 is not too costly to justify applying it. But before 

 the refilling of the silo begins, the spoiled silage 

 should first be carefully removed. 



Adaptation to Different Classes of Animals. 

 Although silage may be fed to horses, cattle, sheep 

 and swine, it is not equally adapted to these various 

 classes of animals, nor is it equally adapted to the 

 needs of all animals of the same class. Much 

 depends upon the age of the animals, the other food 

 adjuncts that are commonly fed to them and the 

 precise object or objects for which they are kept. It 

 furnishes excellent food for colts, brood mares and 

 horses that are not being worked. Only small quan- 

 tities should be fed to horses that are being worked 

 moderately and still less to horses that are being 

 severely worked. Like all other green foods it 



