CATTLE PRODUCTION 35 



The seed for a crop of corn to put into the silo costs less than the seed 

 for sowing soiling crops. 



The labor required to put up and feed a given amount of silage will be 

 less expensive than the labor required to secure and feed soiling crops. The 

 inconvenience of feeding silage will also be much less. 



Corn for silage returns a large tonnage per acre and is much less sus- 

 ceptible to loss due to drought or over-ripe condition. 



Silage provides a more uniform feed. as regards quality and palatability 

 than one is assured of getting in soiling crops. 



On the whole it is much easier to control conditions that insure good 

 silage than it is to control those which insure good soiling crops. 



Silos and Silage. The organization of dairy and general live stock farms 

 is not complete without one or more silos. Silos made of concrete, brick, wood 

 and other materials which insure an air-tight wall, are in general use, and 

 satisfactory. The chief differences between silos are in cost, durability and 

 expense for repairs. 



Crops Suitable for the Silo. A silo is most valuable for the storage of 

 corn that is harvested when the ears are nicely glazed or the crop is ordinarily 

 ready to be put into the shock. Peas and oats cut when the oats are in the 

 milk or dough stage, freshly cut clover and alfalfa, a mixture of corn and clover, 

 alfalfa or soy beans, shock corn or stover mixed with beet tops, and refuse 

 from canning factories, may also be stored in the silo to good advantage. Two 

 bushels of peas and one bushel of oats mixed and sown at the rate of two bushels 

 per acre, can usually be cut with a grain binder and handled very conveniently when 

 ready for the silo. They make an excellent means for providing summer silage 

 for dairy cows where there is not an abundance of corn silage. Clover or alfalfa 

 is best made into hay and only when the weather does not permit good hay being 

 made is it advisable to put these crops into the silo. Late cuttings of these 

 crops mixed with corn, increase the amount and add to the protein content of 

 silage. 



Silage an Economic Feed. Three tons of corn silage contain practically 

 the same amount of digestible nutrients as one ton of hay and require only one- 

 third as much storage space. The entire plant is usually put into the silo, thus 

 there is the least chance of waste. The loss of dry matter from corn when 

 shocked, husked and handled in the usual manner, ranges from 20 to 25 per- 

 cent. Properly put into the silo the loss is only 5 to 10 percent, and the crop is 

 preserved in a manner to yield a uniform quality of feed as long" as it lasts, and 

 comes the nearest to being a substitute for good grass pasture of any other feed. 



Corn silage is especially valuable for dairy and beef cattle, sheep and 

 horses. Hogs like it, but do not utilize it in a manner to warrant their receiving 

 it. All classes of animals need to be gradually accustomed to silage, after which 

 dairy cattle may receive 25 to 40 pounds per head daily, beef and growing 

 cattle 15 to 20 pounds, sheep 1 to 2 pounds, and horses 10 to 15 pound?. 

 Horses must be fed judiciously and guarded against colic. 



A silo on a dairy farm saves 25 to 30 percent of the amount of hay other- 



