206 FEEDS AND FEEDING, ABRIDGED 



teniug period, the allowance decreasing as they fatten until only 10 to 

 15 lbs. is fed; brood mares and idle horses, 15 to 30 lbs.; breeding 

 ewes, 2 lbs. (sometimes as much as 3 to 4 lbs. is safely fed) ; fattening 

 lambs. 1.5 to 3 lbs. 



Summer silage. — Many farmers who fully appreciate the value of 

 silage for winter feeding do not realize its value for supplementing 

 dried-up pastures in the summer, or as a partial substitute for pas- 

 turage on high-priced land where all the stock possible must be kept 

 per acre. In a 3-3'ear comparison of soilage crops and corn silage as 

 .summer supplements to pasture for dairy cows, at the Wisconsin 

 Station,^ silage proved fullj- as efficient in producing milk and butter 

 fat as soilage, and was far cheaper and more convenient. To provide a 

 succession of green feed by means of soiling crops, it is necessary to fit 

 and plant comparatively small areas to various crops at different times. 

 As the cut soilage will quickly heat and become unpalatable in warm 

 weather if placed in piles, a supply must be harvested each day, or at 

 least every two or three da^'S. Harvesting in small quantities and in 

 all sorts of weather is inconvenient and expensive, and the work must 

 be done at the busiest season of the year. On the other hand, when 

 corn or the sorghums are grown for silage the large fields are fitted, 

 planted, cultivated, and harvested with labor saving machinery at 

 minimum expense, and feeding the silage takes but a few minutes daily. 



Corn and sorghum return greater yields of nutrients than many of 

 the crops it is necessary to include in a soiling system. Silage fur- 

 nishes feed of uniformly high quality thruout the season, a goal which 

 is difficult to reach by soiling, for one crop is often exhausted or too 

 mature before the next is in prime condition for feeding. The years 

 when drought is severe and pastures unusually short are the veiy times 

 when soiling crops will be scant or may even fail. By means of the 

 silo, the crop may be carried over from one year to the next, thus pro- 

 viding insurance against drought. In summer feeding, at least two 

 inches of silage and preferably more should be removed from the sur- 

 face each day, or the exposed material will decay. 



Filling the silo. — Especially with such coarse material as corn or 

 sorghum forage, silage keeps much better when cut into short lengths 

 and is therefore usually run thru a silage cutter. The cut material is 

 also easier to remove from the silo. "When filling the silo the inpouring 

 material should be thoroly mixed and evenly spread, so it will settle 

 uniformly. The material should be especially well tramped near the 

 wall and kept higher than at the center, as the friction at the wall re- 

 tards the settling. If the forage is too dry to pack well, w^ater should 

 be added to the mass in the silo or to the cut forage as it passes thru the 



1 WoU, Humphrey, and Oosterliuis, Wis. Bui. 235, 



