16 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 362 



Cost per ton of grass 

 silage fed out 



Fertilizer and manure $0.82 



Seed 0.12 



Labor of preparing and seeding the land 1.04 



Labor of harvesting and filling the silo 2.37 



Molasses .78 



Total $5.13 



It should be noted that these figures are for silage actually fed out; i. e., after 

 all losses have been deducted. Persons attempting a comparison with hay or 

 corn silage should bear in mind that there are considerable losses from these 

 also. Hay is subject to considerable loss in the harvesting process due to shatter- 

 ing of leaves and to leaching if rained upon, and it undergoes further losses as a 

 result of the sweating process in the mow. Some people erroneously believe that 

 the loss in the mow is only water. Generally speaking, only about half of it is 

 water, the rest representing valuable feed nutrients, and the damper the hay is 

 when it goes in, the higher is the loss of these. 



Corn, while it undergoes very little loss in the harvesting process, is subject to 

 the same fermentation and seepage losses as grass silage. 



Practical Considerations 



In conclusion, it must be emphasized that the method is not a magic formula 

 for making good feed out of poor roughage. The man who puts poor quality, 

 overripe grass or legumes into the silo with the idea that it will come out a high- 

 grade feed is doomed to disappointment, as is also the operator who is careless 

 with the details of the process or who uses a silo that is not tight. 



The process is not e.xpected to supplant ordinary haymaking, but rather to 

 supplement it, making the farmer more independent of the weather, enabling him 

 to plan his seasonal operations more effectively and to avoid the large losses 

 experienced during such haying seasons as those of 1937 and 1938. 



Places where it will fit in to best advantage are: 



1. For late summer feed, to take the place of short pastures, especially during 

 the dry spells so often experienced in July and August. Used for this purpose, 

 one silo will serve for both corn and grass. If the grass silage is not all fed out 

 when corn cutting time arrives, no harm is done for the corn can be blown right 

 in on top of it. 



2. On farms where the land is not well suited to the growing of corn, such 

 as heavy, wet bottom lands which, in some seasons, cannot be prepared for corn 

 until it is too late, but which will produce a heavy yield of grass year after year 

 with no extra labor except that of top-dressing with either manure or fertilizer. 



It is perhaps needless to point out that the growing of grass or legumes and 

 the storing of part of the crop as silage ties in much better with any program of 

 soil conservation and erosion control than does the growing of an annual cul- 

 tivated crop like corn. The argument usually offered in favor of corn is that a 

 much larger tonnage of feed per acre can be grown than is the case with a hay 

 crop. This argument is not as valid as it was at one time for two reasons: (1) The 

 earlier date for the first cutting of grass when it is to be stored as silage, means 

 a larger crop of rowen. Under some conditions and with certain crops a third 



