28 HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 



silage: Rectangular silo, 246 tons; square silo, 276 tons; circular 

 silo, 338 tons. Less lumber will, therefore, be needed to hold 

 a certain quantity of silage in case of square silos than in case 

 of rectangular ones, and less for cylindrical silos than for square 

 ones, the cylindrical form being, therefore, the most economical 

 of the three types. 



3. Silage of all kinds will usually begin to spoil after a few 

 days, if left exposed to the air; hence the necessity of considering 

 the extent of surface exposure of silage in the silo while it is 

 being fed out. In a deep silo there is less silage exposed to the 

 surface layer in proportion to the contents than in a shallow one. 

 Experience has taught us that if silage is fed down at a rate 

 slower than 1.2 inches daily, molding is liable to set in. About 

 two inches of the top layer of the silage should be fed out daily 

 during cold weather in order to prevent the silage from spoiling; 

 in warm weather about three inches must be taken off daily; 

 if a deeper layer of silage can be fed off daily, there will be less 

 waste of food materials; some farmers thus plan to feed off 5 or 6 

 inches of silage daily. The form of the silo must therefore be 

 planned, according to the size of the herd, with special reference 

 to this point. Professor King estimates that there should be a 

 feeding surface in the silo of about five square feet per cow in 

 the herd; a herd of thirty cows will then require 150 square feet 

 of feeding surface, or the inside diameter of the silo should be 

 14 feet; for a herd of forty cows a silo with a diameter of 16 

 feet will be required; for fifty cows, a diameter of 18 feet; for one 

 hundred cows, a diameter of 25^ feet, etc. 



In choosing diameters and depths for silos for particular herds, 

 individual needs and conditions must decide which is best. It 

 may be said, in general, that for the smaller sizes of silos the 

 more shallow ones will be somewhat cheaper in construction and 

 be more easily filled with small powers. For large herds the 

 deeper types are best and cheapest. 



One of the common mistakes made in silo construction is that 

 of making it too large in diameter for the amount of stock to be 

 fed silage. Whenever silage heats and molds badly on or below 

 the feeding surface heavy loss in feeding value is being sustained, 

 and in such cases the herd 'should be increased so that the losses 

 may be prevented by more rapid feeding. (King.) 



In this connection the following table furnished by the Animal 



