CHAPTER IV. 



THE SUMMER SILO. 



The summer silo is fast becoming popular and even necessary 

 because of its splendid aid in supplementing summer pastures and 

 tiding the herd over the period of drouth, heat and flies. Experi- 

 ment stations that have studied the subject, strongly advocate its 

 use and some of the leading agricultural papers have been speak- 

 ing in no uncertain voice as to its advantages. 



"The summer silo is as certain'to assert its value as American 

 agriculture is certain to go forward rather than backward," says 

 Breeder's Gazette of Chicago. "Pasture as at present used or 

 abused is a broken reed. An over-grazed acre is the costliest 

 acre that the farmer supports. Even in normal seasons grass 

 rests in the summer time, and unless a fall and winter pasture is 

 laid by, little good is derived from grass lands after the flush of 

 spring. The silo supplements pastures, and carries the burden of 

 the winter's feeding." 



Among dairymen who have used summer silage for many years, 

 permanent pastures have been greatly reduced or even entirely 

 dispensed with. A prominent Indiana dairyman recently re- 

 marked, "My dairy last year returned me approximately $5,000 

 and yet I would go out of business if I had to give up the silo. I 

 would have to reduce the herd 50* per cent, if the summer silo was 

 not used." That statement is merely based on the fact that enough 

 silage to keep a cow or steer during its pasture season can be 

 grown on from one-fourth to one-third the area required to keep 

 the same animal on pasture. Beef cattlemen are rapidly finding 

 out about this "greater efficiency per acre of corn silage as com- 

 pared with grass, and the similarity of the two feeds in their effect 

 on cattle," and it leaves little room for doubt that "the silo will 

 greatly reduce the pasture acreage required and will have a 

 marked effect on beef production on high-priced land." 



Following the same line of thought Purdue Experiment Station 

 Bulletin No. 13 says: 



Too much dependence is usually placed upon pasture for sum- 

 mer feeding. Pasturing high-priced land is unprofitable in these 

 times. Few stop to consider the destructive effects of trampling, 



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