200 HOW TO FEED SILAGE. 



as lambs fed rations not containing silage. The average of three 

 trials at that station showed that there was an average reduction 

 in cost of gain of 61 cents per hundred pounds." 



Wiliam Foy, of Foy & Townsend, Sycamore, 111., probably the 

 most extensive silage feeders in the world, feeds 20,000 sheep and 

 lambs a year on his 1400 acre farm. He makes silage his principal 

 feed and uses thousands -of tons. Even during the winter of 

 1910-11, so disastrous in mutton feeding operations, his stock actu- 

 ally paid out. Foy said: "The use of silage last winter averted 

 a loss of approximately $1 per head on the entire output of our 

 plant; in other words, it earned us that much money. * * * 

 You cannot feed hay to sheep or cattle at $15 to $17' a ton. Even 

 if it were possible, that policy would be questionable when a ton 

 of silage produces as many pounds of gain as a ton of hay and 

 costs $3 to $4. Weight for weight, I prefer silage, as it is more 

 palatable. With hay at current abnormal prices we would have 

 been forced out of business had silage not been available." 



Speaking of the advantages ".of silage, Mr. Foy says: "It saves 

 one-third of the corn that would be needed if only hay was used 

 as roughage, and obviates the use of hay entirely. The stock is 

 maintained in healthy condition; in fact, I never had a sick sheep 

 or even a lamb while feeding silage. When starting them on it, 

 care is necessary, but once accustomed to the feed, they thrive. 

 I figure at a 10-ton yield the product of an acre of silage to be 

 worth $50, and allowing $15 for cost of production we get ap- 

 proximately $35 out of an acre of corn. What the resultant 

 manure pile is worth, is open to conjecture. I will say, however, 

 that none of mine is for sale, and I could dispose of every pound 

 at $1 per ton. The principal disadvantage is the lack of finishing 

 quality and extra time needed to get the stock in marketable 

 condition. This can be remedied by using corn or corn meal to 

 put on a hard finish and it is our present practice. Saving one- 

 third the corn is an item not to be sneezed at in these days cf 

 big feed bills and narrow margins." 



Anthony Gardner of Hutchinson, Kans., one of the largest sheep 

 feeders in the state, says silos are indispensable. He has two 

 concrete silos aggregating 1300 tons capacity and uses silage for 

 sheep exclusively. It not only increases his profits per lamb, but 

 enables him to more than double his operations. During the 



