SILAGE FOR SHEEP. 201 



winter of 1911-12, Mr. Gardner fattened 10,000 lambs on silage. 

 Without this feed, he states that 4,000 would have been his limit. 

 Aside from this feature the silo saved his corn crop from the hot 

 winds of 1911 and allowed him to make the best use of the kaflr 

 he grew that season. Mr. Gardner's feeding operations are on $100 

 land too high-priced for pasturage or range purposes. In the fall 

 of 1910 his silos were filled with corn, and 7,500 lambs were fat- 

 tened 'with ensilage and grain. Corn was also the principal crop 

 in 1911, but to test out kafir, he topped off one of the silos with 

 100 tons of it, and it proved so successful that in 1912 he planted 

 80 acres to kafir and cow peas sowed together, which on account 

 of the increased bulk is about a third of what it took in acreage to 

 fill with last year's corn crop. Mr. Gardner's silos cost about 

 $1,000 each, and their owner figures that they cut nearly a third off 

 the cost of his yearly feeding operations. He feeds ordinarily two 

 pounds of silage and 1% pounds of grain a day (corn, bran and 

 cottonseed meal) with kafir fodder for roughage. 



After marketing his 10,000 lambs early in 1912, he was offered 

 $6.50 a ton for silage remaining on hand, but instead of selling, he 

 picked up a bunch of 1,800 poorly wintered lambs at low figures 

 which by means of silage he estimated later in the season would 

 bring him a profit of about $1.50 per head. 



Silage is looked upon with great favor among sheep men, says 

 Prof. Woll in his Book on Silage; sheep do well on it, and silage- 

 fed ewes drop their lambs in the spring without trouble, the lambs 

 being strong and vigorous. Silage containing a good deal of corn 

 is not well adapted for breeding stock, as it is too fattening; for 

 fattening stock, on the other hand, much corn in the silage is an 

 advantage. Sheep may be fed a couple of pounds of silage a day 

 and not to exceed five or six pounds per head. Prof. Cook reports 

 as follows in regard to the value of silage for sheep: "Formerly 

 I was much troubled to raise lambs from grade Merino ewes. Of 

 late this trouble has almost ceased. Last spring I hardly lost a 

 lamb. While ensilage may not be the entire cause of the change, 

 I believe it is the main cause. It is positively proved that ensilage 

 is a most valuable food material, when properly fed, for all our 

 domestic animals." 



Mr. J. M. Turner of Michigan says concerning silage for sheep: 

 "Of late years we have annually put up 3,200 tons of corn ensilage, 



