CORN SILAGE COMPARED TO HAY. 207 



to 1.98 pounds of hay (mostly timothy), the quantity of digestible 

 material being the same in the two cases. 



In another experiment, conducted at the same station, where 

 silage was compared with hay for steers, a pound of digestible 

 matter from the corn silage produced somewhat more growth than 

 a pound of digestible matter from timothy hay. The difference 

 was small, however, amounting in the case of the last two periods, 

 where the more accurate comparison is possible, to an increased 

 growth of only 15 pounds of live weight for each ton of silage fed. 



Corn silage compared with fodder corn. The cost of produc- 

 tion is the same for the green fodder up to the time of siloing, in 

 case of both systems; as against the expense of siloing the crop 

 comes that of shocking, and later on, placing the fodder under 

 shelter in the field-curing process; further husking, cribbing, and 

 grinding the corn, and cutting the corn stalks, since this is the 

 most economical way of handling the crop, and the only way in 

 which it can be fully utilized so as to be of as great value as pos- 

 sible for dry fodder. Professor King found the cost of placing 

 corn in the silo to be 58. G cents per ton, on the average for five 

 Wisconsin farms, or, adding to this amount, interest and taxes on 

 the silo investment, and insurance and maintenance of silo per ton, 

 73.2 cents. The expense of shocking and sheltering the cured fod- 

 der, and later cutting the same, will greatly exceed that of siloing 

 the crop; to obtain the full value in feeding the ear corn, it must, 

 furthermore, in most cases, be ground, costing ten cents or more 

 a bushel of 70 Ibs. The advantage is, therefore, decidedly with the 

 siloed fodder in economy of handling, as well as in the cost of pro- 

 duction. 



The comparative feeding value of corn silage and fodder corn 

 has been determined in a large number of trials at different experi- 

 ment stations. The earlier ones of these experiments were made 

 with only a couple of animals each, and no reliance can, therefore, 

 be placed on the results obtained in any single experiment. In the 

 later experiments a large number of cows have been included, and 

 these have been continued for sufficiently long time to show what 

 the animals could do on each feed. 



Comparative Cost of Producing Silage. The Oregon Agricul- 

 tural College Bulletin No. 136, comparing the total digestible nu- 

 trients of silage with other succulent feeds based largely on figures 



