8 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 425 



The lack of agreement on carotene preservation between the two groups of 

 data is believed to be due to sampling error in the lots of silage represented in the 

 second group, although other investigators have noted at times that apparent 

 carotene values may be higher in silage than in the crop from which it is made. 

 In general some carotene loss is to be expected in the making of silage, although 

 it is less than in an\- other process of curing and storing roughage, excepting arti- 

 ficial dehvdration. 



Table 1. — The Composition of Grass Silage^^ 



Kind of Crop 



Z'c 



OS 



Percent Percenlages in the fresh material 



Mixed grasses 12 71.6 3.02 1.01 9.97 11.36 



Mixed grasses and legumes 19 70.9 3.48 .94 9.80 11.26 



Timothy 5 73.9 2.87 1.06 10.79 11.22 



Legume 6 74.0 4.24 1.07 8.78 11.00 



Small grain 6 72 8 2.60 .94 10.44 11.52 



Oats - peas 3 67.3 2.92 .95 10.02 11.69 



Potato - alfalfa 1 64.1 4.15 .48 6.70 14.96 



Potato - oat hay 1 • 66.2 2.41 .35 6.26 17.33 



Corn - for comparison. .. . 6 73.5 2.34 .77 8.43 14.87 



Changes in Composifion as a Result of Ensiling 

 Mixed Grasses 



Before ensiling 3 75.3 3.29 .78 9.31 12.38 



After ensiling ' 3 72.9 2.61 1.06 10.82 11.15 



Mixed Grasses and Legumes 



Before ensiling 8 72.6 3.70 .69 8.88 12.31 



After ensiling 8 70.3 3.41 1.05 9.93 11.23 



■ In order to have all values except original moisture comparable, they have been converted to 

 a uniform basis of 72 percent moisture, which was the average moisture content of the 59 lots of 

 silage reported in the first section of the table. 



Potato Silage 



During the past two seasons, as a result of the price support program of the 

 federal go\'ernment, surplus potatoes have been available for feeding to livestock. 

 In 1944, 137 carloads of small potatoes were disposed of in this way in Massachu- 

 setts; many farmers fed them to livestock as such, either raw or cooked; others, 

 following directions furnished by the War Food Administration through the 

 college and county extension services, made them into ensilage b\- mixing them 

 with a few hundred pounds of some kind of roughage and chopping in the usual 

 manner. 



Reports thus far indicate that for the most part a good grade of silage was 

 obtained, although a few failures have been noted. The composition of two lots 

 of such material has been noted in the preceding section of this bulletin. Quality 

 of one of these was excellent, of the other only fair. More serious than any failure 

 to obtain good silage has been the damage to cutter knives by stones, reported by 



