SUMMER FEEDING. 25 



Birable condition, will keep in good condition for several 

 years. Many foresighted men taking advantage of this fact 

 plan to have silage on hand the year around. They are 

 thus prepared for any unusual conditions such as drouth, 

 scant pasture, excessively long winters, and it is altogether 

 practical and profitable. It is desirable to have a silo of 

 relatively small diameter for summer feeding as it is 

 necessary to feed considerable amount from off the top 

 of the silage each day in order to keep it from moulding 

 during the hot, damp weather. 



There are three silos on the university farm and it is 

 our aim to avoid having all these empty at the same time. 

 A limited farm, greatly overstocked, makes it necessary 

 to supplement the pastures every year, and while soiling 

 crops are grown in abundance they cannot be relied upon 

 because of the gravelly nature of the sub-soil underlying 

 the farm, which means longer or shorter periods of drouth 

 annually. 



It would be absolutely impossible to maintain the num- 

 ber of animals on the college farm that we are successfully 

 carrying without the silage to supplement our pastures 

 and soiling crops. Many Indiana men have come to look 

 on the silo as quite as important in supplementing the 

 pastures as it is in furnishing succulence during the winter 

 season." 



The dry pastures and burned-up hillsides following the 

 drouth of 1910 made a very strong impression as to the 

 importance of having good summer feeding. It was an 

 eloquent though severe plea for the summer silo and led 

 to some splendid testimony in its favor. The drouth "cut 

 down the milk flow in most of the herds nearly 50 per 

 cent. Not one farmer in a hundred had provided for this 

 emergency by a good supply of succulent food that would 

 make milk. It is the same old story over again. It seems 

 to take a tremendous lot of pounding .on the part of Provi- 

 dence, to get it into farmers' heads that a summer silo is 

 a grand thing. The Hoard's Dairyman herd of cows had 

 50 tons or more of nice corn ensilage to turn to when 

 feed grew short and they have rolled out the milk nicely 

 right along. Besides, they will keep at it. There is noth- 

 ing like a supply of ensilage for summer use. It is close 

 by and handy to the stable for use, when you want it. 



