56 HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 



ones, and less for cylindrical silos than for square ones, 

 the cylindrical form being, therefore, the most economical 

 of the three types. 



3. Silage of all kinds will usually begin to spoil after 

 a few days, if left exposed to the air; hence the necessity 

 of considering the extent of surface exposure of silage in 

 the silo while it is being fed out. In a deep silo there is 

 less silage exposed to the surface layer in proportion to 

 the contents than in a shallow one. Experience has taught 

 us that if silage is fed down at a rate slower than 1.2 inches 

 daily, molding is liable to set in. About two inches of the 

 top layer of the silage should be fed out daily during cold 

 weather in order to prevent the silage from spoiling; in 

 warm weather about three inches must be taken off daily; 

 If a deeper layer of silage can be fed off daily, there will 

 be less waste of food materials; some farmers thus plan 

 to feed off 5 or 6 inches of silage daily. The form of the 

 silo must therefore be planned, according to the size of 

 the herd, with special reference to this point. Professor 

 King estimates that there should be a feeding surface in 

 the silo of about five square feet per cow in the herd; a 

 herd of thirty cows will then require 150 square feet of 

 feeding surface, or the inside diameter of the silo should 

 be 14 feet; for a herd of forty cows a silo with a diameter 

 of 16 feet will be required; for fifty cows, a diameter of 

 18 feet; for one hundred cows, a diameter of 25 1 /4 feet, etc. 



He gives the following tables showing the number of 

 cows required to eat 1.2 to 2 inches of silage daily in silos 

 24 to 30 feet deep, assuming that they are fed 40 Ibs. of 

 silage daily for 180 or 240 days. 



