t 629 ] 



1.079. Pit-silage is more sour than stack-silage, but cattle 

 will eat either. The acidity is due to acetic, lactic and other 

 acids which are generated when the temperature rises to 

 80 or iooF. The albuminoids get partly converted into 

 acids, which is a loss, and the albuminoid ratio of silage being 

 less, some nitrogenous food, such as bran or oil-cake should 

 be used with silage. Silage is also a mild laxative food which 

 ordinarily does no harm, but when diarrhoea sets in, bean- 

 meal should be given along with silage or hay and straw 

 partly substituted for silage. Generally speaking, 10 to 15 

 seers of silage along with other food should be given per 

 diem to a cow. 



1. 080. The relative merits of hay and silage are thus 

 summed up by Dr. Leather : 



" The grass used weighed 34,442 Ibs. ; the hay 1 1,152 Ibs. ; 

 the loss 20,290 Ibs. or 67-62 per cent. Of this 64*57 P er cent, 

 was water. The remainder was almost entirely due 

 to the loss of a part of the digestible fibre, woody 

 fibre and carbohydrates present in the grass. The amount 

 of these together in the fresh grass was 8,668 Ibs. and in 

 the hay 7,670 Ibs., the loss was therefore 998 Ibs. or 11*5 per 

 cent. Of the albuminoids present in the grass there was no 

 loss, and a considerable proportion of the insoluble albumi- 

 noids became soluble ; of the total N originally present there 

 was slight loss the grass contained 160 Ibs. whilst the hay 

 contained 150 Ibs. During the process of hay-making, there- 

 fore, the loss of food material is but very slight, and what 

 is lost consists principally of carbonaceous principles." 



1.081. With regard to some English silage Dr. Leather 

 says : The digestible fibre, the woody fibre and the carbohy- 

 drates in the grass weighed together 8,213 Ibs. ; those in the 

 silage 6,989 Ibs. and the loss 1,224 Ibs. Some acetic and 

 lactic acids were formed, amounting together to 215 Ibs. 

 Allowing these to have the same value as the carbohydrates, 

 the net loss of carbonaceous food was 1,009 ^s, or 12-3 per 



