Concrete Silos 23 



In reply to the following question: "By feeding 

 silage do you find your feed bill for the year is any 

 less than when silage is not fed?" 196 correspondents 

 out of 200 answered, "Yes;" two answered, "I don't 

 know," and two said, " I can't tell yet." One hundred 

 and fourteen of these men feed cattle. 



Out of 114 replies to the following question: "Do 

 you find that it requires less grain to fatten a steer 

 when silage forms a part of the ration?" 112 answered, 

 "Yes;" one replied, "I do not know," .and one said, 

 "I have not had enough experience to enable me to 

 answer this question." 



In answer to the question: "Do you find that it 

 costs less to fatten a steer when silage forms a part 

 of the ration?" 112 answered, "Yes," two answered, 

 "I don't know." 



The correspondent cattle feeders were also asked 

 the question: "What per cent has the feeding of silage 

 lessened the cost of production of beef on your farm ? ' ' 

 Out of 79 replies, there was but one who was willing to 

 say that there was no decrease in cost ; 17 answered 25 

 per cent ; 10 answered 33 1-3 per cent ; 12 answered 50 

 per cent; while other replies were scattered over a 

 wide range of gain. 



A stock raiser writing to The Independent Farmer 

 has this to say of the feeding of silage : 



We consider the silo as necessary as our barns. In 

 fact, we could not afford to do business on high-priced 

 land without such economical feed as silage. It enables 

 us to keep up a heavy milk flow from our cows at a 

 very low cost. During the past year, in our cow test- 

 ing association, one of our Holsteins returned us a 

 profit of $131 over and above her feed, and we sold our 

 silage to her at $3 per ton. Our entire herd returned 

 us an average profit of $101.05, over and above their 



