288 rRINCITLES OF FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



in. (2) The wnlls of a silo must be strong enough to resist 

 the bursting pressure of tlie silage which acts outward in all 

 directions as the silage settles. The friction of the silage 

 on the walls and the weight of the material of the walls pro- 

 duce a crushing action which is very great near the bottom 

 of the silo. (3) To permit the silage to settle freely and to 

 prevent the formation of air pockets, the walls should be 

 smooth on the inside and not have shoulders or offsets. 

 Air pockets result in more or less spoiled silage. 



There are a number of advantages in using the silo, but 

 the greatest of them is the possibility it affords of utilizing 

 all the corn crop. There was a time when land was cheap 

 and there was an abundance of coarse feed at hand that 

 had little market value. Under these conditions it was 

 not a serious loss if a portion of the corn crop was wasted. 

 At the present time, with both farm lands and feeds high 

 in price, conditions are quite different. When the ears of 

 corn are husked in the ordinary way and the stalks left in 

 the field, from 60 to 70 per cent of the nutritive value of the 

 corn crop is taken with the ears, while 30 to 40 per cent 

 remains with the stalks. It is possible to utiHze a small 

 portion of this nutriment by turning stock into the stalk 

 fields in the ordinary manner. However, the benefits de- 

 rived in this way are comparatively small and often not 

 worth the risk of losing valuable animals from corn-stalk 

 disease. 



The next most important advantage of silage is its palat- 

 ability. A silo not only preserves the succulence of the 

 green fodder but the ])acterial fermentations which the fodd(n- 

 undergoes develops large amounts of organic acids and other 

 substances which add greatly to the palatability of the 



