THE IKEIGATION AGE. 



297 



THE SILO MEANS MONEY TO THE IRRIGATOR 



It Is no Longer an Experiment in the West; It Is a Necessity 



BUILD a silo. It means 

 more to the irrigated 

 farm today than almost 

 any other improvement 

 which the farmer can add. 

 The silo on the irrigated 

 farm is no longer an ex- 

 periment. In fact, today 

 among the most close 

 students of intensified 

 farming, it is considered 

 an absolute necessity. 



Its value to the irri- 

 gated farm, where dairy 

 cows are kept or where 

 livestock is being fed, has 

 been greatly enhanced 

 through experiments by 

 practical farmers, who 

 have proven that the feed 

 crops of the West are 

 practically all good for 

 silage. Alfalfa is being 

 used as silage on some 

 farms in nearly all the 



Western states. Experiments in Western Wash- 

 ington have proved that all of the grass crops, 

 wheat, oats, vetch, rye, peas, clover and even mes- 

 quite make good silage. 



Corn can now be grown almost any place west 

 of the one-hundredth meridian. As it is becoming 

 acclimated the corn is improving rapidly through- 

 out the West and some of the best corn in the na- 

 tion is now being grown on irrigated farms. Corn 

 is the most important silage feed in the dairy sec- 

 tions of the 

 eastern and 

 central sections 

 of the United 

 States a n d it 

 promises to as- 

 s u in e almost 

 f q u a 1 impor- 

 t a n c e in the 

 dairies of the 

 West. 



The s o r - 

 ghums.- which 

 grow prolifical- 

 ly in many parts 

 of the West, 

 are also recom- 

 mended for sil- 

 age. 



"The silo is a 

 proven neces- 

 sity on our high 

 priced irrigated 

 lands," says J. 

 S. Stinson, a 



WHY I USE A SILO 



THE Irrigation Age will pay five dollars to the 

 irrigation farmer who writes the best letter 

 on "Why I Use a Silo." It will present copies 

 of The Primer of Irrigation, a book every ir- 

 rigator should have in his library, to the writers 

 of the five next best letters. These letters should 

 reach The Irrigation Age office, 39 N. Dearborn 

 St., Chicago, 111., not later than Sept. 1, 1914. 

 Address care of the Silo Editor. 



The Age offers these prizes because it wants 

 to give to its readers information of .results 

 being accomplished by actual irrigation farmers. 

 The Age believes in the value of the silo on the 

 irrigated farm. There are still many skeptics 

 among irrigators concerning the silo. The best 

 arguments with which to convince them are 

 facts; the accomplishments of other actual ir- 

 rigators. 



Tell The Age what you have accomplished 

 through the use of a silo. Do it not only be- 

 cause you may want to win one of the prizes 

 but because your experiences may greatly aid 

 some brother irrigator. 



Silaje ted calves. They gained two pounds daily on Kafir Silase 



Colorado farmer. "The 

 selling prices of our 

 dairy products are not al- 

 ways under our control, 

 but the cost of production 

 is. The silo has solved 

 this cost problem for me, 

 for by its use I am keep- 

 ing twenty-five head of 

 stock on twenty acres. 

 We are buying, some hay 

 at $5 a ton and by feed- 

 ing it to the cows I am 

 getting $12 to $15 a ton. 

 Every stock man and 

 dairy woman has looked 

 out over the meadow and 

 longed for the green 

 grass for the winter time. 

 The ensilage from the 

 silo is summer conditions 

 for our cows; that degree 

 of succulency is present in 

 this feed so that it keeps 

 up the milk flow. Our 



cows dropped off two pounds each a day last month 

 when we stopped feeding it and we had the best of 

 other green feed to take its place. 



"Ensilage is a heavy product and we feed each 

 cow twelve to twenty pounds morning and even- 

 ing. To reduce the labor and keep down the cost 

 of the cream, the silo should be close to the feed- 

 ing alley, by the stable, barn or sheds, outside the 

 barn, for an odor is always present and we do not 

 care for this in the stable." 



The silo 

 makes it possi- 

 ble to conduct 

 a farming busi- 

 ness on a busi- 

 ness basis in- 

 stead of being 

 compelled t o 

 follow the 

 wasteful prac- 

 tices adopted in 

 the days of 

 cheap lands, 

 feed and labor. 

 It is an all- 

 year-round in- 

 surance against 

 the shortage of 

 succulent feed. 

 It often proves 

 just as much of 

 a necessity in 

 summer as in 

 winter. 

 Those who 



