SILAGE— SOILAGE 205 



Such substances as beet pulp, beet tops, apple pomace, the waste 

 from sweet corn canneries, and sorghum bagasse may be successfully 

 preserved in silos, or placed in heaps and covered with earth, or even 

 massed in large heaps without covering, in which case the outside por- 

 tion on decaying forms a preserving crust. Weeds and other waste 

 vegetation may sometimes be advantageously ensiled. Cabbage, rape, 

 and turnips make unsatisfactory silage, ill-smelling and watery. 



Silage on the stock farm. — Over a large part of the United States 

 the use of silage is a most important means of lowering the cost of 

 producing milk and meat. Apart from the nutrients it contains, this 

 succulent feed aids in keeping stock in thrifty condition so that they 

 will make the most from their feed. Since it furnishes at any time of 

 the year a uniform supply of succulent feed nearly equal in palatability 

 and nutritive effect to the pasturage of early summer, silage is unex- 

 celled for dairy cows, beef cattle, and sheep. With an abundance of 

 silage and legume hay the amount of concentrates which must be pur- 

 chased or grown may be greatly reduced. Silage is especially valuable 

 for breeding stock and young animals, keeping them in better condition 

 than if wintered on dry forage alone. On too many farms stock cattle 

 barely hold their own during winter. This means that for half of each 

 year all the feed consumed goes for body maintenance, returning 

 nothing to the owner, and serving only to carry the animals over to 

 pasture time, when they once more may gain in weight and really 

 increase in value. By the use of corn silage, combined with other 

 cheap roughages, young cattle may gain steadily all winter at small 

 cost, and by spring they will be in condition to make the largest pos- 

 sible gains from pasture. Silage is a valuable succulence for sheep, 

 but must be fed in moderation to ewes before lambing or weak, flabby- 

 lambs may result. Good silage may also be used in a limited way with 

 idle horses and those not hard worked in winter, especially brood 

 mares and colts. 



Spoiled, moldy silage should always be discarded, and special care 

 taken to feed no such material to sheep or horses, which are much more 

 easily affected by it than cattle. Silage which is very sour is apt to 

 cause digestive disturbances with sheep. For all animals only as much 

 silage should be supplied as will be cleaned up at each feeding. Care 

 should be taken to remove any waste, for it spoils in a short time on 

 exposure to the air. Frozen silage must be thawed before feeding. 



The amount of silage commonly fed per head daily to the various 

 classes of stock is about as follows : 



Dairy cows, 30 to 50 lbs. for those in milk, with somewhat less for 

 dry cows ; dairy heifers, 12 to 20 lbs. -, beef breeding cows, 30 to 50 lbs. ; 

 fattening 2-year-old steers, 25 to 30 lbs. at the beginning of the fat- 



