SILAGE FROM SHOCK CORN. 191 



SilEige from Shocked Corn. 



The ilissouri Agricultural Experiment Station during the 

 winter of 1913-14 Investigated the possibility of using shock corn 

 for silage. Every fall many farmers are compelled to cut their 

 ripened corn and shock it until their silos are completed, and 

 others wish to refill their silos after the first contents are fed out. 

 Both instances call for the siloing of shock corn or corn fodder. 

 The results showed that while silage made in this way is not equal 

 to that made from corn siloed at the proper stage, yet it makes a 

 satisfactory feed. It is more convenient to feed and animals find 

 it more palatable, eat it up cleaner and thrive on it better than on 

 dry shock corn. Refilling a silo in mid-winter with corn fodder 

 prevents the loss in feeding value which occurs, especially towards 

 spring, when fodder is left in the shock. Prof. Eckles points out, 

 however, that it is not a practical thing to silo such corn except 

 on farms where a, water system makes it possible to add the 

 necessary water and to do it as rapidjy as the corn goes in. The 

 amount of water to be added should be approximately equal pound 

 for pound to the dry fodder put in, or mold will set in. 



Temperatures in Different Silos. — ^It has been claimed that 

 stone, cement, tile and metal silos conduct heat away from the 

 silage to such an extent that it lacks sufHcient heat to make good 

 silage. This influence of temperature upon silage fermentation 

 has been greatly overestimated, as is proved by the result of four 

 years' work recently completed at the Kansas State Agricultural 

 College. Temperatures were taken daily for four months in wood 

 stave, plastered cement, monolithic cement, tile and galvanized 

 iron silos, both at the center and 6 Inches from the wall. The 

 greatest variation among the four wa,s only 10 degrees P., and this 

 near the wall where the silage would be most susceptible to 

 changes in temperature. The quality of the silage was in every 

 case excellent. Throughout the fall and winter the average tem- 

 perature near the wall in the four sllds was 55 degrees F., and at 

 the center of the same silo was 84.2 degrees F. 



High temperatures were, of course, found at the surface of the 

 silage where air caused rapid fermentation. From a temperature 

 of 85 degrees F. when the corn went through the cutter it had 

 risen to 118 degrees within a, day and on the fifth day reached 

 a maximum of 140 degrees. From then on the temperature gradu- 

 ally lowered. Heat generated at the top of the silage will pene- 



