204 HOW TO FEED SILAGE. 



feeding silage to pregnant ewes since 1907. A three year experi- 

 ment was commenced that year with two lots of ewes, one lot 

 being fed silage along with hay and grain and the other lot hay 

 and more grain, but no silage. The silage ration was limited the 

 first year, increased to 4 pounds the second year, and the third 

 year the ewes were given all they could clean up, which was prac- 

 tically 4.6 pounds. Even with this amount no harmful results 

 were observed either in the ewes or the lambs. 



The experiment showed that the general thrift and appetite 

 of the silage ewes was superior to that of the lots fed hay and 

 grain alone. The former made each year a larger gain over winter 

 than did those on dry feed. The latter averaged for the three 

 years a gain of 6 pounds, while the silage ewes gained 13.75 

 pounds, or more than twice as much. Yet the Station Bulletin 

 states definitely that tliis gain was not mere fat like com feeding 

 will produce, but that the ewes were in good, condition to produce 

 strong, vigorous iambs. It was a, noticeable fact, that "right 

 straight through the whole three years, the lambs from the ewes 

 having the succulent feed, i. e., silage, averaged nearly ten per 

 cent, larger at birth. As to the cost of feed, the ration including 

 silage proved the more economical, while more satisfactory results 

 were obtained. The lambs from these two lots of ewes were all 

 fed out for an early market, and those from each lot did equally 

 well, gaining nearly half a pound per day until they were sold." 



Prof. King says that the same station has also "tested the value 

 of corn silage for fattening lambs and found that the lambs were 

 very easily kept on feed, made as rapid gains and finished as well 

 as lambs fed rations not containing silage. The average of three 

 trials at that station showed that there was an average reduction 

 in cost of gain of 61 cents per hundred pounds." 



William Foy, of Foy & Townsend, Sycamore, 111., probably the 

 most extensive silage feeders in the world, feeds 20,000 sheep and 

 lambs a year on his 1,400 acre farm. He makes silage his principal 

 feed and uses thousands of tons. Even during the winter of 

 1910-11, so disastrous in mutton feeding operations, his stock actu- 

 ally paid out. Foy said: "The use of silage last winter averted 

 a loss of approximately $1 per head on the entire output of our 

 plant; in other words; It earned us that much money. • ♦ » 

 You cannot feed hay to sheep or cattle at $15 to $17 a ton. Even 

 if it were possible, that policy would be questionable when a ton 



