124 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



ing of silage is responsible for an increase in the milk Row of 

 from 10 to 30 per cent. Think what even a 10 per cent increase 

 in all of the 2,000,000 cows in Illinois would mean. The aver- 

 age now is about 140 pounds of butter per cow per year. A 10 

 per cent increase would mean a gain of 28,000,000 pounds of 

 butter. At twenty-five cents per pound would be $7,000,000, at 

 least half enough to grow the crop and fill the silos. 



In building a silo there are several considerations which 

 must be kept in mind. The first is to have one that will preserve 

 the silage. In order to do this the silo must be air tight. L'he 

 walls must be rigid and smooth inside and it must be perpendic- 

 ular to allow the even settling of the mass. There are many 

 styles of silos and they are made of many different materials, such 

 as cement, concrete, brick and several styles of wooden silos. 

 The concrete, of course, is more durable and will cost more than 

 the average dairyman wishes to invest. The wooden stave silo 

 costs less and seems to be the most popular. The life of the 

 stave silo depends on the quality of the lumber used, but has the 

 advantage of easy construction and can be moved if necessary. 

 A few years ago the U. S. Department of Agriculture sent a 

 number of men to the southern states, where the silo was practi- 

 cally unknown, to show the dairymen how a cheap stave silo 

 could be built. About a hundred silos of this type were erected 

 at the average cost of about $1.50 per ton capacity. They can be 

 built in Illinois at the same cost. In building a silo the first thing 

 to consider is the site. It should be placed where it will be con- 

 venient for feeding, yet far enough away so that the odor from 

 the silage will not enter the barn at milking time. The best way 

 to arrange this is to place the silo at the end or one side of the 

 barn, six or eight feet away, and connect the silo chute and the 

 door in the barn by a corridor having a window on each side to 

 create a cross draught that will carry out any odor left in the 

 corridor. The door leading into the barn should be tight and 

 kept closed when not in use. 



After the site has been selected, drive a stake firmly in the 

 ground at the place where the center of the silo should be, and 



