88 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



confronts the dairy farmer today. While we have in a measure 

 discussed the merits of the dairy animal, equally as important as 

 this is the knowledge of how to feed her. I am not going to 

 stand before you and tell you a big story of what the Silo will do 

 but I will say this however, that there is not a building on the 

 farm that will return you the amount of money for the investment 

 as will this building. 



Now it is a question that is going to come up to you sooner 

 or later, the question of cheap feed or the question of making 

 your high priced lands produce more to the acre. Do you know, 

 that in the State of Illinois you are wasting feed enough every 

 single year to carry the same amount of stock, that you are caring 

 for now? You are simply wasting this by leaving it out in the 

 field. Field after field that I passed on my trip down here, shows 

 acre after acre of corn stalks left standing there. Do you know 

 that we in the dairy country with Silos value the corn stalks to 

 be worth about as much to us as the grain from it. On this land 

 of yours today that is worth $150 an acre, you have got to get 

 a bigger return. That is, you have got to get more from the acre 

 in order to maintain this value and if you do not get it, as I said 

 to you before, the value of your lands is too high and must come 

 down. 



I am not a large farmer, I only have about two hundred 

 acres of land under cultivation. I have a two hundred ton Silo 

 and I usually fill it off of twenty to twenty-five acres of land and 

 this winter I am taking through forty-three head of cows and ten 

 or fifteen head of young cattle, and ensilage with the exception of 

 the milch cows is all the roughage these cattle will get. 



In order to appreciate the value of this feed, you must know 

 that we put it up right at the time when it is in its most nutritious 

 s.tate and with the process of curing it goes through, it is the 

 most palatable feed possible to give to cattle. I also have about 

 fifty hogs, these being shoats and brood sows that are fed nothing 

 but ensilage and the milk from the creamery. There has always 

 been a difference of opinion as to the best way of planting corn 

 for a Silo. No two men will agree on it. As for myself, I plant 



