ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



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silage. It is true that good silage can be made from corn cut very 

 course, but it is better to cut it into very small pieces. The claim 

 is made by some dairymen that if the green stalks are cut too 

 short, they will cause trouble by the short pieces getting between 

 the cow's teeth. There are, however, many dairymen who cut 

 their silage very fine, and they have never experiencd any diffi- 

 culty of this kind. 



Machinery Needed. 



The modern silage cutter with its blower attachment makes 

 it an easy matter to fill the silo. There are a number of good 

 makes of cutters on the market and they can be purchased at rea- 

 sonable prices. The blower attached to the common corn shred- 

 der is not large nor strong enough to elevate the green corn 

 stalks. If a blower is used it is quite necessary to buy a machine 

 made for the elevation of green material. The engine to drive 

 the modern silage cutter and blower should be at least 12 H. P. 

 and a 16 H. P. is better. It is better to have a little too much 

 power than not enough. With sufficient motive power, and plenty 

 of help it is not hard to silo 50 tons of green corn a day. The 

 common chain carrier does not require quite so much power to run 

 it as cutter which has the blower attachment. If a chain carrier 

 is used a single chain is better than the double one. When a link 

 breaks in the single chain the whole carrier immediately stops 

 while if one link should break in the double chain carrier a smash 

 up usually follows before the machinery can be stopped. The 

 pipe of the blower is raised and lowered very easily for the ma- 

 terial is strong enough to support itself. 



Cost of Filling. 



King, of the Wisconsin Station, studied the operation of 

 silo filling on four Wisconsin Dairy farms, and found the aver- 

 age amount of green fodder placed in the silo per man, daily, to 

 be as follows : 



Farm No. 1. 2.96 ton, per 10 hours labor. 



