236 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



the best arranged plan, its success depends very largely upon 

 weather conditions. 



The Summer Silo. 



Silage has found a wide use in this country as a palatable, 

 succulent, and economical roughage for use during the winter. 

 Many of the advantages of its use in winter apply equally well 

 in summer, and there are additional ones that apply alone to the 

 latter season. 



The use of a summer silo is particularly applicable on high- 

 priced land. If the land is pastured it will require from i to 3 

 or more acres a season for each cow, while one acre of corn put 

 in the silo will supply succulent roughage for several cows for a 

 like period. It is true that grain will be necessary in addition 

 to silage, but the great problem on high-priced land is to raise a 

 sufficient quantity of roughage. 



As has previously been said, soiling crops have been used 

 to a great extent either in place of or in addition to pasture. 

 The greatest disadvantage in their use is that much labor is re- 

 quired. In order to use these crops they must be cut and hauled 

 from day to day. This work is expensive because only small 

 areas are cut at one time, thus making it impracticable to use the 

 harvesting machinery of the farm to advantage and entailing 

 considerable loss of time in harnessing and unhitching the team. 

 Considerable inconvenience also is occasioned by the fact that 

 the field work is pressing at that season of the year and both 

 man and horsepower are badly needed in the fields. Silage, on 

 the other hand, is cut at one operation when the work in the field 

 is not pressing. The crop ordinarily grown for silage is corn, 

 which is a part of the regular farm rotation and consequently 

 fits in well with the regular routine of work. 



With a silo for summer feeding, the dairyman always has 

 an abundant supply of feed that is easily handled. By using 

 silage the necessity of cutting and hauling the supplementary 

 roughage during rainy weather is eliminated. Another advan- 

 tage as compared with the soiling system lies in the fact that 

 with the latter it is often necessary to feed a portion of each 



