50 BULLETIN 1244, U. S. DEPART MEXT OF AGRICULTURE. 



least fairly nutritious silage can be made from nearly all common 

 herbaceous plants, including native and introduced weeds. Low- 

 tonnage and the difficulty of harvesting are such decidedly limiting 

 factors, however, that the plants which actually offer practical 

 possibilities for silage making are relatively few. Notwithstanding 

 this, in a year of drought it is of value to know that almost any kind of 

 available herbage may be utilized for forage by means of the silo if the 

 yield is sufficiently large. For most of the northern Great Plains 

 region, corn is without question the best silage crop when tonnage 

 and quality are considered. Much attention has been given to the 

 silage possibilities of sunflowers, but they are not nearly so valuable 

 as corn, except at altitudes too high for corn, or possibly under 

 irrigation. 



Both the aboveground and the pit types of silo can be used in the 

 drier parts of the region. The relative merits of these types are too 

 well known to require discussion here. The use of the silo of either 

 type will increase the storage of feed for a single feeding season, but 

 it is probable that only the exceptionally provident farmer will make 

 a regular practice of using the silo to carry from one year to another 

 sufficient feed to provide for years of shortage. 



RATIO OF FORAGE CROPS TO GRAIN AND THE SIZE OF THE FARM 



UNIT. 



Assuming that it is generally agreed that more cultivated forage is 

 necessary if farming in the drier sections of the northern Great 

 Plains is to be permanently successful, the question of the ratio of 

 acreage of these crops to grains at once arises. It is not practicable 

 to set forth a hard and fast system prescribing the number or kind of 

 livestock, the relative acreage of the various crops, or the optimum 

 unit of area. The precipitation of the section, the location and 

 topography of the land, the character of the soil, market facilities, 

 and the individual characteristics of the farmer are among the 

 elements that must be taken into account. As a general proposition 

 it will not pay the farmer to raise forage for his neighbors, therefore 

 his forage acreage must be determined by the requirements of his 

 own livestock. As a theoretical consideration, an ideal arrangement 

 would provide pasturage and cured forage sufficient for enough 

 livestock to make an income that would guarantee a living for the 

 farm family. Added to this should be as much land and grain as a 

 family can handle with additional labor only at harvest time. In 

 such a scheme the livestock would be regarded as the main dependence 

 and the grain as more of a speculative feature, without which dry-land 

 farming would be exceedingly unattractive. 



It is difficult to specify intelligently the size that should bo adopted 

 for the farm unit for the drier parts of the region. This must be 

 governed by much the same factors as govern the determination of 

 the optimum ratio of livestock and forage to grain crops. It is evi- 

 dent, however, that the total area of the farm unit, including range or 

 pasture and tilled land, must be much larger than that now in general 

 use. With helpful suggestions drawn from past experiences in dry 

 farming elsewhere, the future will determine the size of the unit 

 before many general ions have passed. 



