1920.] 



Preserving Green Fodder. 



65 



PRESERVING GREEN FODDER: 



AN INEXPENSIVE TRENCH SILO. 



A. W. Oldershaw, M.B.E., B.Sc, 

 County Agricultural Organiser for East Suffolk. 



Ensilage is at the present time receiving much attention 

 from farmers in all parts . of the country, partly no doubt 

 owing to the introduction of cylindrical stave and concrete 

 silos of the American pattern. Unfortunately, however, 

 the process has been heavily" handicapped during the past 

 three years by the high cost of these structures. Mr. Arthur 

 Amos, M.A.,* recently estimated the cost of a cylindrical 

 silo capable of holding 150 tons of silage at £400. Where 

 suitable materials for making concrete exist on the farm the 

 cost of erecting a silo might conceivably be less, but in any 

 case it is bound to be high. The large initial outlay involved 

 will cause even large farmers to hesitate, while to small farmers 

 the cost will be prohibitive. The writer has given a brief 

 account of these cylindrical silos elsewhere. | 



In these circumstances any alternative method of making 

 silage is worth considering, even although the method may be 

 less perfect, and may involve rather greater loss of material 

 than would the cylindrical silo. 



The writer has elsewhere J referred to a method of making 

 silage which has been practised by Mr. Wm. Makens, of Colney, 

 Norwich, for a number of years. The method was described in 

 some detail in the issue of this Journal for July, 191 9, and 

 photographs were given showing the " trench " when full of 

 silage, and also the operation of covering with earth. The 

 trenches used by Mr. Makens vary in size ; the largest is 4 ft. 

 deep, 25 yd. long, and about 5 yd. wide. This trench is filled 

 with green material and afterwards covered with earth. In 

 the year 191 9, owing to drought, the quantity of green material 

 available to rill Mr. Makens' trenches was very small. The 

 material used was rye and tares mixed, and for some reason 

 the tares made a comparatively small growth, with the result 

 that the green stuff consisted largely of rye. The quality of 

 the silage, however, proved satisfactory. 



* Paper read before the Farmers' Club, 1st March, 1920. 



t Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, 191 7, 

 awd this Journal, February, 191 7, p. 1063. 



X Journal of the Bath and West and Southern Counties Society , 1918-19, 

 and this Journal, July, 1919, p. 450. 



F 



