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Manufacture of Ensilage. 



[JULY, 



The Board of Agriculture and Fisheries have been supplied 

 with the following note by Mr. W. R. Dunlop, of the South 

 Eastern Agricultural College, Wye : — 



neither makes such good fodder as oat straw, nor is it as 

 valuable for litter as wheat straw. Some method, therefore, 

 of increasing the feeding value of this material could not 

 but be of advantage to farmers, especially to those who have 

 barley straw left over each year, and who find it difficult 

 to deal with this surplus economically. 



From the results of experiments recently made on this 

 subject, it is considered probable that the digestibility of 

 barley straw could be considerably increased by fermentation 

 with greenstuff under pressure. In other words, instead of 

 making ensilage from greenstuff alone, barley straw might 

 be added to the greenstuff and the mixture compressed and 

 allowed to ferment. 



Even on a small scale the effect upon the straw is most 

 marked; its characteristic natural resistance is lost, and the 

 various fatty acids and aromatic compounds produced during 

 the fermentation tend to make it very palatable to stock. 

 There is always a risk, however, in working with fermenta- 

 tion of this sort that it may go too far, and putrefaction set 

 in. On a small scale and in an experiment this may easily 

 happen, as it is very difficult to exclude all air. Even in 

 practice the manufacture of ensilage is always accompanied 

 by a certain amount of putrefaction, especially in the top 

 layers where the air gets in. This area is exaggerated in a 

 small experiment, and so tends to give an unfair result. On 

 a large scale where a big stack is made, or where a proper 

 silo is used, the mass of material provides its own pressure, 

 and under these conditions very little air can enter. 



The fermentation of the mixture is accompanied by a loss 

 in weight, which is shown all through by an increase in the 

 percentage of ash. Part of this loss comes from the non- 

 resistant nitrogen-free extract, but a considerable part is 

 shown by the figures to be due to the breaking down in some 



The Utilisation of 

 Barley Straw in the 

 Manufacture of 

 Ensilage. 



It is a matter of common knowledge 

 to feeders of stock that barley straw is 

 of much less use on the farm than 

 either oat or wheat straw. Barley straw 



