38 
CONCRETE SILOS 
the herd without loss from spoihng of silage. The only objections offered 
to high silos are that they necessitate more climbing, and are more difficult 
to fill. There are silage blowers upon the market, however, which are 
guaranteed to elevate silage to a height of 75 feet. 
Required, a silo of sufficient capacity to feed 30 cows for a period of 
240 days. Referring to table on page 37, run down the vertical column 
headed, "Number of Dairy Cows" to 30. Running across 
Example horizontally, it will be seen that for 240 days' feed, 144 tons of 
silage will be needed, and that for a silo of this capacity, the diameter should 
be 16 feet. Referring to table on page 36, run down the column headed 
"16 feet" to the numbers nearest the estimated capacity (144 tons). 
For a 16-foot silo of 143 tons capacity the height will be 34 feet. 
The silo should be placed where it will be convenient for filling, and if 
possible, where the ground is firm, so there will be no danger of settlement. 
Silage is heavy feed, and therefore an unhandy arrangement with 
Location respect to the feeding alley always greatly increases the work 
connected with feeding. One of the best arrangements for convenient 
feeding is to place the silo or silos at the end of the alley. If this be done, a 
silage car can be used to advantage without having sharp corners to turn. 
The silo should not be surrounded by buildings and pens in such a way as 
to interfere with filling. Obstructions hinder the work greatly, increasing 
the cost to the owner. 
In most cases where the ground is soft, it will pay to carry the founda- 
tion down to a firm bottom, or to fill in with gravel. If it is impractical 
to go down to solid earth, the footings must be increased to at least twice 
the breadth recommended on page 55, and more if there is uncertainty. 
In parts of the country where winters are very severe, there is an 
advantage in placing the silo on the south side of the barn, where it will 
be protected from the north winds. In the past quite a large number of 
silos have been built within the barn, but this practice is not recommended 
for several reasons. Such silos are inconvenient to fill, and silo odors are 
objectionable in the barn, for unless great caution is taken, the milk is apt 
to be contaminated by absorbing the odor. 
Perhaps the most common fault made in locating silos is to get them 
too far away from the barn. In cases where this distance is made too great, 
the only way of remedying the situation is to build a room connecting the 
silo with the barn, thus incurring needless expense and increasing the dis- 
tance to haul the silage. The distance from silo doors to barn need never be 
over 4 feet, which is sufficient for a chute of the ordinary size. 
The corn should be cut while the stalks are still green, but after the 
lower leaves have begun to dry. At this stage the kernels have hardened 
or "glazed" on the outside, but are yet in the "dough" condition 
^arvelt ^he middle. If cut too green the silage will lack protein, sugar 
and other nutritive elements, and will contain an excess of mois- 
ture, generally making it sour. If too matured, it will be dry and un- 
palatable, with the fibre very prominent. In this condition it contains less 
nutriment, is relished less by the cattle, and is apt to mold or "fire-fang," 
causing it to be greatly damaged. Corn dried out in the shock makes 
poor silage unless put into the silo with plenty of water. 
