186 
Report on the Practice of Ensilage, 
Cutting into chaff, treadinti, and packing it .. 
Weighting with 30 tons of iron and sand — in bags — 
on twice, and taliing off once 
Fixing cutter on platform, and taking it back to its' 
original position 
Engineman and coals 
In the fields— cutting, raking, and leading crops to 
silo — 10 men, 2 women, and 12 horses 
£15 13 6* 
The pitted fodder is cut vertically, the same as hay out of a stack, removing 
two boards, and cutting 18 inches of it, all the way down, before commencing 
another " dess." The cost is very little : one woman cuts it as wanted, puts 
it into baskets, which are put on to a light waggon, carrying ten baskets of 
30 lbs. each, pushed along the tramway to the farthest end of a long byre : 
feeding the cattle on either side as she goes along. I think our cattle eat the 
silage best after it is broken up' and allowed to stand in the baskets several 
hours before being used. Two square feet have been cut out and put on one 
side for ten days, and is just as good as the day it was taken out. I believe it 
can be used gradually, as required, even for five or six months, without any 
deterioration. I have never seen any that has gone bad, after the silo has 
been opened. 
We commenced to use the silage on the 19th ; giving 14 lbs. per day to 
the stall-fed cattle, and reducing the turnips to 28 lbs. per day, all other food" 
as before. Six milch cows were allowed 28 lbs. per day, the pulped turnips were 
taken oif, but the bran and meal-croudies were given twice a day as before. In 
five days, nearly one-half the milk had gone off, the bowels became very costive, 
and the faces dark coloured. No more cream or butter was obtained from 
the same quantity of milk than when the cattle were fed on the original food. 
One-half the silage was now taken off, and 14 lbs. of pulped turnips sub- 
stituted. In two days the milk returned to the usual quantity, and the 
bowels became less constipated. For fourteen days past, we have increased 
the silage to two-thirds, and only one-third pulped turnips, and all are 
doing satisfactorily, eating it with relish ; the condition of the bowels is 
satisfactory, although the fasces are much stiffer than with ordinary feeding, 
but they are regular and darker in colour. 
I am somewhat puzzled at the action of silage on the alimentary canal. 
At first I thought it must be owing to the quality of the fodder, and that 
the beans, peas, and tares, were the cause, and I am almost of that opinion 
still, only the lower half of the silage is all second-crop clover, and I can see 
no difference in the consistence of the faeces, when the cattle arc fed off the top- 
half or the bottom-half, neither can we detect any difference in the secretion of 
milk, either in quantity or quality, when they are fed on one kind or the other ; 
but so fiir as the experiments have gone, I believe the animals fed on the beans, 
peas, and tares silage, are in better condition. Still, without further experi- 
ments, and strict observation carefully noted, I would not like to give a decided 
opinion. One of my greatest drawbacks is not having " a weigh " to put the 
animals over whilst fcciling under difl'erent conditions. The most satisfactory 
experiment is with eight in-calving heifers, six of which are loose in a large 
foldyard, and two tied up in the byre. All of these arc within a few 
weeks of calving, and have had nothing but silage to cat since the 19th of 
December, except a bundle of oat or barley-straw each night in the "heck." 
£ s. ft. 
2 15 6 
2 0 0 
0 14 0 
12 0 
9 2 0 
* Equal to 4«, 6d. per ton. — H, M. J. 
