10 BULLETIN 615, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
farmers feeding unhusked-corn fodder were using much heavier 
rations (averaging 2,400 feed units) than many of the-others. This 
would seem to indicate that many of the farmers using this ration 
are merely following a practice that was established years ago when 
corn was much lower in price. 
THE USE OF SILAGE. 
In many sections of the corn belt corn fodder is being replaced 
gradually by silage in the ration for beef animals. Where there are 
enough animals to justify the building of a silo the feeding of 
silage is usually the more economical practice of the two, as a much 
larger proportion of the stover can be utilized as silage than other- 
wise. Not only is the corn plant more fully utilized, but cattle 
usually do better on silage than on a dry winter ration. 
Silage, because of the grain that it contains and because of the 
expense of putting it up, is a relatively expensive feed; conse- 
quently in localities where large amounts of cheap, rough feeds are 
available the silo may not always prove economical. However, when 
such roughage is scarce and high priced the feeding of silage usually 
will pay. This would be especially true if, instead of cutting their 
highest-yielding corn, the farmers habitually would select that part 
of the crop having the least grain. The silo is of especial value in 
helping to make the most of the corn crop in years when the corn 
is badly damaged by drought or when because of frosts it does not 
get a chance to mature- 
In years when hay and grain are both high, the putting of husked 
stover into the silo should prove profitable. Although this practice 
has not been extensively followed, the results that have been reported 
seem satisfactory. 
The results of this investigation would indicate that silage is an 
excellent feed for breeding animals, but that from the standpoint 
of economy it ordinarily should be fed only in moderate amounts 
and that it should not replace too much of the cheap roughage. 
One hundred of the farms (or nearly one-fifth of those under con- 
sideration) were feeding silage, and their average winter-feed bili 
was $16 per head. On 29 of these farms approximately 12 per cent 
of the ration was silage, an average of three-fourths of a ton being 
fed to the cow. As 41 per cent of the feed was made up of cheap 
roughage, the silage displaced only fodder and the more expensive 
hay and grains. The average cost of wintering the cows on these 
farms was $14. The average quantity of silage fed on the next 
50 farms was 1.8 tons, nearly one-third of the ration being made up 
of this feed. Although the cows on these farms received 100 feed 
