1907. 
' . f 
5o3 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
SILO QUESTIONS. 
What is the kind of silo to build, and 
what size should I have to keep 10 cows, 
with a little extra for horses and a calf or 
two? Is clover and Alfalfa good for silage, 
and how should it be put in the silo? Alfalfa 
giving two or three crops during the season, 
can it be put in any time on top of what 
is already in the silo? I am planting some 
mangels; will they be as profitable fed with 
silage as fed with dry feed? j. c. 
Kansasville, Wis. 
In regard to the proper size for a silo 
for 10 cows we may safely assume that 
50 pounds of silage per day per cow will 
be about the largest amount that wc will 
ever wish to feed, and this means a total 
consumption of five tons per animal dur¬ 
ing the two hundred days which ordinar¬ 
ily make up the stabling period on most 
farms. Then in addition to this it will be 
well to have some surplus both for the 
young stock and also for the shortage 
in pastures which comes some time during 
the Summer every year. A round silo 
13 feet ii_ diameter and 26 feet deep will 
hold about 60 tons, and would be pretty 
close to the theoretical requirements. One 
additional foot in diameter will increase 
the capacity almost one-sixth at little ad¬ 
ditional cost, and will allow some margin, 
and be a safer size to adopt. In a gen¬ 
eral way it will be better to build of 
small diameter and of greater depth in 
order that a thicker layer of silage may 
be removed each day. This is especially 
important if Summer feeding is to be 
practiced, because silage spoils rapidly in 
warm weather. 
There is very little room for question, 
but that the standard form is the round 
stave silo, now almost universally adopt¬ 
ed. There may be localities and condi¬ 
tions where the use of reinforced con¬ 
crete is advisable, but in most circum¬ 
stances, especially where economy must 
be observed, the wooden silo is still most 
practical. Constantly advancing lumber 
prices may alter this, however. A 
silo like the above all in good shape, 
together with roof and constructed by 
a leading eastern manufacturer, would 
cost about $200. If the inquirer is for¬ 
tunate enough to have lumber of his own, 
or be able to buy it advantageously, 
he can have the necessary work done at 
most good planing mills, and make a very 
substantial saving over these prices. 
“Patent open fronts” and the like are ex¬ 
pensive, and a homemade silo with beveled 
doors cut by a good carpenter and pressed 
tightly into place by the silage is good 
enough for most of us. The silo has been 
highly developed in Wisconsin, and I 
judge that one should be able to purchase 
there as advantageously as anywhere, es¬ 
pecially as freight charges are consider¬ 
able. In regard to the place to set a silo, 
bear in mind these two fundamental re¬ 
quirements : First, it must be convenient 
to the cows, because silage is heavy, with 
a great deal of water, and we cannot 
afford to carry it long distances; and 
secondly, in locating be sure that it will 
be easy to reach with the corn, and that 
there is a good spot to set up the cutter 
and engine. I have seen cases where this 
apparently very simple matter bad not 
been considered. 
Alfalfa and clover have both been suc¬ 
cessfully silaged, but not with the same 
uniform success as corn. The writer has 
run in the last crop of Alfalfa along with 
the corn with good results. Wherever 
the filling of a silo is interrupted for some 
time before adding the rest there will be 
a streak of spoiled material, and in the 
case of putting in the different crops of 
Alfalfa as grown, this would probably be 
a pretty serious matter. I do not believe 
that the growing of mangels is to he rec¬ 
ommended in any large way, especially 
where a silo is used. Root crops are capa¬ 
ble under favorable circumstances of pro¬ 
ducing an astonishing amount of food per 
acre, yet the labor cost is so great that 
the corn plant with its suitability for the 
silo and its less exacting cultural re¬ 
quirements has pretty well driven them 
out of our agriculture. They still main¬ 
tain a place in climates unsuited for corn. 
Their especial value lies in their succu¬ 
lence, and good silage very largely re¬ 
places them in this regard. 
JARED VAN WAGENEN, JR. 
“ PASTURE SERVICE ” FOR CATTLE 
Will you tell us what you think of the 
policy of registering purebred animals which 
are from animals credited with “pasture 
service? 
I should consider stock bred by “pasture 
service” very unreliable, and should not care 
to purchase such stock, at a high figure. 
New York. a. p. pulton. 
In my experience of breeding Jersey cattle 
the past 30 years, I never yet have had a 
mistake made. It is almost impossible to 
know just when a heifer has been served for 
her first calf, as it is the general custom to 
turn heifers out to pasture with a certain 
hull, and the Jersey Cattle Club permits of a 
certificate being filled out with our qualifica¬ 
tion to that effect. With the breeding of cows, 
it is no trouble at all to know just when a 
cow is served, and the exact (rate can readily 
be taken, which I think is very important. 
I do not see where there can be any question 
as to the pedigree of the offspring if a 
breeder uses proper precaution. 
Pennsylvania. kdward Walter. 
Where can uncertainty lie? For instance, 
I have, say 12 to 15 unbred yearlings, have 
to pasture them in large outlot. They can¬ 
not be watched closely and if we do, we 
cannot catch them, bring out and have 
served. Now, we can pasture a bull with 
them and chances are they will be attended 
to and prove “in calf” when brought in to 
stable in the Fall. Again I say, where can 
anv doubt arise? Sut it is not good for the 
bull; the results usually are a used-up, worth¬ 
less animal, unless he is well grain fed. In 
(he other side the opponents to this custom 
claim, the' bull will fight, become unrulv or 
break in with neighbor's cattle, or neighbors 
will lift locked gates off hinges and steal a 
service as lias been worked on me. 
Pennsylvania. u. p. shannon. 
When the matter of pasture breeding was 
brought up before our association (Ilolsteim- 
Friesian), I expressed myself as decidedlv 
against it, and voted against, although the 
motion was carried at that time. There 
seemed to be a majority in favor of it, and In 
an association meeting of that kind I think 
you wll always find that the majorty are 
those who favor as lenient forms as" posi- 
ble. It may lie by not knowing the details 
as fully as they might, but the more I see 
of breeding operations the more I am cer¬ 
tain that pasture service should not be al¬ 
lowed. The keeping of our records as pure 
and untainted as possible is one of the most 
important things in regard to purebred reg¬ 
istered animals. Every association should take 
this matter up carefully and gve it their very 
best attention. a. a. cortelyojl 
New Jersey. 
I think that such registration should be 
permitted, if at all, only on affidavit made 
by some person having actual knowledge of 
the facts recited and duly filed with the 
registering officer, showing the date of ser- 
ice, and that no male amimal other than 
the sire, had access to the female during the 
season. In the absence of such proof of pa¬ 
ternity, the breeding of the offspring would 
not, in my opinion, he established wth re¬ 
quisite certainty. Were it not that public 
interests demand the registration of all pure¬ 
bred animals, or, at least the largest possi¬ 
ble (number that are eligible, and that many 
breeders, especially owners of small herds 
would decline to register their animals if the 
male could not be pastured with the herd I 
should favor prohibiting registration on 
“pasture service” entirely. But I believe 
that where such registration is permitted, 
the identity of the sire and the time of serv¬ 
ice should be established with reasonable, 
if not absolute certainty. e. w. richter. 
Owatonna, Minn. 
Pasture service, as a whole, might be con¬ 
sidered a little unreliable. It depends very 
largely upon the man who owns the stock. 
Some breeders have their pastures well 
fenced, look after their cattle often, and 
know that, no bull breaks in. Other breeders 
are more careless, and it occasionally occurs 
that some of their animals are bred by other 
than the bulls running with them. It would 
be a great inconvenience to many breeders 
to cut out pasture service, as they have 
heifers they want bred and there is ho room 
or pasture for them at their home farm, 
and they are practically compelled to turn 
them away, and put a bull with them. We 
don’t think there is near the danger that 
there was years ago, as many farmers and 
dairymen keep their hulls in the stable. If 
we have not now, I think we should have a 
law making a man liable for any damage his 
hull might do while running at pasture. 
Years ago, we had more or less trouble with 
our neighbors in this respect. We made two 
of them settle, and have nnd but little, if 
any trouble since. Where bulls are allowed 
to rim this trouble is just as apt to occur 
where the owner is keeping his own bull in 
the barn, in fact more so. I think, if the 
public understood they were liable for any 
damages, their bulls might do, it would be 
the best way out of it. Pasture service is 
a hard problem, at the best. 
New York. henry stevens. 
This has been a vexed question for a long 
time. Some associations have tried the ex¬ 
pedient of rejecting “pasture service,” but 
have, I understand, returned to accept such 
service. Efforts have been made in the llol- 
stein-Friesian Association to have “pasture 
service” abolished but motions of this char¬ 
acter have been defeated in very decisive 
manner. The subject is an important one, 
important to the breeder, the dealer and to 
every one who deals in registered stock. 
My own notion is that “pasture service” 
should not he accepted. Among the more im¬ 
portant reasons should he mentioned the fact 
that generally the chief value of a purebred 
animal, lies in the fact that it is purebred 
and registered. For instance, take the cow 
Pontiac Itag-apple, who was sold recently 
for $8,000. If she had been a grade and not 
registered, $100 would have been considered 
a long price for her. Without elaborating 
on this idea, it will bo seen that it is all 
important that the genuineness of the breed¬ 
ing of a registered animal cannot bo ques¬ 
tioned ; indeed it should l>e above suspicion. 
This can only he brought about by having the 
registered cow served by the registered bull 
in the presence of credible witnesses, and 
then a record made containing details of 
the service. In the case of “pasture breed¬ 
ing” animals, the females are turned out 
and run at large with a registered animal in 
the same lot. The hull runs with the cows 
In this way, usually from about the first day 
of May down until November. The breeder 
does not attempt to notice the breeding of 
the cows, on the other hand, if sold they are 
disposed of as “pasture bred.” Those' that 
drop calves are credited with being served 
by the bull with which they were turned, 
and the nine months and eight days are com¬ 
puted from the time that the calf was 
dropped. The great majority of registered 
Holstein heifers are turned in back pastures 
with a registered Holstein bull and left for 
the entire season. Many times the owner 
does not see his young stock oftener than 
once a month. It is an indisputable fact that 
pasture fences in the country are not good, 
indeed perhaps in the majority of cases they 
are bad. During tin' Winter and Spring posts 
are tin-own out of the ground, are broken off, 
wire drops down and there is nothing to pre¬ 
vent flic cattle from one lot passing into 
the adjoining one. Although the farmer 
usually gets out in the fore part of May and 
“fixes fence,” yet many times he is hurried 
by other work and the fence is toggled in 
such a way that it offers little resistance. 
Of course, the adjoining owner, who has a 
herd of grades, and a scrub bull, will pasture- 
breed his cows and it often happens that the 
scrub bull gets on the wrong side of the 
fence and runs with the purebred cows; if 
it does no damage it is simply a matter of 
hick. Now this introduces an element of un¬ 
certainty to the authenticity of the serv¬ 
ice of cattle, which can not lie indorsed. Al¬ 
though the majority of breeders, perhaps will 
disagree with mo in the position I have taken, 
yet I believe it is because of the fact that 
they considei it too much trouble to keep 
their bull confined during the Summer, to 
his detriment, they will say. and then to 
watch their cows in the pasture so closely 
that they will be able to know when each 
one is ready for service. With vouing stock 
turned in the back pastures* they think this 
would he a great hardship, with which I 
heartily conceded, for it takes a lot of time, 
and that time involves extra expense. How¬ 
ever, we cannot always get at the right of 
a matter by deciding from the money stand¬ 
point. The right thing is that tlie breeding 
of every registered animal should be beyond 
peradventure of doubt or contradiction. This 
position cannot be maintained by allowing 
cattle to run at large during the Summer. 
New York. HORACE l. bronson. 
KRESO-DIP 
FOR 
SPRING DIPPING 
AND 
Hand Dressing All Stock. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
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YOUNG MEN WANTED — To learn the 
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Grand Rapids, Mich. 46 LOUIS STREET. 
SILOS 
The kind that'*Uncle Sam”uses. Contin¬ 
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USE 
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Essential to the equipment of the modern farm. Keeps 
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” l ^ I_^ 
The three styles we build are models of up-to-date Silo construction. The ou 
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9.00 
