Silos and Silage in Colorado. 
2 7 
For economy's sake it is best to keep the silage cutter going at full 
capacity. It may be that better silage is possible with a slower fill, 
but it would prove too expensive to be practical. If a steam engine 
is used, one man will be required at the engine, one man at the cut¬ 
ter, and one or two in the silo completes the crew. Such a crew, 
with a 16 or 18-inch cutter with plenty of power, should put in ioo 
to 150 tons of green fodder daily, barring accidents, and would 
therefore be adapted only for filling silos of 100 tons capacity or 
more. For smaller silos, a 10 or 12-inch cutter with a capacity of 
4 to 6 tons per hour would require only one man in the field and 
half the number of teams. One man in the silo could easily distrib¬ 
ute and tramp thoroughly that amount of green material. 
Silage Cutters .—There are two types of cutters on the market 
commonly used. One type has the knives and fan-blades fastened 
on the flywheel in the blower-drum. Cutters of this type as a gen¬ 
eral thing require less power but are run at greater speech Because 
of the high speed they are more dangerous, cases having occurred 
where the flywheel burst when foreign material got under the 
knives or through mechanical imperfection. The other type has the 
knives arranged on a cylindrical head with the blower operating 
separately. Cutters with blowers or carriers are used, although the 
blower has about replaced the carrier for filling above-ground silos. 
For filling pit silos, cutters with or without carrier are used. The 
power required for a cutter with a blower is about a third greater 
than for one with a carrier, while a cutter without either carrier 
or blower requires only about half the power required for cutter 
and blower. 
Utilizing the Automobile as Power for the Silage Cutter. 
(Photo by Uauck.) 
Power for Cutters .—Steam and gasoline engines are both used 
for this purpose. The common mistake made is when engines are 
