418 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Jen, 1902. 
plants, and therefore there is less space for the inclusion of air. It can also be 
trodden down much firmer. ‘This treading down must be performed thoroughly, 
especially at the corners and sides. Some people put a horse into the building 
to tread it down. ‘The silo should not be filled allat once. Fill in three to 
four feet, tramp this well down and wait a day or two before filling in another 
layer. The first one will have settled down considerably, and will have heated 
to 125 degrees Fahr. Proceed in the same way till the silo is full. Then put 
on a covering of cut straw or coarse hay, packing it well in at the sides. 
The value of the silage depends entirely upon the temperature to which 
it has been subjected, andthe temperature depends upon the amount of 
pressure you have given it. F 
A silo should not be opened for six or eight weeks after storing the forage, 
By that time all fermentation will probably have ceased. Silage deteriorates 
very little with age. Maize silage has been kept for years without suffering in 
the least. And here is where its great value comes in. At a time of plenty 
tons of silage may be made which may not be required for two or three years, 
Suddenly a great drought like the present one comes on. Now is the time 
when the enormous value of the stored fodder is proved. Dry fodders, under 
even the best conditions, lose in feeding value continuously with age until they 
may have lost quite 50 per cent. of their food value. Again, the storage space 
required for silage, per ton of dry matter, is only about one-third of that 
required for hay. The capacity of a silo increases more rapidly than its depth. 
For instance, a silo 86 feet deep will contain nearly five times as much silage as 
one only 12 feet deep. Doubling the diameter of a silo increases its capacity a 
little more than four times, whilst, if you treble it, the capacity increases nine- 
fold. 
A silo should always be fed from the top, as it spoils more rapidly when 
fed from the sides. 
The weight of silage is slightly less than that of the green fodder it is 
made of. : 
One cubic foot of silage weighs about 45 1b. Every 50 cubic feet of the 
volume of a silo will hold 1 ton. If dairy cattle have the run of grazing 
paddocks, 1 cubic foot or 45 Ib. of silage is sufficient for a day’s ration per cow, 
but if the cows are fed in stalls then 60 Ib. are needed, together with some hay 
or other feed. About 5 per cent. of the silage ina silo is waste, but on 
occasions cattle will eat even the waste. This is what Mr. Walter Madden 
(Victoria) says:—“ Suppose you have 50 acres of green stuff, which would 
produce 100 tons of hay at a cost of £1 per ton formaking. The same acreage 
would yield 300 tons of silage at a cost of 2s. per ton for making, and the 300 
tons of silage would be worth at least double the amount per ton that the ha: 
would be worth. Ten tons of green fodder equal 3 tons of hay, but 10 tons of 
green fodder will make nearly 10 tons of silage. The hay would feed a beast 
for 120 days, and the silage for 400 days, and, in addition, the silage-fed beast 
will milk better than the hay-fed one. The milk produced by silage is richer in 
cream, the butter is sweeter and of a better colour, and the cost of feeding is 
about one-half as compared with bran and chaff. Maize and barley make the 
best silage. A stack of 50 tons will take about six weeks to reach a maximum 
temperature of 160 degrees Fahr. It will then gradually go down until in 
about four months the normal temperature is reached. 
“A building 20 feet long, 12 feet broad, and 10 feet high to the eaves, with 
an additional height of 6 feet from the eaves to the ridge, will contain 2,880 
cubic feet. As each 50 cubic feet of silage weighs 1 ton, this gives 57 tons 12 
cwt. as the capacity of the silo.” 
How vo Burry « Srno. ' 
Silos can be of any size you like, but for a small farmer a 50-ton or 60-ton 
silo would be large enough to begin with. oa 9s 
_ Say you decide to build one 14 feet long, 14 feet broad, and 14 feet high. 
‘This, when properly filled, should hold from 50 to 60 tons of silage. The 
