Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 141, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 June 1914 — SOME REASONS FARMER SHOULD HAVE SILO [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SOME REASONS FARMER SHOULD HAVE SILO

By J. W. SCHWAB, Animal’ Husbandry Department, Purdue University - __ Experiment Station. Purdue University Agricultural Extension.

In the first place the silo is the most efficient means by which we can prevent the enormous waste of corn stalks, leaves and husks, which contain at least two-fifths of the feeding value of the corn plant. Farm land in Indiana is entirely too high in price to permit this waste to go on year after year. Of course we can cut our com fodder, but the cattle eat but a little more than half of it. The remainder is wasted so far as feed is concerned. If by means of the silo, we can save all of this waste and at the same time preserve the palatabllity and succulence of the green corn plant for winter feeding we have gone a long way toward getting the greatest amount of feed possible out of the com crop.

When we make an excellent feed out of what is often wasted we can increase the live stock capacity of the farm and at the same time not increase the acreage of corn. Another splendid advantage of the silo is the fact that if we are going to have silage at all, the corn must be cut up and put into the silo where it will be convenient for feeding in stormy as well as fair weather. When we cut corn for fodder it is shocked in the field and when dry stacked in the yard pr shredded and placed in the mow. Often we leave the shocked corn remain but in the field so long that it has lost a very large part of its feeding value, because of the action of the weather. This’is not the case when silage is made. As the corn must be cut and put into the silo Immediately where its feeding value will not depreciate.

The silo also assists in reducing the cost of gains in fattening cattle and sheep. In bulletin 163 of the Purdue Experiment station we find that “the addition of corn silage once daily. to a ration of shelled corn, cotton-seed meal, and clover hay reduced the cost of gains $1.83 per hundred pounds and Increased the total profit $8.85 per steer.” The addition of corn silage ’twice daily to a ration of shelled corn, cotton-seed meal, and clover hay re-

duced the cost of gains 3.17 per hundred pounds and Increased the total profits $11.19 per steer. These steers were choice two-year-old feeders weighing a little less than a thousand pounds at the beginning of the experiment. In addition to the above facts in favor of com silage the following statements are made: “The more nearly corn s'ilage replaced clover hay in the ration the cheaper was the gain and the greater the profit,” and “corn silage produced a very rapid finish on the cattle.”

Corn silage is an efficient roughage for fattening lambs and sheep. It is a good roughage for breeding ewes If fed intelligently. . That is silage that is rotten, sour or moldy should not be fed. Many farmers in Indiana are feeding corn silage to horses with excellent results during the winter season. Moldy silage or spoiled should not be fed to horses. Silage should be fed with great caution to brood mares.

Summing up some of the most important reasons for having a silo on the live stock farm we have the following: 1. The silo preserves the palatability and succulence of the green corn plant for winter feeding. 2. It helps to make use of the entire corn plant. 3. The silo helps to increase the live stock capacity of the farm. 4. Silage is a good summer feed when pastures ate short. 5. Because of the small amount of ground space required by the. silo It is an economical storage of forage. 6. The silo prevents waste of corn stalks, leaves and husks, which contain about .two-fifths of the feeding value of the corn plant. 7. The „silo located near the feed mangdr is an assurance of having feed near at hand in stormy as well as fair weather. ' t 8. The silo assists in reducing the cost of gains in fattening cattle. 9. Silage greatly increases the milk flow during the winter season and decreases the cost of production.