Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 241, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 October 1916 — MAKING the FARM PAY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MAKING the FARM PAY

By PROF. P. G. HOLDEN,

Former Dean of the lowa Agricultural College.

BILLIONS WASTED ON FARMS —u—S Many of us fail to appreciate our real blessings, because we regard them as just common everyday things. If some mysterious power were to suddenly change winter into summer, It would be recorded as a miracle. In reality, this Is what the silo does — changes winter into summer. The silo makes June grass out of the waste products of the farm. Silage is the winter pasture for the farm animals. The silo is the cow’s kraut barrel. No man can get the best out of .the business of farming without a silo. It combines more good things and brings greater profits than any other building on the farm; it provides a cheap and convenient place to store all of the crop; helps utilize cheap roughage, makes it possible to keep more stock on the farm, which means more manure for the land. The silo Insures succulent feed in the winter and in dry spells when pastures fail; provides a balanced ration when fed with alfalfa, • clover, bran, cottonseed meal and other protein or muscle-build-ing feeds. The silo takes care of the crops and clears the land for early fall plowing, prevents waste in feeding, keeps stock in good condition, makes cheap beef and milk. Waste With Corn Crop. The greatest waste in any one industry in America occurs with the corn crop. The grain of the corn crop of the United States every year Is worth on the farms about $1,700,000,000 ; 60 per cent of the feed value in matured corn Is contained in the kernels, and 40 per cent, in the stalk and leaves. With the grain worth nearly three-

quarters of a billibn dollars, the feed value of the rest of the crop Is nearly a billion dollars. At least 30 per cent of the feed value of the stalk is lost tinder the present system of farm management—a waste with this crop alone of a billion dollars annually. No other business but farming could stand such an enprmous loss. Contrast this * waste by the corn growers with the practices of large business organizations. For years the great packing houses have sold dressed meat for less than they have paid for tha live weight of the animals. Yet every year these packing houses return millions of dollars’ profit btr cause they utilize to the fullest extent the value of their by-products. At the same time the corn growers are wasting most of 40 per cent of the feed value of over one hundred million acres of corn. Great Value of Silo. ‘ The results of hundreds of feeding experiments conducted in the past ten years with silage as a part of the ration gives proof of the great value of the silo to the farmer. There will always be more or less of the corn crop shocked in the field, but corn left exposed to the weattier loses the greater part of its feeding value. Why waste the crop after you have grown It, when you can put it in a silo and preserve-it with all Its succulence? ~ Have a silo—no matter what, kind—but have one. You may say that you cannot afford

a silo—but you can’t afford to be without one. It is not necessary to construct an. expensive one to start wdth —a cheaper kind will do. There Is no best silo, generally speaking. The best silo for you Is the one which can be constructed on your farm at the lowest cost and pay you the greatest profit. A pit silo or a bank silo may be the best for you. They are adapted to many sections. Regions which are passing through the pioneer stage of their development, where the cost of material, labor and transportation Is high, need not be ■without a silo. Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado farmers have constructed more than three thousand pit silos in the past two years. In Montana, the Dakotas and other northern states, w’here the winters are severe, the pit silo is in general use. They cannot blow down nor freeze up, and they are cheaply constructed. . Provo Value of Sflo. A good proof of the value of the silo Is a record of some work done in a cow-testing association at Albert Lea, Minn., under the direction of the United States department of agriculture. In this association 12 herds, or 216 cows were fed silage and 16 herds, or 239 cows were not fed silage. It seems to me that when a man will examine these data carefully he cannot but feel that he is the loser if he does not have a silo. The results show that it cost $8.62 more per cow to feed the silage herd than it did to feed the herd which had no silage, but the silage-fed cows produced 59 pounds more butterfat per cow, giving a net profit of $10.04 more

per cow than the cows receiving no silage. This means that on 20 cows we are losing enough in one year to put up a silo. Benefits of the Silo. Missouri found in a steer-feeding experiment where corn silage was compared with hay, $1.07 for every 100 pounds of beef was saved by the use of silage. , Illinois station found corn ensilage worth 31 per cent more than corn fodder when all costs were considered. Ohio station found, they could produce butterfat 9 cents cheaper per YOU CAN HAVE A SILO YOU MAY THINK YOU CANT

BUT YOU CAN Saves the whole crop Prevents waste in feeding Can keep more stock Makes cheap milk ... Saves storage space Helps utilize cheap rufage Insures succulent feed winter and summer Tides over the drouth * Clears the Land for plowing

SILAGE THE WINTER PASTURE pound by using ensilage than they could when using hay. A like difference was found in milk production. —The Indiana station round the silo the most economic means of producing both beef add mutton in three wellconducted experiments. They also

found corn ensilage to be worth from $5.50 to $6.50 per ton when fed to fattening steers and sheep. This is tn the light of the fact that corn ensilage will not cost the farmer mom than $2 a ton and should be convincing argument. Pennsylvania station found good results In feeding steers silage and realized a value of $6.20 a ton when used in this way. They also found silage superior to hay and much more economic in the raising of young stock. Ontario experiment station found they could save $63 on every S2OO Invested in feed if they used corn ensilage' in preference to hay tn feeding cattle.

Kansas experiment station not only produced beef cheaper with ensilage in the ration but also the silage-fed steers sold at a higher price on the market than did the dry-fodder steers. They found corn ensilage when put in the silo would keep for five and six years and retain its feeding value. Michigan experiment station has been using silos since 1881, and has found In several experiments ensilage to be the most economic form of feeding the corn plant to live stock. Silage, when fed in conjunction with alfalfa, produced mutton more cheaply than when hay was used. Many other stations have tested out the economic use of the silo, and one and all have Indorsed it as a practical, economic equipment for the stock farmer. u

Thousands of farmers and stockmen all over the country have been demon strating for the last quarter of a century the economic use of the silo, and all who now have such equipment are strong In its praise. Ensilage vs. Grain. Tn a test conducted recently the Ohio experiment station endeavored to answer the question, Cad ensilage be made to take the place of a considerable portion of the grain ration usually fed to dairy cows? Ten cows, representing five different breeds, were fed these rations from

two to four months, fl ve cows taking the test the full four months. The cows fed the silage ration produced 86.7 pounds of milk and 5.08 pounds of butterfat per 100 pounds of dry matter. The cows fed the grain ration produced 81.3 pounds of milk and 3.9 pounds of butterfat per 100 pounds of dry matter. The average net profit per cow per month over cost of feed was $5.86 with the silage ration and $2.40 with the grain nitlop. ►Fodder or Silage. At th experiment station two groups of calves nine months old were fed from March 25 to August 15. In ono lot-eaeha&imalreceived an average daily ration of : Corn, 7.5 pounds; alfalfa hay, 4.1 pounds; shredded stover (without ears), 3.6 pounds. The animals in the other lot received an average dally ration of: Corn, 6.1 pounds; alfalfa, 3.4 pounds, and corn

silage, 15 pounds. The larger amount of corn was fed to the stover lot to offset the grain contained in the silage. The two rations, therefore, were practically identical, except that to one lot of animals the cornstalks were fed as shredded stover, while to the other they were fed as silage. The silage-fed calves made an average daily gain of 1.8 pounds each, which was about one-third of a pound more than the average dally gain tn the stover-fed lot. The silage ration was 12 per cent more efficient than the stover ration. On that basis the same area of com, of the snmakind.when put in the silo would make 12 per cent more beef than when cut for fodder and fed dry.

There was a time when silage was considered entirely as a dairyman’s feed. It is just as good for the production of beef; One experiment may be quoted, though hundreds have been made with practically the same result. At the Indiana experiment station four lots of steers were fed as follows: Lot I—Shelled1 —Shelled corn, clover hay, cottonseed meal. Average profit per head when sold. $3.37. Lot 2 —Shelled com, cottonseed meal, clover hay and silage, half and half Profit per head, $10.51. Lot 3 —Shelled corn, cottonseed meal and all the clover hay and silage the) would eat, given separately. Undei this method of feeding'the steers ate ten times as much silage as clover hay. Profit per head. $13.59. Lot 4-—Shelled corn, cottonseed mea> and silage only. Profit per head, $20.96. The Missouri state board of agriculture asked 200 fanners this question: “By feeding silage have you reduced your v feed bill?* Out of the 200 farmers 196 answered “Yes;” four said they didn't know.

Two Good Silos, Well Located.

Silage Makes Cheap Beef.

Digging Corn Fodder Out of Snow— Not a Pleasant Occupation on a Cold Winter's Day.