These owners need to be served by agricultural systems research just as farmers on large tracts of land. This paper describes a silage system useful for those with small numbers of livestock who ordinarily would purchase most of their winter feed. Studies of the means for making, storing, and feeding the silage were made. The silage was found to be a nutritious feed source except when made from grass mowed from areas near vehicular traffic or from orchards. This system uses steel drums as containers, uses materials and machinery readily available in the industrialized world, requires no indoor storage, and can be fed to animals with a minimum of labor.
Animals prefer the silage to average quality hay.
An understanding of biology can help engineers address environmental problems, including sustainable production of biomass. To be truly sustainable, utilization of biomass requires a knowledge of ecological interactions in the biomass stages of production, harvesting, and processing.