The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-08-13
Ensilage versus Fodder Corn.

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Ensilage versus Fodder Corn.
L. w. P. of Marshfield, VT, writes :
ain your issue of July 9, quoting from
Professor Henry's experiment upon ensil.
age against fodder corn, you say that as
feeding material the ensilage exceeded
the corn-fodder in cheapness nearly fifty
per cent, at the same time yielding eleven
per cent more butter and this entire
gain was due to the fact that of the 1874
pounds of fodder fed, 1865 pounds were
rejected by the COWS, showing there was
no gain in ensilage over drying fodder.
corn, but only gain in acceptability to
the COWS. What per cent would eleven
per cent more butter add to the gain Of
ensilage over dry fodder, and would not
the juice add still more7"
L. w. P.'s criticism expressed above is
justified as he understands the extract,
and certainly an allowance should be made
in favor of the ensilage to the extent of
the eleven per cent extra of butter yield.
But we did not mean to be understood as
expressing the belief that nothing is lost
in nutritive value by drying corn-fodder.
On the contrary, we believe there is a con-
siderable loss. But we also believe that
in ensilage nutritive matter is lost also,
just to the extent that the sugar and
starch are converted into acid. We all
know that the sweetness Of the corn.stalk
almost entirely disappears in the slow
drying of the shock in the field, so that
from being quite sweet to the taste it be-
comes nearly tasteless. In either process
there is q loss of sugar and starch, but in
well-made ensilage the loss is not total,
and we hope that the new process of max
ing sweet ensilage, in which the silo is
filed slowly, and heat enough allowed to
develop to stop the souring, before the
pressure is put on, will give us a still better
feed for butter COWS. In the remark re-
ferred TO, we said not that the experiment
"shows," but that it "goes to show" that
there is no superiority of nutriment in
ensilage over dry fodder-meaning that
this single experiment tends in that d.
rection. But there is so much difference
in ensilage, and some is so much better
preserved than other lots, that one expert
ment is by no means conclusive.
In regard to the great loss of juice in
Professor Henry's ensilage, we believe
that this can be avoided in the slower
process of making sweet ensilage, when
the mass sinks together greatly by its
own weight during the heating, and con-
sequently requires much less pressure
afterwards. If the silo is cemented the
juice would not go into the ground, as in
Professor Henry's experiment, but would
remain among the ensilage, and would be
soaked up into it, so as to 60 with it in
feeding.
Undoubtedly in making sweet ensilage
there is also loss Of the Carbohydrates
(sugar and stareh), for it is by their OK
idation that the beat is produced, and if
this heating rs allowed to 60 too far there
will also be q destruction of the green
ooloring matter of the leaf, upon which
the yellow color Of butter is thought to
depend. The best writers on making sweet
ensilage say that one hundred and forty
degrees is high enough to allow the heat
to 60 before putting on the pressure.
This has to be ascertained by driving
down q pointed iron tube into the
mass, and trying the temperature by
lowering q thermometer into the tube.
Probably few farmers will take this
trouble, but will 60 by guess, and will not
have their ensilage uniform. Undoubtedly
good deal Of value would be saved by
using the thermometer test, which is
easily done, while mere guess-work might
damage the ensilage good many dollars
worth. But farmers generally do not
like to be $50 particular r" about any
thing-and that is great reason why so
few have first-rate products, or get first
rate prices. The excellence, and especially
the uniformity, which result from being
particular, has larger money value than
most people think. We have often found
that this particularly has doubled, or
nearly doubled, the price received for our
crops, at a very little expense to us.
L. w. p. says further Is ensilage. af-
ter the juice is expressed, worth any more
than bagasse 2 1t appears to me that II
all the per cents were reckoned you would
find gain in ensilaging over drying, but
you have already allowed over fifty per
cent, and that means large saving to the
farmer. l fear that if you quote many
more such experiments people will begin
to think that our Board of Agriculture
ought to have had something to do with
| ensilsge."