The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-05-06
FARM ENSILAGE.
Cheap and Wholesome Feed Produced st
a Nominal Cost.

Cheap and Wholesome Feed Produced at |
a Nominal Cost.
Economical methods of producing and
of forage crops seem to be always
order. There are very many farms
where the hay crop is insufficient to en-
sble their owners to keep and properly |
,are for the number of cows or other
they are DESTROYS of raising. To
this large class the ensilage which may
be readily produced and fed on the
is an important factor among the
products of the farm These facts are
well known and appreciated to need
rom the writer a single word in demon
stration. We will merely say this: There
are many farms IN every town we have
ever visited, where the number of cows
kept through the winter months could
easily be doubled or tripled. We know
of a farm where the hay crop would not
over three or four cows and as
many horses, where by the judicious
of ensilage crops principally
corn) last year thirty head of cattle, in
young cattle, were carried
IL OuSh III INK SOlulIlOu. 4ulS NOdl
another silo has been added, and 10
over forty head are being kept. About
thirty of these are cows. These are
that carry their own moral with
them. Another farm where ensilage is
fed occurs to me, of smaller dimen-
sions. The farm cuts, on an av-
erage, about sixteen tons of hay.
A visit to this farm recently showed
nine cows, a bull and two horses
in the stables. The silo had some sixty
tons of choice corn ensilage, beside the
usual amount of hay and corn fodder.
The hay mows were almost intact, it
being fed only to the horses. The cows
were kept exclusively on ensilage,Ex.
cept one feed per day of dry cornstalks.
On inquiry, we found that the COWS
were doing well and giving a good
quantity. of milk. The butter was all
taken at the door at the highest market
prices. And a personal examination
demonstrated the fine condition of the
animals in the stables. Having said
thus much relative to the pr%acticability
and disturbances of securing this addl-
ton to the forage crop, which we may
readily avail ourselves of, we will give
a few moments consideration to the
cost of production of good corn ensilage.
We will give the results as obtained
from the party last visited. His silo
will hold one hundred tons, and is
cheaply constructed, but just as good,
for aught we can see, as though it cost
one thousand dollars, SO far as practical
results are concerned. This farmer
planted two and a half acres with
Southern white corn for ensilage. He
had previously planted an acre and
one-fourth with Western Early Dent
corn. This variety yields well, but the
stalks are large, seldom throwing out
any suckers. He first cut the Southern,
corr and placed it in the silo, then he
picked the ears from the Dent r
throwing them into rows. SO as to allow
getting around with the team. Very
ripened that the husks began to get
white and dry. Then the stalks
were cut and put in the silo in the
usual ann This piece of corn
yielded one hundred and forty bushels
of ears of sound corn, and eight bushels
of unripe corn, or soft corn. The stalks
on this acre and a quarter would have
sold for about six dollars. AS is we'll
known the stalks from this variety of
corn are not as valuable as are the
stalks from smaller varieties. Very
many when they harvest it, cut it from
one to two feet from the ground, as the
butts are useless for fodder, yet when
ensilaged, it is all available. The piece
yielded somewhere near twelve tons of
ensilage. This ensilage, so far as could
be seen, was as good as hat from the
portion from which no grain was har-
vested, causing fully as large a flow of
milk, and apparently being eaten with
all the avidity as that from the corn
planted specially for the purpose of put.
ting into the silo. There was and is
some difference in the weight of the
two lots of ensilage as taken from the
silo. The Southern corn ensilage being
less ripe or matur d, is heavier by from
three to five pounds to the basketful fed
to each animal for a feed. We do not
estimate the cost of production any
more than the value of the stalks for
feeding purposes, which we have called
six dollars for the twelve tons, or an
even half dollar per ton, for the cost OF
the ensilage as it stood in the field. The
yield of corn was such as to make a fan
profit for the raising, even though the
stalks were not taken into the account
Now how stands the account for the
two and one-half acres raised specially
for ensilage. We would say that farm
yard was used for growing it.
The was strcwn in the furrow:
and the corn planted by hand. 1t wa,
hoed three times with a horse hoe, ant
hand-weeded once. The yield wa
about forty-eight tons, or an average o
some niReteen tons per acre. 1t wa!
thought the cost of growing, including
interest and taxes, did not exceed S1.2!
per ton. The cost per o of cutting
hauling from the field, cutting and put
ting into the silo, was not owe Sc TO
the eight to ten tons put in daily, or sa,
seventy-tive cents per ton; this added t,
the cost of production, $3.50, woul'
make a total cost of So. 25 per ton, Will
adding seventy-five cent per ton TO
that portion where the corr was har
vested, we have a total cost of only $1.2
per ton, showing a saving in this wa,
of growing of ST. per ton. Iii possibl
that we have erred in our figures, if S
we set the cost too high. We have al
| lowed for the use and wear of tools a
The rate of S1.50 per day while cuttini
and putting into the silo. A great ad
vantage is the increased amount q
stock kept on the place. tits hut littl
more for a man to do the barn chorc
and care for ten COWS than it is for ha'
that number. At least the same outin
as to be gone through for the less nun
Der as for the greaer, audit is as a tim
of the veal when the farmer docs littl
but to care for his chores. The inocm
will be doubled.-Cor. Boston Globe.