Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1886-06-18


1t took five days to fill both rooms OF
the silo and now nothing remained to be
done except to
PUT ON THE COVER AND WEIGHTS.
The cover is composed simply of two
co urses of inch boards, cut so as to fit the
silo crosswise and not so tight as to pre-
vent them from sinking easily, and put
on so that the boards IN the top course
will break the cracks in the bottom
course. For weighing we used about $50
pounds of large stone per square foot,
placed uniformly over the entire surface
of the cover. The work was finished DC.
| tober 18th.
1t was left untouched until the 18th of
January following, when it was opened
and found in excellent condition. The
cattle took to eating it quite readily, and
in few days preferred it to the best tim
othy hay.
So we'll were we pleased with the exper-
iment that last year we decided to in
crease our sllos to 800 tons capacity, and
built two silos each of 900 tons capacity.
These silos are 32x42 feet and II feet deep
and are built upon the same general plan
as the one built the year before, except
that one of them is built entirely Of stone
and cost about 81 200. And right here l
would
ADVISE AGAINST BUILDING EXPENSIVE
sILos,
except upon fancy farms and where the
owner has sufficient capital to indulge his
fancy. The ensilage in the 81 200 silo was
no better than that in the other silos that
cost less than one-third that amount. An
expensivesilo, like an expensive barn, adds
to the beauty and value of the farm, but
if good ensilage is all that is desired a
cheap sil0 will answer equally as well.
DAILY RATION FOR A COW
of l, 1000 pounds weight is about 60 pounds
of cured ensilage, and larger cows will eat
as much as rs to so pounds per day. Calves
and yearlings will require from Is to Is
''young things' that require extra good
treatment, we supplement the ensilage ra-
ton with liberal supply Of wheat bran,
cottonseed meal and ground oats, and
steers that are intended for the butcher
should have as much corn and cottonseed
meal as they will eat with the ensilage.
Store cattle will keep in thrifty, growing
condition on ensilage alone, if given as
much as they will eat. And right here is
where so many feeders make mistake.
No animal is worth feeding that will not
pay for all it can eat. and theiman. that
starves his cattle for the sake of economy
is not only cheating himself, but it is a
question whether he should not be in the
peniteDtiary instead of trying to raise
cattle.
In my opinion full ration of ensilage
will keep cattle in a much thriftier con-
dition than the ordinary dry fodder, sup
plemented by a grain ration. Last win
ter we had 100 dry cows, that had gotten
quite thin by nursing their calves through
the protracted drouth of last fall These
cows were wintered upon ensilage without
a handful of grain, hay or anything else,
and when they were turned to grass this
spring their coats and general thrifty ap.
pearance we're that of cattle that had b een
on grass for month or more.
TWENTY TONS OF CORNFODDER.
can be grown upon an acre of good land
with ordinary good cultivation, and with
high manuring and extra cultivation this
quantity can be doubled. But counting
20 tons per acre and tons for wintering a
COW. it would only take the fodder from
Is acres to winter 100 COWS.
Now every farmer knows that it will re-
quire the hay from 100 to $50 acres of good
land to winter 100 cows, and they will not
be in good condition in the spring, I'M
less the hay is supplemented by grain
ration. But supposing that the hay from
one acre and quarter of good land will be
sufficient to keep COW over winter, the
farmer who could Craze 100 cows would
require 125 acres of meadow to furnish his
winter supply of food. Now he can plant
25 acres of his meadow in ensilage corn
and raise
MORE FOOD THAN HE WILL NEED
to carry his cows through the winter and
they will keep in better condition on the
ensilage than on hay. This would save
him 100 acres of his meadow, from which
If he cuts one and a half tons of hay per
acre and sells the hay at SO per ton. he
will realize $1,000. A very handsome
showing 10 favor of the siIo, and yet it is
not overdrawn.
If he did not wish to impoverish his
farm by selling off his hay he could large
ly increase the number of his COWS.
Experiments in some of the New Eng.
land States have shown that cattle will do
well on ensilage the entire year, and l
have no doubt that if the were allowed
as much as they would eat. they would do
far better than they generally do on the
overstocked and burnt up pastures of the
average farmer. By the above estimate,
80 acres of land would keep 100 COWS in
ensilage the year round. Experience shows
the cost of raising a ton of ensilage and
putting it into the siIo to be
LESS THAN ONE DOLLAR.
This would place the cost of years ra-
tion of ensilage for a COW at $12, and the
cost of wintering at SIS per head.
Mr.. W. A. Stuart, the great steer grazier
and feeder sof South west Virginia, built
his first silo last fall and wintered 100
steers upon ensi!age. In conversation
with the writer a few day ago, he stated
that of the 5000 cattle upon his farms
those fed upon ensilage were
VERY MUCH THE FATTEsT,
and that then had made at least 100 pounds
more gain during the asinter than aay other
cattle upon the farm that aoere fed upon dry
feed and the same quantity of grain. Esti-
mating this extra grain at five cents per