St. Paul daily globe., 1889-02-08
ECONOMY IN FEED.
A Discussion of the SilO in Its Re
lations to Profit in Cattle Grow

A Discussion of the Silo in Its Re
lations to Profit in Cattle Crow
ing.
For the benefit of those who are con-
sidering the economy of the silo in the
keeping of farm stock, the following
very candid communication of Prof.
Sheldon, of the Kansas Agricultural
college, to the Industrialist is given, as
a fair statement of the appreciation of
the silo at the present time:
The question of the value of ensilage,
and the system of preserving green fOd-
der in air-tight vaults, called silos has
been the subject of spirited controversy
since the first employment of the meth
cd in this country dozen years ago.
The advocates of the system. 1t must
be admitted, have often made the most
eXtravagant claims for the silo. To
them it was not merely convenient
method of storing and preserving green
fodder; by them the silo was made to
possess certain superior, occult quail
ties, by virtue of which the baser ele-
ments of vegetation were transmitted
into the pure gold of perfect cattle food
The often wild claims of the cham
pions of ensilage for their favorite
method have provoked a corresponding
vehement opposition to the system.
Nevertheless. the progress of the silo
has been the agricultural event of the
decade. For every one that has been
abandaned hundred have been con-
structed. To-day thousands of farmers
who, ten years ago had never heard of a
silO. now own SiiOs, and are using them
with profit and to their entire satisfac-
ton.
Brushing aside all of the extrava-
gances of statement that all the advO-
Gates of new measures of every sort are
pretty certain to indulge in, it yet re-
mains true that the silo, wherever
Indian corn can be grown, has proved
its great worth with that constantly,
growing class of farmers who estimate
carefully the
COST OF EVERY OPERATION.
The slipShod farmer, he who ''roughS'a
his cattle through anyway, in stalk
fields and the timber" is not likely to-
favor the more expensive methods OF
the silO.
We are not of those who believe that
the silo can add anything to the value.
of contained Silage. On the contrary;
the process of fermentation is neceS-
sarily wasteful one. but this seems.
ClCcl w uS liIdU tliiO HdSlC VI tiO SllO
next to nothing compared with the loss
sustained by the commOner method of
handling forage. For example we have
found, as result of careful and oft re-;
peated tests, that cattle will waste-re-
fuse to eat-all the way from
20 to 60 per cent of com4
mon corn fodder when cut in half
inch lengths and fed in a manager.
Good ensilage, on the contrary, wastes
next to nothing. The quite uniform
report of those having in charge the
college herd has been that the uneaten
portions of ensilage, coarse butts. etc.,
left daily by herd of fifty cattle, when
on full allowance. could be carried in a
half bushel measure. This practical
utilization of all of the feed recovered
from the silo is an argument for the
system of ensilage not likely to be over
estimated.
The stock objection to the use of the
silo is the great cost Of filling. That the
expensiveness of this operation is
greatly overestimated by inexperienced
persons we have no doubt. The fact is,
filling a silo is nothing like as serious an
operation as threshing or even husking,
on an ordinary farm. In filling the silo
we simply are compelled to do large
amount of work within quite limited
time. Considering that, in filling the
silo, we in effect, cut up the corn, shock