The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-06-10
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bedding now!
Answer: We have some straw, but
when that gives out, / do not know
what we will do. That is one of the
biggest problems we have to meet. We
use cotton-seed hulls when the price
will admit but now they are too high.
Question: Is that silo one thickness
or two thicknesses?
Answer: Two thicknesses. 1t is
twenty-five feet high.
Question: What did your silo cost?
Answer: / have got two. They were
built about eight years ago. l do not
know what they cost, as they were
built in with the barn.
Question: Did you ever build a
round one?
Answer: l never built a round one,
but l will do so if I ever build another
one.
Question: Do you begin at the bot
tom or the top of your silo to take
out?
Answer: We begin at the top.
Question: Do you have any trouble
in getting your milking done?
Answer: No, we never have any
trouble. We have a man and family
that attend to that, and we pay them
by the hundred pounds MIXED.
Question: What do you pay for hav-
ing your milking done?
Answer: We pay Is cents per hun
dred, and in addition to that we give
them two gallons of skim milk per day.
This cover all cost of milking, feed
ing, cleaning up and for every atten-
ton the COWS need.
Question: What size silo would you
recommend to be built, say for a herd
of twenty-five cows, either round or
square-what diameter would you rec
ommend?
Answer: l find that a COW will eat
from thirty to thirty-fve pounds a
day. You want to build your silo of
such size as the number of your COWS
will eat it off from two to three inches
a day. The average of ensilage, I sup
pose, in my silos would be something
like forty pounds to the cubic foot.
The bottom foot is very much heavier
than the top foot. I suppose a COW
would eat about a cubic foot per day.
You want to take the surface area and
calculate so that your COWS will eat off
about two or three inches a day. If it
is exposed to the air any length of
time it will rot. If you keep your silo
tight and keep the top covered over,
the rotting can not go on, but if you
allow it to come in contact with the
air, it will spoil.
Question: 1t is very easy to get a
silo too large, isn't ity
Answer: Yes, sir; you have to be
very careful about that.
I would advise this much about it.
Be sure to have it small enough and
tall enough.
Question: How short do you cut
your corn?
Answer: We cut it about half an
inch. Sometimes shorter. The finer
you cut it the better, I think.
Question: What do you average for
your butter?
Answer: Well, we get from q to
"a cents, depending on the season, at
wholesale.
Question: About what does it cost
you per ton for this ensilage?
Answer: 1t takes usually about u
acres to fiji a hundred ton silo from
my land. One a I filled a hundred
ton silo from five acres. At another
time when we had a severe drouth it
took forty acres; .but: it usually takes
about ten or twelve acres, or say about
eight to ten tons per acre.
Question: Have you been able to find
out whether this decrease in your milk
during the hot weather is general
throughout the State?
Answer: l think so. So far as I
a learn / think it decreases in hot
weather unless pastures are extra
good.
One reason why the COWS do not do
quite so well in the summer time is
that they have to work for a living.
and this work draws on the vital forces
that otherwise would be used in MAX
ing milk.
Question: What time in the morning
do your COWS get to the pasture?
Answer: We milk In the s11nnrnnr