Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-12-17
How to Get the Largest Re-
turns from Your Land.
Advantages Of a SiIo.

tlOn, mas the 1Clio"lii5 ~ say ieA"NA'@
to the value Of the silo:
The number of silos would not have
increased so rapidly in the last few
years had it not been clearly demon
strated that by no other means was 1t
possible to store SO large q proportion
of the winters food supply SO econom-
ically.
We all agree that the best, most salts
factory single feed for the dairy COW is
pasture grass, and that in midsummer,
If paStures are short and brown, no
supplementary feed of which we have
any knowledge will give us so good
results as green corn. This being the
case, it naturally follows that corn is
prominently the plant to be used for
silage.
On good soil, we'll fertilized, We can
produce an average Of fourteen tons OF
green corn per acre-2S,0Oo pounds.
Professor Hacker of the Minnesota
station, from the ANALYSIS of many
samples of silage, draws the conclusion
that the average protein contents Is
not less than per cent. That being
true, in one acre of corn, or 2S,oto
pounds, we have $50 pounds of protein.
To incorporate sufficient protein in
the ration for our dairy COWS to enaoie
them to do their best work is the pro-
blem ever before the dairymen, but II
we are feeding thirty pounds day OF
good silage, the cow derives from that
alone one-third the amount OF protein
necessary for very satisfactory dairy
work.
But simply the protein of corn silage
is not the only advantage We gain. AS
in pasture grass, the COW finds some
thing in corn silage that enables her TO
produce milk and butter fat more
economically than she can possibly 40
on ahy combination of dry feeds
entirely.
1t is not entirely the high price we
may obtain for our dairy product. that
marks our measures of success, but the
low price from which it can be pro-
ducod as well. If we feed ration OF
thirty pounds Of silage, twelve pounds
of clover hay and five pounds Of corn
meal. the average cost for q series OF
wears will not be more than cents per
day. and still the ration is sufficient to
maintain the COW in normal flesh while
doing better than average dairy work.
Until the advent Of the silo dairymen
good coin in exchange for feeds rich
in proteirs; without them it has been
found impossible to obtain a satis1ac-
l tory flow of milk. With the Sllo thiS -
all changed. 1t is entirely possible for
our COWS to do good dairy work IL lnes
have silage. clover hay, corn or barley
meal in the proper proportlon' ana lhe
money that formerly went for COM
mercial feeds can be placed where IL
will give greater satisfaction.
At home we have kept q DAIRY Oh
twenty COWS the past year without ail
acre of pasture. Until July 10 the COWS
were given a large yard and 1ed on coill
silage, clover hay and wheat prah'
The bran was used because our corl
croD last year was total 1aliufe. July
IS they were given the run of a thirty
acre meadow from which we had cut &
heavy crop of June and alsike clover
and timothy.
This is the first year we have tried
the plan and l am glad to be able TO
saw it has proven entirely satisfactory.
We cannot afford to devote good una
BILE land worth $50 per acre, to pasture
when by n little more work the COWS
can be fed and the entire farm cropped.
Without the aid of the silo this me>Sod
II could not be successfully adopted.
II A silo sixteen feet in diameter ana
thirty feet high will hold about 13o tons
of corn, or the crop of nine acres. IN
this amount we have approximately
5000 pounds of protein, as mucH as IS
found in thirty tons of good clover nay,
or the product of possibly twelve acres,
or as much as is contained in fifty tons
of timothy nay. twenty-five acres OF an
leverage crop. Thus it will be seen that
lin one acre Of corn silage we have
as much protein as in one and one
third acres of clover ha-. or in two and
lseven-ninths acres of timothy hay.
It has been quite generally conceded
for years that clover hay is the most
desirable roughage that the dairyman
could produce, but experiment has de-
monstrated that corn silage will fur
nish cheaper protein. besides the ad-
vantage of the succulent nature OF the
feed, thus giving our cows ration
closely resembling that of the summer
season.
If we provide our COWS with warm
barns warm water and corn silage as
a part of their daily ration. other
things being equal. We may reasonably
expect them to do better work in the
winter than in the summer months.
Then. again. it will be remembered that
the winter market for butter is 30 to 90
per cent better than the summer mark
ct. We can in this way do the greater
part of our dairy work in the winter
season, when the higher prices prevail
and our time is not SO fully occupied
with field work as is the case during
, the summer season.
AS a supplement to pasture grass
there is nothing that will give as salts
factory results as corn silage. 1t can
be used the entire summer, and the
carrying capacity of the farm greatly
increased. No matter how busy we
may be- or how inclement the weather
the necessary feed is always at hand
and the COWS are not necessarily sub
iected to a few days of insufficient feed
with proportionate shrinkage in the
milk yield.
Then to sum up the advantages of a