Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-07-30
- 4 yns observation-disclosures anu au1gl 30 1906

silage to my herd of Jersey cattle, used
in general milk dairy, to herd OF
Berkshire soWs, and even the chickens
generally had a share of it.
| have usually kept an account OF
cost, and l believe that it has never
been more than 50 per ton put up 45O
tons one year al a cost, for harvesting
and ensiloing, of seventy cents per ton.
I have fed them on one crop Of silage for
fourteen months continuously. In this
locality, we do not have good pastur-
age and the season is very short; but
with the silo, have been able to have
June conditions the year around.
l have never had any experience
with slos or in the use of silage before
this one, and l made a very serious
mistake in building. | built a round
silo, thirty feet in diameter and thirty
feet high, using 2x4 studding, ceiling
inside with six-inch flooring and out
side with shiplap. This slo was so
large that it necessitated the use of
partitions, which were not rigid
enough, and | had some silage spoil
on my hands on that account. Had L
built two silos instead of one at the
same cost, using split lumber instead
of flooring, with acid proof building pa
per, l should have secured better silo
and one much more easily cared for
in every way. Six square feet of silage
surface is enough for COW per day,
so that if a person has ten COWS, they
should have silo surface of sixty feet,
or about nine or ten feet in diameter.
1 have fed about fifty head of cattle
No sill
Their advantage of being able to con-
duct my dairy right in the city limits,
as | did not need pasturage.
/ have grown from forty to sixty
acres of corn per year. Forty acres of
such early variety of corn as will fully
mature in this locality will furnish
about $50 or 400 tons of silage. l have
experimental some in regard to kinds
of corn, conditions of maturity, and
length of cut. and l am satisfied that
any common field corn, that will fully
mature before frost, and grow ears
high enough to be saved by the har-
vester, is the best and most economical
for silage. and that the finer it is cut
the better it will be preserved, and
therefore the better it will keep.
I believe that a slo can be bought
from the manufacturers cheaper than
it can be made on the farm, and 1t
ought not to cost more than 50 per ton
capacity.
1 am not now engaged in selling
milk. as ] have a farm a, few miles
from this city, and have moved my
herds to the farm. have now twenty
female pure-brood, registered Jerseys,
nartaking largely of the blood of st.
Lambert family. This herd is headed
by the pure ST. Lambert Melia Ann
bull. Lottie Melia AIMS King, whose
dam has a record of more than twenty
one pounds of butter In a week. and
whose grand dam, Melia Ann Sd, has
record of more than twenty-e eight
pounds. and whose sire. Melia AIMS
King, is the famous $4,000 bull of MI.
George z. Peer, of Chilli Station. n. Y.
I have no silo at my farm, but shall
build one or more soon, as 1 expect
to continue breeding the best Jerseys
that / can obtain. and hope that I can
breed them better year to year. and I
would not think of undertaking such
a venture without the use of corn sill
age.