Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-10-11
Would Have Every Farmer Who
Feeds Cattle Have An I'm
derground Granary
MANY ADVANTAGES; NO WASTE
Mckay Bros, Extensv. Feeders of
Buckingham, Have Had One in OPP
GRAFTON for Twenty five Years, and
Wouldn't Think of Being Without It
A Big Feed Saver.
Special TO rlmes-Republican.

appeared in the news columns of The
T.-R. q few days ago: West Bend
Oct. 4.-Charles Aulicker has JUS
bought and put into use a new silo
This is the first silo placed In thi:
vicinity, and will be watched with in.
terest by the farmers"
farmers, cost, etc. occupy pages IN al
the agricultural papers in the corr
belt state, yet silos are as scarce IN
Iowa as hens teeth. Mckay Bros, OF
Buckingham, large raisers and feeders
of fine cattle, have about the only
one in this part of Iowa. They no,
only have one now, but have had for
twenty-five years. and it has been seen
and written about, yet none of their
neighbors have built one.
Merritt Green, OF Marshalltown, has
built one this summer, and 1t Is prob
ably the only one in Marshall county
Every farmer knows what silo Is,
and how to use it, but for some reason
he doesn't build one. Mckay Bros. is
built from lumber. They had round
barn, ninety-tWo feet across, and in the
center they put silo, twenty feet In
diameter. This will hold ESQ tons OF
ensilage. The barn is basement built
and has stanchions all the way round
the outer part. cement floor, cement
feed and water troughs. Between this
-:1. T.. ls.r
space which is used for calves. The
silo occupies the basement. The
ground floor contains the horses, farm
machinery, grains, work room and the
machinery necessary to fill the silo
except the engine. The large hay loft
is filled with clover hay, and alfalfa
They now have ninety cows giving
milk, so some idea can be had as to
the amount OF roughage necessary. and
it is all inside the big barn. They
consider the silo their greatest asset
and say that one acre Of ground will
produce in ensilage as much feeding
value as three acres in clover hay
Now this has been told to the people
Of north Tama county for years, but
no other silos have been built. You
talk to any farmer about it and they
all say tits a good thing"
Take this community, for example.
Here is a large creamery. There =
another at Lear, eight miles northwest;
one at Fern, eight miles west, one at
Freasyille, four miles northeast, and
another a little farther away. The
bank here cash $4,000 worth of milk
checks a month. Many checks run
over 500 each. yet there is not a siio
In this part Of Grundy county.
Most of the farmers thru here own
their own farms, build fine houses and
barns. but don't build silos. Why?
Simply because 1t is not the fashion.
That's all. They have the money to
build one, the corn fodder necessary to
fill one. but don't. Many farmers are
building corn cribs this fall that VIII
cost more than silo would, to take
care of crop in the field. A good
idea, too, but a little later they will
take the same corn that they have
been to a big expense to keep, out, and
throw it in snow and mud and let the
cattle and hogs dig it out.
The same money put in silo would
not only keep the corn, but part of the
stalks as well, and 1t could be fed to
the cattle as green as when cut, and
not particle wasted, as they will eat
it all.
Not only the farmers around West
Bend, but all over Iowa, should sit up
and take notice. When farms are SELL
ing at 500 per acre the large waste
must stop, such as leaving the stalks in
~ AL ho 20 40 n
use ensilage they won't need to have
twenty acres in clover hay, but can
raise corn in peace. One acre of corn
will put between nine and ten tons in
a silo.
In northern Wisconsin farms consist
OF a few acres of cleared ground and
many acres of timber. Hay amid grains
are high and lumber comparatively
cheap. Dairying is largely INDUCED in.
and about the first thing built is a silo,
and no one would think of keeping
COWS without one. In Iowa we have
always had an abundance of feed, so
waste it.
Silos in themselves are not expen-
sive. One thirty feet highland sixteen
Such one would hold ninety tons. The
machinery to fill them costs as much
more, and this is what has held some
back, but the same machinery that
would fill one would fill dozen, and
the time will come, and not far dis
tant, either, when men will go around
filling silos the same as they now go
around threshing oats. Let any half
a dozen farmers start it and it won't
be long until the disease will spread
over the country.
/ never write along the line of sug-
gestion but what / think Of my expert
ence with Poweshiek county farmer,
when I drove in his yard and told him
my name. He came forward and shook
my hand, saying, II am very glad to
meet you, Mr.. Theoretical Farmer
Get out of your buggy and will show
you how a Practical Farmer made
100000 III twenty years with nothing
but his nerve to start with
GEORGE r. THAYER.
MENINGITIS IN CATTLE.
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