The Sauk Centre herald., 1906-08-09


FILLING THE SILOS AT THE KANSAS
STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE
DAIRY FARM.
OF the greatest Importance in render
ing food materials palatable. 1t is the
same food materials which are washed
out OF the hay during heavy rains, and
renders such hay of no value, often of
no more value than SO much straw
not because it does not contain nearly
| as much food substance, like protein,
fat, starch, and sugar, but because of
the substances that render hay palat-
| able having been removed by the rain.
The influence of well-preserved 81
lage on the digestive system and gen.
eral health of the animal is very bene-
| fetal. 1t is a mild laxative, and acts
in this way very similarly to green
| fodder.
The filling of silos is the all-import-
ant problem at the present time. AS
has previously been stated, corn is one
| of the best feeds for making silage.
Corn should be left in the field before
| SoSeiA3 uhCli ~ AckO PoSoSd thiOu5h ChO
doughy stage, that is until the kernels
are well dented and glazed, as in the
| case of flint vaEieties. Where large
silos are to be flied, and in case of ex-
| treme dry weather when corn is dry
| ing up rapidly, it would be we'll to fill
| the silo a little before it reaches this
| stag. as greater part of the corn
| would ofh ho nj fo hn drxy
There is, however, less danger in this
respect now than formerly, on account
of our modern deep silos, and because
we have found that water applied di-
rectly to the fodder in the silo acts in
| the same way as water in the fodder,
and keeps the fermentation in the silo
in check.
The cutting of corn for the silo Is
usually done on small farms by hand.
| Many farmers have been using self
raking and corn-binding harvesters
for this purpose, while others report
| good success with sled or platform
cutter If the corn stands up well and
is not of very large variety, the end
sought may be reached in very sat
isfactory manner by either of these
methods. If, on the other hand, much
of the corn is down, hand cutting is to
be preferred. A number of different
makes of corn harvesters and corn
cutters are now on the market, and it
is very likely that corn cutting for fod-
der will be done away with in the
years to come, at least on large farms.
If corn is sliced ears and all, it Is
necessary to keep man or boy In the
silo while it is being filed, to level
the surface and tramp down the sides
and corners. # left by itself the
heavier pieces of corn will be thrown
each way and the light leaves and
tops will come closest to the discharge
and as a result the corn will not settle
evening. and the different layers of en-
silage will have different feeding
value To assist in the distribution
of corn pyramidal box may be hung
in front of the door and below the top
of the carrier. This may be three feet
square at the base, and taper to q
point, at which a rope is attached for
hanging to the rafter. The falling
mass of corn will strike the box and
be divided so as to distribute to all
parts of the silo.
After the silo is filled the silage is
| left to settle. In the course of sew
eral weeks layer at the top. approx
imately foot deep, will begin to de-
cay and mould and seal the rest from
further decomposition. When feeding
| time comes this top layer is removed
to depth sufficient to reach pure
silage. The silage in sjlo is always
more or less heated on account of the
Preventative process, hence the top
layer, which is cooled from one feed
to another, should be raked off evenly
and then fed.
Silage, the same as canned products,
should not be exposed to air for too
| long a time, for decomposition takes
place very rapidly.
Economy in the production of food
material means an increased profit,
hence as the price of feed advances on
Kansas farms, the silo will become a
necessary adjunct to the Kansas feed
er.
The prinipal lesson to be learned
from experiments at the Kansas State
Agricultural college is that the farmer
who would produce milk cheaply should
have alfalfa or clover hay and silo.
A combination of silage and alfalfa
hay make a cheap milk producing ra-
ton. The addition of grain will in
crease the milk flow to some extent,
especially in the first few months of
the iactation period. Later in the
period the need for grain decreases,
and from the standpoint of most
economical production very little grain
is needed if alfalfa roughage is pro-
vided for feeding.