St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1907-12-21
FARMING IN
THE SOUTH
BUILD MORE sILos.
Where Fodder Makes Smooth condi-
ton SiIage Makes Good Beef.

Letters are coming to hand every
few days from men who want to know
something more concerning cattle and
ensilage; and no letters we receive are
answered with more pleasure, as we
know we can do our folks no greater
good than to get them to handling cat
tie on their farm. Then when they
have the cattle nothing will do the
cattle the good that good corn silaSe
will. A friend wrot asking how in
our opinion shredded fodder would
compare with ensilage as cattle food
Dry shredded fodder compares with
flrst-class corn silage as food for cat
tie about as cold boiled Irish potatoes
compare with the best hot sirloin An
gus steak as food for man. In other
words, there is no COMPARISON at all.
We got a car of cattle up to the
barn Nov. 1. We opened the silo and
1t was certainly convincing proof of
the love steers have for silage to see
the way they threw themselves at
their first feed. The. stuff smelled Sc
good that the lad, coming home from
school hungry as boys always do, came
straight to the barn instead of going
to the cupboard as is his usual habit.
The fattening hogs set up such a
squealing when they smelled it that
we were obliged to throw them a
basket even before we fed the steers.
Then the young bulls way up at the
other end of the barn set up such
believing, bowling and scraping that
to quiet them we were obliged to
carry a basket of the stuff up there.
By this time the odor had penetrated
to the horse stalls, and the thing end
ed up by our having to give them a
sample all around; and after the feed
ing was done, and we were on the
way to the house, Dick" the Shrop-
shire ram could be heard way down
by the creek calling ba! ba! in the
most pitiful tones. And it wasn't "the
call of the wild" either; but just a
poor buck calling as hard as he could
for corn silage. Great is King Corn,
doubly great after he is sliced.
A friend who saw the steers OH
feed at the Virginia station last win
ter told the writer that the steers
whose whole ration had been shredded
fodder during the winter looked to.
be IN as good condition as those whose
ration had been timothy hay-both
lots in smooth condition; while those
that had received nothing but silage
were good beef.
This is just as we would expect 1t
to be after our years of experience in
feeding this greatest of all winter
feeds for stock. Director H. J. Waters
of the Missouri station found that for
three years in succession sliced corn
stover gave far better results than did
shredded stover in carrying stockers
through the winter. 1t would have been
much more interesting in our opinion
had he used genuine corn silage in
one of his tests. However, the better
gains made by the feeding of the
sliced slower shows conclusively that
succulence adds to the value of any
ration.
Several of our friends over the south
are using silage for the first time
this winter and hope they will give
me their candid opinion of the feed
next spring. 1t will be interesting
reading, I am sure There will prob
ably be fifty silos built in our terri
tory next year to every ten that were
built this season, and the business
ought to keep on in about that ratio
for ten years. Then our barren washed
hills would be thing of the past
A. L. French, R. F. D. 2, 3yrdville, Va,
in Progressive Farmer.