Newark post., 1911-07-12
Silo Building Season

| their plans to build silos for next
year. Some are putting up the
first ones, while others are build
inb possibly the second, third or
fourth. 1t seems now long time
ebfore the corn will be ready for
the silo, but as the season ad
vances the strenuous work will
make time pass rapidly and twill
not be long before filling time will
begin. 1t is a mistake to postpone
the building until the last moment
Tor silo filling must be done when
the corn is ready and delay OF two
or three days will cause serious
loss in he value of the feed.
If the orders for the sllos haye
not been placed see to it that you
make up your mind at the earliest
possible moment SO that you will
take no chance of being numbered
among those whose orders came in
after the stock of material was ex-
hausted. Every year there are
some who are disappointed. The
capacity of the silo factories is al
ways taxed to the utmost in June,
July and the early part of August
SO that it is the early bird that gets
the worm here as we'll as in the old
time legend.
Practically every man who uses
a silo for the first time this win
ter will be enthusiastic in praising
it from the time he opens it in the
fall until the last fork full o.: silage
is taken out in the spring. These
men who have been doing without
feed Of this kind for many years
appreciate the Importance of good
silage and especially its value in
keeping the production OF the herd
up to high standard.
| 1t is very seldom indeed that one
finds dairy farm of any preten-
tions where there are not two or
more silos and the breeder of dairy
cattle, that is, the man who is
keeping and producing stock for
sale, finds the silo just as import
ant as the hay NOW or grain bin,
for he depends upon silage as
much as he depends upon his al
falfa or his concentrates in provid-
ing ration for his stock through
out the entire year.
| In building a silo two or three
things are worthy of notice. In
the first place do not put the build
ing in an unhandy location. Have
it where it will be easy to get the
silage into the feeding alley. Re-
member it is full o.; moisture and
naturally very heavy so that the
greatest economy will be obtained
if the feed does not have to- be
carried far. If, at the same time
the building can be located in such
a way that it will be easy to get
the corn fro~t the field to the silo
greater economy will be secured
in both the feeding and emptyins
process.
When one looks at the average
silo from the outside it doesn't ap-
pear to be large or to have a very
tremendous capacity, but, on the
other hand, if one were to go to
the top of the building and look
down or if he were to look into an
average silo from almost any
lpont he will be impressed with the
great storage room and herein lies
another precaution that may be
wlel taken; that is, not to make
the building too large. 1t is like
wise mistake to build too small
for silagc is feed of such unique
value that it is especially import
ant to have enough to carry the
herd through the winter and il
some is left over it will be equally
valuable for summer iced Or for
another season. On the otner
hand if the silo is built too large
especially if the diameter is TIC
great, it is not possible to feed off
the top to sufficient depth to
keep the silage in the best condi-
ton during hot weather. Some
men who have made the mistake
OF building extremely large have
remedied the error by building a
smaller silo within the large one
and using that for summer feed
This is better than to waste feed
by trying to use up the silage in
the big silo, but at the same time
it is an additional expense and il
will be far better policy to build a
medium sized one or two tha,
even smaller yet. On the farm