Morris tribune., 1911-07-07
SilOs and Ensilage.
BY George p. Grout, Minnesota
University Farm.

University Farm. Il
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1t does not pay to devote high-priced
land, for long periods, to pasturage
and the production of hay. The land
can be put to more profitable use. In
order, therefore, that dairying may
continue profitable, instead of depend
ing, as in the past, wholly upon the
pasture for the chief food-supply of
their herds, many of our farmers are
turning toward the silo as affording
a beneficent solution of the feed prob
lem. It is doubly beneficent in that it
not only does away with the necessity
of deVoting so much land to pasture;
but also, by making available a cheap
supply of succulent and highly-relished
food all the year round, it deprives
stall-feeding of some of it's objection
able features, while keeping the milk
flow at a higher standard During the
past two or three years, more siIos
have been built than in all previous
years combined. The more prosperous
farmers are often supplied, not merely
with one, but with two good silos
Cost and Producing Value.
The economic value of this method
OF handling feed being generally recog-
nized, the only real obstacle to the
| general introduction of the silo seems
! to be the first cost of the structure
and of the machinery for filling it.
More stock can be kept and profitably
fed, per acre, when ensilage is grown,
than by almost any other method.
| The silo practically increases the pro-
ducing capacity of the farm by at
least 10 per cent, and often more. A
16O-acre farm with silo will produce
as much revenue as one of 180 acres
without. Therefore, the first cost of
silo-like that Of a dwelling house,
barn or team-should be considered
part Of the initial investment; and, if
ones capital is limited, it is better to
buy farm smaller by 10 per cent,
rather than dispense with a silo. The
producing value of a silo on $50 land
would be equal to that of twenty acres
added to the 16O-acre farm, or $1,000;
on 800 land, it would be $4,000. This
is a low estimate; for the stOck-car-
rying capacity of the farm will often
be increased fully 25 per cent by the
adding of a silO. AS compared with
re
strucing the silo is small. Round !
wooden silos cost from $50 to So |
per ton Of capacity; those of stone,
brick or cement, from So to 81. 1t has |
been shown by actual experiment in +
Minnesota that-WOrking cooperative |
ly in the purchase Of materials, etc.
a number of farmers in a locality may !
erect on each of their farms a stave
silo, of 40 to $50 tons capacity, for
about $275.
Cost of Growing Corn and Filling sio.
The average cost of growing silage
corn in Minnesota is 70 cents per ton. !
The average, on several farms, for
putting up the ensilage, was 81 cents;
making a total Of about S134 per ton.
Various authorities estimate this cost
at from 81 to $194 It will vary ac-
cording to the distance of the fields
from the barns.
Time to Harvest SiIage Corn.
At the Minnesota Station it is the
custom to put the corn in the silo as
soon as the ears are in the denting
stage. This precludes the formation
of woody fiber in the stalks; and while
there may be some loss of the nutri-
ents gained by fuller maturity in
the plant, this Is more than offset by
the smaller amount of work required
to digest the stalks when earlier cut.
Cows kept in the station herd, and |
fed ensilage from calfhood to the ripe
age of fourteen or fifteen years, have
exceptionally good teeth and are in
excellent physical condition.
Ensiage Compared With Hay.
While it is true that it requires
three pounds of ensilage to equal one
pound of hay in feeding value, be-
cause of the large amount of moisture
contained in the ensilage, it has been
shown that, from an equal quantity of
dry matter, more milk was obtained
from the ensilage than from corn fod-
der, corn stover or hay. At the Mas
sachusstts Station 1t was shown that,