Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1912-05-30
The Corn Crop And The Silo

Oh the forage crops lfldt grow In
the dairy belt. It's reliability and
enormous yield render it almost
indispensable to those who would
make profitable productions of
milk on high priced land.
The advent of the corn binder
which has taken the place of the
old hand corn knife has solved the
question of harvesting corn fod-
der. However there isnyet an alb
sence of any economical system
of handling dry corn fodder in
the barn in any form that brings it
to the manger in a condition
that is relished by the COW and
consumed without waste. 1t is be-
yond the question of a doubt
that; for the feeding that must he
done inside the barn, the adoption
of the silo is the only alternative.
Many of our farmers who farm
on high priced lands are practice
ing the system of soiling by plant
ing corn of different periods of
maturing, cowpeas, oats, rye and
other forage plants to furnish a
green feed to partially or entirely
supplement pasture. These far
mers are beginning to realize that
the most of these crops can be dis
pensed with and all the feed raised
at one time and in one field in the
shape of corn fodder, gathered at
one harvest and put into the silo
for the following summers feed
ing, thus eliminating the extra
expense of tilling for SO many
fields and avoiding the danger of
failing in some of the many crops
that must enter into a complete
system of sQilling.
p The expense Of filling is often
heard as an objection to the silo,
but if a careful account of all
labor is kept of handling corn fod-
der by any other method by which
it is so prepared that the stock
will consume it as they do silage
and in form that may be conven-
iently handled inside the barn, it
will be found that the expense
will be as much or more than
when it is placed in the silo
While there is more labor re-
CURED for hauling the green corn
for the silo than when dry, there
is also large amount of labor
saved in other ways as when corn
goes into the silo the shocking is
eliminated and there is no husk-
ing, Smelling or grinding.
The cost of building or con-
tainer for silage is no more than
when shelter is provided for hay,
especially when a good hay barn
is compared to a tub silo. Many
ed to building barns that they do
8
thousand dollar hay barn while
they consider two hundred
dollar silo an extravaganza.
farm and who has his plans well
laid, we would recommend a solid
wall concrete silo. Either this or
believe the former is. better. For
permanent plans for the future
or who may be renting, we would
recommend the stave silo. The silo
should be placed close to the feed
ing place as silage is very heavy.
If located on the outside of the
barn, as it should be, it should be
well secured to the barn and also
secured by bolts to the founda-
Wrecking it while empty. When
built above three feet from the
barn the space between the silo
and the barn can be.so boarded up
as to make chute down which
ing times.
A twenty COW dairy will need
sio about sixteen feet in diameter
by twenty-six feet high to hold
the necessary silage for six
months period. 1t has been found
that a silo thirty-five feet high
contains five times as much silage
as one twelve feet high which is
due to the increased density by
settling. II is best to build not
less than twenty-four feet high.
A silo twenty-five to thirty
feet deep will contain on an
average approximately enough
silage in one cubic foot to feed
one COW one day. From this may
be computed the size of silo re-
CURED.
Many farmers have been dis
couraged in using cheap stave
silos which at the slightest pro-
vocation blow down. This is not.
however, the fault of the stave
silo. 1t is rather the fault of the
men who put them up. Tub silos,
properly constructed are good for
a good many years. The main re-
quirement is to have them made of
strong slaves of good material
held together by sufficient
number of hoops and well secured
to the. barn and the hoops kept
reasonably tight while the silo is
empty.
The foundation should be built
of good stone, brick or cement. If
the drainage is good ground
floor Is all right. II the drainage is
not good a cement floor should
be laid with a drain leading from
it. This drain pipe must be plug
ged up before the silage is put in.
Corn is beyond all question the
best material for making silage.
However, many other materials
have been used. Glover, green
oats, peas and even sugar beets
have been used, yet il is safe to
predict that the corn plant will
always be the chief material used,
especially in the corn belt It's
enormous yield and the diff