The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1912-09-12
Advantages of Feeding Slage


The U.s. Of silage IL Increasing year
by year for cattle tatte.!rg anG ualrs
purposes. Some Of the considerations
m its favor, ard H. favor Of the uss Of
the cement-concTete sllO are Desirable
should tie reaaer wish 10 study tie
advantage Of the entire question Of
silage feeding.
First, what Is the advantage Of feed
ing cattle silags As against roughage
and roots? An acre of corn costs about
s4.O0 TO grow and put in the silo- Ihis
same acre Of corn allowed 10 mature
harvested and shucked, represents d
cost Of $500. Therefore, the SID rep
resents a saving Of about ssoJ an
acre in fodder This is the economic
advantage.
Tn. other advantage is its advan-
tage as fodder Silage produces IN
winter time almost identical feeding
values that the cattle receive IE the
summer pas tuIe-aOt merely the food
values Of summer grasses, but the rat
ural percentages of juices and sap
found in summer feeding are maintain
ed in the silage.
As result of this condition, the cat
tie receive large proportion Of the
water they need, if they are to pro-
duce fat, whether as flesh or as butter
fat. This renders less necessary the
drinking Of large quantities OF plain
water, which is habituslly given freez-
ing cold, and the warming of which
consumes much Of the energy II Their
fodder, that would otherwise be saved
for fat production. Silafe-fed cattle
give more milk, and have tenderer
softer flesh than grain fattered stock.
At the same time they are more SEN
sative to cold, because they are soft
err in the sense that a horse taken off
pasture and put TO work is soft. This
il because they are being fed under
summer conditions, in winter.
Silage has another advantage that
mas a bearing on its economy. 1t is
compact 1t takes pretty big hay
NOV TO hold 100 tons of hay. Yet 100
tons Of silage can 20 in fifteen foot
silo between twenty-five and thirty
feet high. 1t occupies about one-fiftb
the space Of other fodder.
Silage is Just about twice as proiitab-
ie as grain in dairy or beef farming. 1t
saves forty percent of the feeding value
Of corn. II doubles the value of an
acre of corn. 1t halves the labor of
feeding stock. 1t doubles the stock
fattening capacity of farm. 1t saves
bulk. 1t saves costly barns. 1t gives
reserve fodder against dry summers or
long winters, and "equalizes' varying
seasons. In Ontario, the government
experiments conducted on silage as
compared with hay, pointed to equal re-
turns from $500 in hay and only $l33 In
silage. This means that the same
number of steers can be fattened up
ON each, but the silaze fed steers will
nave more char 1856 extra and clear
profit. s..5. ~ -...
When silage is taken off corn land,
the equivalent Of from 600 pounds to
1000 pounds Of extra dry Dutriment per
acre is saved for feeding A COW or
steer requires about forty pounds Of
this silage per day, moist weight. To
be usable, silage must not be exposed
10 the air over twenty-four hours, and
for this reason IA silo fifteen feet across
inside must supply not less than TWEEN
ty-tiVe cattle, taking about two inches
off the top surface of the silage each
feeding time.
This silo may be built at cost of
$l.50 for each ton of siiage it will con-
tain. lnasmuch as siage is worth
about $500 a ton for dairy or fatten-
ing purposes, and as it costs 50 a ton
laid in the silo, such silo only con
sumes one-tbird of the profits gained
the very first year to repay the cost of