Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1912-05-10
On and About the arm

is worth only 80 per cent more than
the stalk. The question is: How
shall we utilize this? AS roughage
for our dairy COWS, for our young cat
+, tie and sometimes for our sheep.
For the ordinary farmer the best
method is the silo. For the large
farmer, at least in some years, a bet
ter method is to feed 1t as 1t comes
from the field. We predict that the
number of large farmers who put up
sflos win increase from year to year,
and that feeding them the shock will
in 10 years from now be exceptional.
With the dual purpose COW bred and
fed for milk, the calf raised by hand:
and fed and to a large extent fatten-
ed ON silage, We will get down to the
most economical method now known
to the ordinary farmer. Science and
practice may give us something bet
ter in the future, but there is no sign
of it yet.
Many questions may arise: What
is the cost OF putting up silo?
What is the cost of filling it? What
is the yield OF silage per acre? What
is the best way of feeding silage? We
do not pretend to answer these ques-
tons just now, for the answer would
vary with different circumstances and
conditions.
1t is clear, however, that whether
corn is put in the silo or in the shock
1t must be cut, preferably with the
corn binder, and the cost is the same
in either case. In either case it must
be hauled to the cattle. Green corn
corn contains a large amount of wa
ter; hence, ON its face it would seem
as if the haul is greater. Whether it
really is greater when managed in a
systematic and wholesale way, as
compared with digging it out of the
snow and hauling it in all kinds of
weather, is an open question, and we
think, would generally be decided in
favor of the silo.
The siIO is the cheapest way known
of storing feed for winter. 1t costs
less to store a ton of digestible MI
trients in the silO than to store it in
the barn, no matter how cheap barn
it may be. The cost OF putting it in
is pretty high where one individual
undertakes it, but when we learn to
cooperate the expense can be cut in
two, or even in three.
Again, much depends ON the way
Silage is fed. If fed as a grain feed,
you may be disappointed; but if used
as roughage containing more or less
grain, and fed either to dairy COWS,
young cattle Or feeding steers for two
or three months of the feed, all ex-
perience shows that it can be fed at
profit, if properly balanced. 1t can
be made to take the place of clover
hay, provided the balance is maintain,
ed by feeding concentrates, such as
oil meal Or cottonseed meal.
Experiments conducted for two
years in Indiana show that silage thus
fed is worth six dollars a ton when
corn is fortyfive cents. Let US deduct
one-third for the skilful feeding done
at Purdue and make it four dollars a
ton, and the yield only ten tons per
acre, whereas it is often thirteen.
Here YOU have forty dollars am acre
for an average corn crop, or equiva-
lent 10 a dollar bushel.
If our readers know of amy cheap
er way than this we have outlined, We
would be very glad TO hear from them.
This is not theory with us; but we
have been deeply impressed by the
experiments that have been conducted
at the various stations, which all
point to the conclusion that when ST.
lage is fed as roughage to cattle that
are worth feeding, and the ration is
properly balanced, it is a profitable
proceeding .-Wallaces' Farmer.