The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1913-08-08
COMING OF the SlLO
Silo Is a Great Money Saver for the
Farmer.

0IAU IL " UTeuV I0Uucy CWvCA AVA tnC
Farmer.
| The need for economic production
of stock and stock products has been
apparent for several years. While the
producer has complained of lack 81
profit in the business, the consumer
on the other hand has been demand
| ing cheaper meat and dairy products.
Here the silO seems to come in as a
peace-m maker and certainly as a means
of furnishing relief to both producer
and consumer. The economy OF the
silo has been thoroughly demonstrate
ed by the experiment stations through
out the country. Seven or eight OF
the central states have conducted tests
pointing to the fact that corn silage
lowers materially the cost of making
beef, mutton and milk. The Indiana,
Iowa and Missouri stations find that
beef can be made from $1.00 to $3.50
per hundred pounds cheaper by the
use of the silo. Several other states
also demonstrated about the same
saving. The saving in the cost of but
ter fat produced runs from SC to 10c
per pound and in rearing young stock
or producing mutton, there was cor
responding saving.
The great convenience of the silo is
a factor which most silo users are en-
thusiastic in describing. When the
weather is cold and disagreeable and
the roads snowy or muddy, the silo is
certainly great boon and it is easier,
as one stock feeder mentioned, to feed
hundred head of cattle with silo
than twenty-five without it. The stor-
age space Is also on an economic basis.
Practically eight times more food can
be stored in silo, ton for ton, than
hay in NOW.
Another essential feature of the silo
is the beneficial effect on the cattle.
Cattle can be kept in a thrifty, grow
ing condition in the winter months.
Milking stock will produce fully as
well when fed silage as they do when
on the best of pasture. Fully a year
can be saved in the development of
young stock If they are kept growing
and not allowed to get setback DUR
ing the critical seasons of fall and
winter. By the use of the silo this is
easily accomplished.
The adoption of the silo is a great
conservation movement for it is ap-
peIA SAb lAASAO ID AOW a ACdI1ul w d6l0 VI
stock food in the way of corn stalks
and leaves. 1t is estimated that the
value of Nebraska's corn crop this
realize that this was poor corn year
and that much of the value of the corn
plant never reached the form of grain,
it is safe to assume that SO per cent
of the nutriment of the corn crop this
tvn1 L. II
and 1t is also safe to say that the great
bulk of the nutriment was lost through
weathering and freezing and exposure
to the elements. Then to state that
Nebraska farmers lost in the neigh
borhood of sixty or eighty million dol
lars worth of food-stuff which they
had already grown, is an astonishing
fact, but 1t is quite true nevertheless.
OF course all of this waste cannot be
saved for there will always be much
corn grown in the state for grain pur-
poses only, but great part of this
corn can be saved through the silo
and where stock are fed it certainly
should be the method of putting up the
corn plant.
In many parts of the state severe
losses were reported from corn-stalk
disease in both cattle and horses. This
loss could be easily prevented by put
ting the corn in the silo. I believe the
loss from this one source in the past
ten years would build practically all
the silos needed on the farms of the
state. There were also many animals
lost from the exposure to cold and
hunger. This was the price of the
Prairie" or the cost of the experience
in finding the best methods of coping
with the conditions of the country.
New conditions have confronted our
people and here certainly is one. The
cost OF stock food in the past few
years has steadily grown higher.
Grain and hay have now reached a
price where it is difficult, under farm
conditions, to derive a profit by the
old method of feeding. The silo, how
ever, offers an opportunity to not only
cope with the situation but actually to
produce our stock and stock products
lower than we did in the days of cheap
hay and grain. So the time has come
when the prosperous man must take
up new method in order to meet the
present conditions and those who
build silos will find the truth of the
statement that "The silo is now the
solution of the stock industry"