The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1914-03-19


moulds badly and burns dry. its feed
ing value is very much decreased and
it too is quite dangerous to feed stock
Ensilage Is a great appetite, for
stock of all kinds fed ensilase viii
Il, 81 .nsnme a great amount of other
feels ii they have access to it With
what we have been able to see of the
solid cement silOs as to keeping en-
silage, We are not well pleased with
them. There is one fact that stands
out plainly in the cement silos, and
that is, they have not been thorough.
treated to exclude the air or the en-
silage was not put into the siio at the
1roper time, or was not packed suiii-
ciently to exclude the air Either
would cause the ensilagc to spoil bad
ly. One thing we noticed in one ce-
ment silo in particular was, that a
silage was very dry, and also moulded
In my opinion this was caused by the
walls not being properly treated to
exclude the air: the walls being cool
! would draw the moisture from the
silage and cause it to spoil. If you
contemplate building cement silo, be
sure and see that it is treated to ex-
clude all the air or you will have some
| spoiled silage.
| ! believe the best silo any one can
build is the pit silo A concrete silt
14x32 will cost about S365; add to this
1925 for cutter and blower and if you
| hire an engine it will be necessary to
have not less than Is horse power
to do the work. While a pit silo can
be put down for about one-siXth of the
cost of concrete silo and the cutter
cost can be cut one-third as the blower
can be dispensed with and therefore
your power te run cMtter will also be
cut About one third as you can do your
cutting with a to horse power en-
gine and therefore instead of your en-
silage costing you $1.15 to $175 per
ton it will cost you from 75c to $1.15
per ton and the feeding value will re-
main the same from $3.50 to $500 per
ton.
l consider the silo one of the best
investments 1 ever made on my farm
and / would consider it a great loss
if | had to do without same. Silage
has proven to be. great dairy feed,
but do not expect the best of results
from silage alone. To have a bal
anced feed for dairy COW she must
have some grain with the ensilage.
We feed about 40 pounds of ensilage
per day and from to ~ lbs. of cotton
seed meal, ground corn and rye per
day
Since we erected our silO and be-
gan the use of ensilage as feed for
the dairy COW our profits from cream
have increased more than half and
with the increase of the milk flow.
or skim milk our hog profits have al
so increased.
Our dairy cows, 12 in all, made us
an average of $55.65 per COW. Add
to this calves raised from the -
cows at S25 per head, $25 per head
1929 or $1S.75 per COW plus $55.65
equal $7440 per COW. Now l believe
that any farmer in Phillips County
with silo can do as WELL and some
much better than this and they should
get to work at once and put in pit 81
10 and have 1t ready for the crop.
Respectfully,
A. c. Cauble.
In published report for the year
1913, Fred Borland, another prominent
Phillips County ranchman, gives the
following as the proceeds from his
dairy herd of fourteen COWS. Both
these men have silos on their ranches
and have proven that they pay big
interest on the money invested. The
Borland figures are as follows:
'"iiua '.....-''.'.'.. SiS.32
F'ebruary.. Observation-Disclosures. 5212
-i''i 'ii'.-.' ...... 50U9
APiii.. ....... ........... 62.SS
May. 6710
| June. :. 81 AZ