Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1914-06-14
THE MAKING AND
FEEDING OF SILAGE


Silage during the last three decades
has come into general use throughout
the United States, especially in those
regions where the dairy industry has
reached it's greatest development. Sill
age is universally recognized as a
good and cheap feed for farm stock,
and particularly so for cattle and
sheep, are the observations made in
farmers bulletin SIS.
Silage is the best and cheapest form
in which succulent feed can be pro-
vided for winter use, continues the
bulletin, An acre of grain can be
placed in the silo at cost not eX-
ceeding that of shocking, husking,
grinding, and shredding. Crops can
be put in the silo during weather that
can not be used in making hay or cur
ing fodder, which is an important
consideration in some locates.
Hs, A given amount of corn in the form
of silage will produce more milk than
the same amount when shocked and
dried There is less waste in feeding
slage than in feeding fodder. Good
silage properly fed is all consumed,
and in addition very palatable. Like
other succulent feeds it has benefi-
cial effect upon the digestive organs,
and some stock can be kept on a CIV
en- area of land when It is the basis
of the ration.
q On account of the smaller cost for
labor, silage can be used for supple
menting pastures more economically
than can soiling crops unless only a
small amount of supplementary feed
is required. Converting the corn crop
into silage clears the land sooner than
if the corn crop is shocked and husk-
ed, and because of these advantages
silage, in the general opinion of dairy
farmers, has increased milk produc-
ton per COW and has increased the
profits per acre.
In all parts of the United States
where the silo has come into general
use the principal silage crop is corn.
One reason for this is that ordinarily
corn will produce more food material
to the acre than any other crop
which can be grown. 1t is more cas-
lily. harvested and put into the silo
than any of the hay crops, such as
clover, cowpeas, or alfalfa.
Furthermore, corn makes an excel
lent quality of silage. The legumes,
such as clover and alfalfa, are liable
to rot unless special care is taken
to pack the silage thoroughly and
force the air out The only objection
which has been raised concerning
corn silage issthe fact that it contains
insufficient protein fully to meet the
requirements of animals to which it
may be fed. The best variety of corn
to plant is that which will mature
and yield the largest amount of grain
to the acre, since the grain is the
most valuable part of the corn plant
The variety commonly raised in any
particular locality for grain will also
be the most satisfactory to grow for
silage.
Cultivation and Yield.
In some sections it is common
practice to plant the corn a little
thicker when raised for silage than
for grain Weeds should be kept out,
or they will be cut with the corn and
may impair the quality of the silage.
The amount of silage that can be OBJ
tanned from an acre OF corn will vary
from four to twenty tons or more A
5O-bushel per acre crop of corn will
yield about eight to twelve tons Of
silage per acre, depending upon the
amount of foliage and stalk that &C
companies the ear. Southern varieties
of corn as rule carry a larger pro-
portion Of the plant in the form of
stalk and leaves than do the northern
grown varieties. Corn should be har-
vested for the silo at about the same
time that it is harvested for fodder.
SOrghums.
Sorghums, both saccharine and nom
saccharine, are readily made into sill