The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1914-02-20
STOCK FARMING.
Advantage of the Silo and Ensilage
in Feeding.
W. \. MERoNEY.

the laEno Vi 4ohhSosCo SASuiN Aofo
more attention, for there is a very prom
ising future for this line of farm work.
The free cattle range Of the Western
prairies is now a thing of the past.
Cheap beef was produced in that way
but cannot be done any more, so the
farms must produce the beef for the
future as they have always produced
the dairy stock.
The present remuneratlye prices for
both beef and dairy products promise
to be maintained in the future because
the demand is constantly growing, while
the supply is falling behind.
To any thinking man there is much
to encourage the growing of cattle on
the farm. Tennessee is highly favored
by nature for this line of business for
the farmer. The mild and short winters,
the long growing seasons, the rich pas
lures OF bluegrass and lespedeza, never
failing streams of running water on al
most every farm are some of the adj
vantages nature gives Tennessee.
Our population is increasing very fast.
The towns and cities are growing out Of
all proportion to the country. The peo-
pie OF the cities must be fed. 1t is the
farmers business to feed them and he
should arrange his methods of agricul-
ture with a view to that fact. He can
grow and feed cattle on the farm at a
good profit il he studies his business.
He must have good grade of cattle
and he must feed them economically;
prepare for his business so as to get the
most out of it; feed what he grows on
the farm to the cattle and by returning
the manure to the land he will at the
same time improve the fertility of his
farm, SO he can hold both ends OF the
rope.
To feed live stock on the farm eco
nomically the use of the silo is indis-
pensable. BY its use he can almost
double the feeding value of his corn
crop. He can make ten acres il planted
in corn for the silo worth as much in
feeding value as twenty acres fed out as
dry food. So then he does need to Gull
tivate so many acres to grow the neces-
sary food and is able to keep more Of
his farm in grass and pasture, resting
it up, so that when it comes into its reg
ular rotation he will get larger yields to
pay him for his labor and year after
year produce more per acre OF what
ever crop he may plant.
The silo is no longer an experiment
but we'll established fact and should
be used on every farm because OF its
economy. And fortunately they are
within the reach of the small farmers
as well as the large ones, because they
can be built OF different material and
different sizes and with wide range
in the cost of construction. The con-
crete silo is the most lasting, but its
cost OF construction places it out OF
reach financially OF many small farm
ers. The patented factory built stave
siIos are more generally used and give
good results, but some small farmers
fear the cost OF even these, but they
need not be cut off from the use OF
siIage and its benefits because of silo
cost, for they can build their own round
stave silos on the farm for about one
third the cost of the factory built struc-
ture that will answer their purpose Just
as we'll.
A fifty-ton silo can be built by the
farmer himself for about one dollar
per ton capacity. One suchis now in
use in Maury County that has been
filled and fed out twenty years; has al
ways made good silage and has paid for
itself every year. Fifty tons Of good
silage will feed twenty head of beef or
dairy cattle the whole winter and can
be filled from five acres Of fairly good
corn land and makes cheap, healthy
and satisfactory cattle feed.
The best crop to grow for sllage IS
one of the prolific varieties OF corn. A
kind that grows tall stalk, bearing
from two to six small ears to the stalk,
and il COW peas are planted with the
corn and the mixture put into the silo
together it is made more valuable. This
crop Of corn and peas can be grown very
successfully in Tennessee as a second
crop after harvesting crop OF clover,
hay, wheat, oats or rye. II planted by
the 25th of June it can safely be stored
in the siIo before frost
The corn should be put into the silo
when the grains are beginning 20 dent,
when Just little too hard for table use.
II "a than NJ It's hest feeding stage 1t