Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1916-03-24
How To Get Best Re-
suits in Filling SiIOs

value TO farmers VINO COnLetH-
plate erecting silos on the prairie
this summer:
The time to cut corn or any
other crop to be ensiled is when
you have about all the growth you
are going to get. There is moth
ing gained by waiting. In plant
life there is no standstill; as soon
as growth stops the ripening be-
gins and every day you put off
cutting you will have that more
indigestible matter to handle.
would rather cut too soon than too
late. If your corn is frosted, it
should be cut as soon as possible.
When corn is cut it should be put
in silo Immediately; it should not
lay in the field a day.
In order to have good silage, it
should be cut fine. This is i'm
portant; you will find by watch
ing your cows that they will eat
what is cut fine, and if you give
them about all they want they
will by that time have breathed
over the rest so much that it is
stale and you will have to throw
the rest out; and again, if it is
cut fine it will pack closer, your
silo will hold more tons, there
will be less air in your silage
which must be cut out in order to
cut the material fine you must
keep your machine in a condition
such as the inventor intended
that it should be kept, the knives
sharp and running close to the
cutting board or shearing plate.
Most machines are made now
so they will cut four cuts to the
inch which is not too fine. We
may take the best of material and
by being careless in handling
when putting into the silo we will
find when feeding that we have
very poor feed; that, however,
need not happen if we use a little
judgment.
If we could compress the ma
terial in the silo so hard that we
could get all the air out, well and
good; but that would take an e.
normous pressure and to get that
pressure would cost too much so
we must do the next best thing
in order to get the air out.
We know that in any space
where there is air we can make
water take the place of it.
We do not have to guess at the
moisture in silage. l have very
simple test to determine it.
take handful of the material
cut and if can press hard enough
70 make the juice drip from my
hand all is we'll but if not we
must have water enough until we
can make the juice drip from a
handful. Material put into the
| sllo in that condition will come
out good. 1t will not sour but
will be a sweet pickle, pleasant
to the taste and smell.
In six to eight weeks the pro-
J cess of curing will be completed
and silage will be cooled off and
ready to be used for feed and il
| once cooled it will not heat again
| it may dry out or mould but
/ never heat again if the process
I of curing is complete.
/ Do not be afraid to use plenty
of water; it is hard to get toe
much. l have fed about 150C
tor of silage and have not had 6
/ / andful that had too much water
| in it but have had a good dea
that did not have enough.
i At one time was filling silc
and we did not have enough wa
ter the last half day so we pumped
j on top of the full silo q barrels
of water, hoping that it woulc
: soak down. Well, it did part way
I but by that we learned that wa!
a good way to seal up a silo.
/ There was about four inches O
the material spoiled on top whel
curing was done. That is thu
/ least | have ever seen and tina
peeled off very nicely and M
mould at oil holow thar