The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1918-07-26
A SlO IS THE GREATEST
OF ALL FARM CONStRVITORS
Pit Silos Can Be Built at C0mpar-
ativeIy Low Cost and Furnish
Best Feed for Small Herds
Can for the GOWN a silo.

Can for the GOWN a silo.
Fruits and green vegetables arc
canned to supply succulent and pala-
table foods for the family during the
winter. Succulence is just as essen
tial to the COW as to the human be-
ing. The abundant milk flow OBJ
tanned from June pasture to large
extent is due to the succulence of
the grass. Silage provides succu-
lent feed in winter when pasture is
not available. Silage is palatable,
and no other feed will combine SO
we'll with dry hay and little grain
to produce maximum economical re-
suits.
Dairy farmers especially have ap-
preciated the value of silage as
milk producer. But silage is good
and cheap feed for beef cattle, and
also for sheep and horses. Its
value for beef cattle is illustrated by
the fact that the Bureau of Animal
Industry of the United States De-
partment of Agriculture, in coopera-
tion with state authorities and
county agents, at present is con-
Quoting a campaign to increase the
number of silos on beef cattle farms.
With more silos more beef cattle can
be produced economically and fed
during the winter The campaign is
being given especial attention in the
southern states, particularly in ter
ritory recently freed from cattle
tick quarantine, where the produc-
ton of beef cattle is on the increase.
SLIDING is regarded as an excellent
way of preserving a mature crop of
corn or of saving one which for any
reason must be harvested before
maturity. About 40 per cent of the
total food material in the corn plant
is in the stalks and leaves. When
the farmer havests only the ears he
loses nearly one-half of the crop. On
the other hand, when the crop is
put into the silo the loss is very
small. When drought, frost or in
sects attack field of corn before it
is ripe, the entire crop may be lost
unless the farmer has a silo ready
in which to preserve it.
No feed crops can be so success
fully harvested under widely vary
ing conditions as those that go into
the silo. Only in case of drought or
frost is it necessary to rush the fill
ing of the silo. Rain or dew on
forage does not injure the silage.
This is the time to build silos.
The silo at all times, and partic-t
ularly now, offers to the farmer one
of the best means of reducing his
feed bills. The present great emerg-
ency makes conservation of grain
necessity, and grain can be saved
by feeding silage
These questions are before every
farmer who feeds cattle: Have you
silo? If you have not your herd
is not most economically fed. Why
not build a silo and fill it before
frost comes? If you have one is it
big enough to supply all the silage
your cattle can eat before the next
crop is harvested? If not, build an
other! You can buy one ready to
erect or you can build it yourself.
Call on the extension department
of your state agricultural college for
assistance you may need, or write
to the U. S. Department of Agricul-
ture, Washington, d. c., for bills of
material with full specifications for
silos of different dimensions. This
government help costs farmers moth
inu