Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1922-10-05

By j.. g.. HANEY, Agricultural Extension Department
International Haruestv Company.

for as little handling as possible. In
this region it is desirable that, if pos
sible. the silo should be located where
it would have some protection, be-
cause of the fact that freezing is
more apt to occur in exposed above
ground silos.
It is generally not considered advis-
able to have the silo inside the barn,
although there is no special reason
why it should not be. However, in
dairy barns the odor from the silage
may affect the milk. Then, the silo
would be occupying space in the barn
that might be used for other pur-
poses. The only occasion when the
silo might be located within the barn
is when the barn is of the circular
type. The silo, when located in the
of a circular barn is certainly
most convenient for feeding.
However, as a general thing the
silo had best be located at one end or
side of the barn, adjacent to the feed
ing alley, so that the silage can be
carried from the silo to the stock with
the least possible trouble.
It is also advisable when possible
to so build the silo that it will be
connected to or be supported by the
barn. This is especially advisable when
the wooden silo is built in unprotected
regions, where winds are apt to dam
age the silo during the summer while
it is empty.
Where it is advisable to have as
much of the silo as possible under
ground, the location may be deter
mined somewhat by the condition of
the soil. That is, along streams or
below bitches there is more apt to be
trouble with water in the silo below
ground than there would be back
some distance from the banks, or
above the bitches.
Size and Capacity Of the Silo
The size of the silo should be de-
termined somewhat by the number of
animals that are TO be fed from it.
While it is quite generally stated that
it is necessary to feed off a small
LAYER of silage over the entire silo
every day, there apparently is not as
much danger of the silage spelling as
have seemed to think. This is
especially true in the winter time
when the temperature is low. In the
summer time the silage would tend to
spoil more rapidly. However, the
diameter of the silo shosA not be so
great that the top two or three inches
could not be fed off every day, if the
should begin to spoil.
We have found in feeding silage,
that 10 to 20 pounds per head per day,
with some alfalfa hay and straw, is
about all that it is necessary to feed
stock cattle. Milk cows or fattening
steers could be fed more.
During the past eight winters at
he I. Fl. C. Farm at Grand Forks, N.
we have fed fifty to eighty head
IF vearlings from a pit silo. This silo
filled early in September and we
,eoin feeding silaGe- in-November;
whenever convenient or necessary we
-efill the silo with dry fodder. Silage
: fed until the first of June, when the
are put on pasture. This pit
lilo Is 12 feet in diameter and 20 feet
Teen. With the larger number of cat
10 we found it necessary 10 refill too
,ften, so built a 12x20 IT. 2x6 stave
lilo on top of the pit silo. This IA
|, home made siio. We have used
his combination silo for four years,
find no fault with Il. We would
,Yefer two pit silos-
Al the Aberdeen. S. Oak, farm,
hiring the past six winters we have
IA awe carloads of coming three
year-old steers. all the silage they
vouId eat, from a pit silo and home
rnde sfavn ailo cnm1 iacd We ru, on
be gtave silo because it was neces-
.arv 10 refill the pit too often; we
tiled five timea between the middle