MAIZE FOR ENSILAGE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2814, 19 February 1908, Page 6

MAIZE FOR ENSILAGE.

The premature shrinkage ai the milk supply this season has made many dairyfarmers think of the -value v. hich a good stack of ensilage xrould have been to them in the dry -weather. They cannot p'ead ignorance of the value of 'this preserved fodder or of the method of preserving it — both have been written of at length times -without number. — and they have the te c rimony of well-known farmers in different diE'tvicts ithat ensilage Ls the cheapeat and bast form in -which green fodder, so ed=ential to abundant lactation, can be preserved. l(t is also well known that maize is the boot plant which can be giown for ensilage, both in yield and in quality; and the cultivation of the ric-p is not attended by any extraordinary difficulty. The principal objection -which is heard to the growing of maize h that it may be affected by sroSt before it its readytor cutitng ; but a reference to American authorities shows that no apprehension need be felt on this point. Perhaps the most conclusive reply to the objection is found in a report of .the Vermont Experiment Staition upon a. feeding trial made with 44 cow,s, and lasiting 25 weekls. which included tests oi silage made from frosted and fiozon maize as well as from unfrosted material. Silage made from mature frosted and mature fiozen maize, com-p-ired with those made from immature unfro>tod and fitted maize, contained from 6 to 15 per cent, more dry matter. The effect of fiost was slightly to depress the total solid and fat yields of nrilk. not exceeding 3 ppr cent., however, in any t.ise. The milk yields were but slightly changed With a terdency to depression. llu-> minor loss was a negligible quantity as ramjAiied with the increased gro-wth of digestible dry matter arising from_ the gi eater maturation of the crop. No ill effect was ohserved on the butter, although no special tria 1 of this question was made. Tl'e eilage from frozen maize was said to keep well. The testimony of thes-e considerable and varied trials would seem to wairant one in advising that frost risks be mil in Older to gain a greater maturation, when tlie ciop has not reached a desued stage of npening at Hhe normal time of cutting, provided <the crop is to be eni-iled. The knowledge of this fact should encourage the growing of maize, even in more southerly localities than hay« generally been considered suitable for this crop.