ENSILAGE. [From "The Farmers' Circular, Nov. 15th.]

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 320, 28 November 1888, Page 2

ENSILAGE. [From "The Farmers' Circular, Nov. 15th.]

It rarely happens that 'two seasons so entirely opposite in their character as those of 1.587 and IHBB follow each other in succession. In June nnd Juiy 1887 we registered at Rothamsted J^ inches of rain, In the same two months of the present year ;vo registered 8f inches.

Last July rain fell in more or less quantity on 29 days, leaving only two days witlioufc rain. The mean tempera* ture'of the two months in 1887 was 64 F. This year it was only 57 F. Last year our silos were almost empty, this year they are loaded tq their. full capacity. Practical farmers have never looked with very favourable eyes at the system of ensilage — in fact they have looked upon it more as a kind of- plaything, suitable for landowners, wh6 have had farni3 thrown upon their hands, It is said thatthe lastdisastrous haymaking season has caused many practical farmers lo direct their attention to ensilage who have never I ' done so before. The present time therefore affords a good opportunity for me to draw some general conclusions from 'the results of our experiments. We began to carry out experiments on sil lge in 1884, and they have been continued up to the present time. A good many of the experiments have been published, while others have not yet been written upon. The crops which have been used hare been pasture grass clover, i oats, and tares as a special silage crop. The crops were all weighed, both in and out of the silos, and they were chaffed, one of our great objects bting to ascertain what was the loss of food material during ! fermentation. The silos were constructed of brick, and cement and were water tight. The feeding experiments were carried out either with dairy cows or fattening oxen. I have upon my farm, about iilty dairy cows for the production of milk, which is sold in London, and above one hundred head of cattle of va'ious ages. The questions, whether silage was a goo \ food, and also an economical food, and whether it would take the place of hay and loots, were therefore questions of considerable interst and importance. All our evidence points to a veiy considerably larger loss of food in the silo, than there is during haymaking, and the loss appears to be larger in grass silage thnn in clover. In one set of experiments where green oats were made into silage and were fed by oxen against the ripe crop, cut into chaff, straw, and corn together, the silage proved so inferior to the ripe crop that we were led to think that much of the starch of tho grain, which, when put into the sPo was quite soft, was destroyed during the process of fermentation. As silage contains a great deal more water than hay it is necessary to calculate the two substances as equally dry, before we can compare their feeding properties. Both clover and hay-silage are equally good foods a« clover ami nieudow-hay. As, however, there is a larger loss of food in the silo than in the hay stuck, less stock can be kept from an acre of land when the product is made into silage, than when it is made into hay. This if, however, assuming that the hay is net injured by the weather. It has been said that by the use of silage crops, we can dispense with the costly root crops, (-•win crops appear to me ne quite unfit forsilage, A mixture of peas, beans, oats, and tares, make a very suitable crop for silagp, as the oats ami beans keep np the other two plants. If this crop is thick enough the land from which it is removed will be quite free from weeds ; this cleanliness is somewhat deceptive and is totally different from the cleanliness of a root crop. In the silage crop the weeds could not grow for want of light, but they still remain, while in the preparation for, and after culture of the root crops, every effort is made to germinate and destroy the weeds. The root crop is said to be a costly crop, and if we compare the cost with the value of the food it yields, it is so, but should not the corn crops bear a larger share of the cost than is generally assigned to them? At all events I have not seen any way to substitute silage for root cvops, nor can I say that where seasons are favourable for hay-making I see my way to converting these crops into silage. If, however, silage is only to be made in those seasons when good hay cannot be made, it will be argued that a silo is not required, and it will be better to adopt the stack system. That there is a much greater loss of material in the stack than in a well made silo cannot be denied. Still in those cases where silage is only used when good hay cannot be made, and when the plant may be idle for possibly two or three years in succession, the less capital expended in the plant, the better it will bo for the farmer. A good silo is I think indispensible where farm crops are regularly grown for silage purposes, but under other circumstances the cheapest method by which the necessary pressure can bo obtained is perhaps the best. It may probably be considered that I have not selected a good time to mako any remarks upon silage. Now I quite admit the value of silage during the recenc wet summer, but tho system of farming in any locality ought not to be altered because one season is very wet, and another season very hot and dry. The average climate of the locality ought to regulate our course of cropping. With a rainfall which averages about 28 inches per annum and a dry atmosphere I have come to the conclusion that upon my farm, which is about one half permanent pasture, and one half arable, ensilage cannot be adopted successfully as part of the regular {arm crops, but it is of great value during wefc seasons when good hay cannot be made. If I lived in other pa>-ts of the British Isles, where tho atmosphere was moisfc and tho rainfall greater, I should then place a much higher value on the pi ocess, as I should consider ensilage crops as part of the regular system of the farm. J. B. Lawes.

On Friday next Mr J. McNicol will hold a sale of fat and store cattle, sheep, and, hunhs at the W»iit c )n yards.