The farmer. Ensilage. PART II.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1917, 18 October 1884, Page 2 (Supplement)

The farmer. Ensilage. PART 11.

COST Oi? ENSILAGE. From statements of expenditure which ha\e been furnished me by several correspondents, it appears that the average cost of making silage is about sa. per ton, including mowing, carting, chopping, pitting, treading, boarding, and weighting, but not the interest of capital on the first cost of the silo, and of the weighting material.

REMOVING SILAGE. Silage is generally removed from silos by cutting it vertically, as hay is cut out of a stack. By this means only two or three of the covering boards and the superincumbent weights need be removed at a time ; and if the thickness of the cut is at all proportional to the needs of the farm, the face will not be exposed to the air long enough for the silage to deteriorate. A few experimenters, however, prefer cutting the silage horizontally.

KEEPING QUALITIES OP SIIAGE. A glance at the contents of the bottle 3 on the table will show that while some samples can be kept for months in that manner, others go mouldy or putrid very rapidly. One learns in course of time to predict the keeping qualities of silage with a certain amount of accuracy ; for instance, the brown aldehydBmelling Bilage, reminding one of honeydew tobacco, will keep good for a long time if it is dry, but rapidly goes mouldy if it is wet. Green silage, smelling distinctly of vinegar— what may be termed the pickle stage — does not generally go mouldy, but it turns putrid if very wet, and is not soon submitted to a kind of haymaking process. For the purposes of the ordinary farmer, I do not know that it is of importance that the silage should keep good for more than a few days ; but to the managers of sewage farms, or rather to their employers — the ratepayers of urban districts— the Bubject is one of immense interest. If sewage grass can be preserved in silos so perfectly that, after having been cut out, it can be sold off the farm for consumption in quantities that will last the purchaser two or three months, keeping good the whole time, it seems to me that a greatly enhanced return fiom sewage grass will be the result, and the most difficult problem connected with sewage farming will have been solved. From this point of view I beg to commend to your special attention a sample of ensilaged sewage grass which I received from Mr. Garrett Taylor la?t Christmas.

I'EEDINfi VALUE 01' SILAGE. With regard to the feeding value of silage, we have heaid a variety of statements, some being aa wide from other 3 as the pole 3 are asunder. For instance, my very enthusiastic friend Mr. Easdale maintains that the feeding value of grass silage is £2 per ton, that it takes five times as much grass to make a ton of hay as a ton of silage, and that therefore hay ought to have a feeding value of £10 per ton to be equal to silage. He also regards 75 lbs. of silage to be equal in feeding value to 25 lbs. of hay pins 95 lbs. of turnip?. On the other hand, Mr. Gibson tells me that " the result of feeding cattle on pitted fodder in my case has been that two bushels of ensilaged rye mixed with one bushel of swedes produced the same quantity of milk as one bushel of ensilaged rye and two bushels of swedes, both being used in conjunction with 3 lbs. of cotton-cake per head per day." In other words, Mr. Gibson finds a bushel of ensilaged rye to be equal in feeding value to a bushel of swedes grown in Essex. Mr. Trepplin, however, who makes about 3,000 tone of silage a year, asserts that the same quantity of grass of the same quality is at least twice as valuable for feeding purposes, if made into silage, as if made into hay; while Mr. Kenyon, who began the practice of ensilage in 1881, but on a much smaller scale, says, " that a ton of grass preserved by ensilage will go as far in the maintenance of stock as (at a low estimate) would 25 ewt. of the same material if made into hay." This latter estimate is practically corroborated by Mr. George Broderick, who informs me that, from experiments he has made, he has " come to the conclusion that a given quantity of grass is worth about 30 per cent, more when made into silage than if made into hay."

ACTUAL E\PERIMEXT3. Unfortunately, up to the present time we are singularly deficient in records of actual experiments made with care by competent persona ; but I will quote one made by Mr. Young, agent to Lord Londesborough, on four cows tied up in the aame house. The experiments began on Ist January, and the four cows had each 10 lb. of ground oats, 14 lb. of mangolds, and 3 lbs. of cotton cake, with for the iirst ten days 18 lbs. of hay and 3 Ib 3. of chopped straw. During the second ten days the hay and straw were leplaced by 28 lbs. of silage, the other food remaining the same. During the first period the total yield of milk from the four cows was l,0i)o lbs., and during the second 1,116 lbs., being 21 lbs., in favor of the silage. The increase is scarcely 2 per cent., but then 28 lbs. of silage can scaicely be considered equivalent to 18 lbs. of hay and 3 lbs. of chopped straw. A third experiment was made during the succeeding ten 1 days with the same quantity of oats and cottoncake, no roots, but instead 5 lba. of maize meal, and an increased allowance of silage — namely, 38 lbs. The result was a production of milk amounting to 1,130 lbs., or 38 lbs. over the first ten days, and 17 over the second. The limits of thi3 paper will not enable me to indicate more than one other experiment, made by Mr. C. Hunting, who is not only a veterinary surgeon, but also a farmer. He took off the allowance of pulped turnips to his cows, substituting 28 lbs. of silage each per day, the other food remaining the same. " In five days," he says, " nearly one half the milk had gone off, the bowels became veiy costive, and the frcces dark-colored." Further, " no more cream or butter was obtained from the same quality of milk th&n when the cattle were fed on the original food." Subsequently, one half of the silage was taken off, and 14 lbs. of pulped turnips substituted. The result was that "in two days the milk returned to the usual quantity, and the bowels became less constipated." The Rev. Mr. Ford, Mr. Swan, Mr. Fryer, and others have testified to the good influence of silage upon either the quantity or the quality of the milk, especially the latter, while Lord Forte«cue found a deterioration, except when the silage was mixed with other food.

CA.DTIOX. In the face of these discordant statements, it ia wise to be cautious ; and I specially wish to draw your attention to the general tendency of the small amount of evidence which I have been able to submit to you — namely, that silage by itself is not so valuable a feeding material as when used in conjunction with a proportion of other bulky fodder, and a proper allowance of cake or meal, or both. In support of this statement I may mention that it is the almost universal practice on the oontinent to mix the silage with other kinds of bulky food, a very general proportion being one-third of dry food to two-thirds of succulent materials, the latter being generally composed of silage and beetroot pulp.

INFLUENCES Or SILAGE ON STOCK. Over and above the strictly feeding value of silage we have to consider the influence of suoh a fermented food upon the several organs of different kinds of farm-stock. I have already pointed out that Mr. Hunting found his silage produce coßtiveness, but I should not be surprised to learn, as, in fact, I have already been informed, that silage of a different character, and more advanced in the fermentative processes, produces a certain amount ot scouring. Silage, indeed, is not a definite chemical compound ; and therefore what may be true of one man's experience may conceivably be opposed to that oi his next door neighbor. A most important question is whether the use of silage as food for cows and heifers impairs their breeding powers. Breeders are anxious on this question, probably 9n account

of the well-known effect of brewers' grains. But, after much correspondence with those who have had the best opportunities of coining to an accurate conclusion, I am bound to say that the experiences of Mr. Bateman with ewes, Mr. Gibson with cows, Mr. Hunting with heifara, and the Viscount de Chezpllea with both cows and ewes, all tend td show that the judicious use of silage as food does not interfere with the animals' breeding powers. You will observe that I lay stress upon the term " judicious use," by which I certainly do not mean " exclusive use." In the present state of our knowledge it would be prudent to use silage as food for breeding stock with caution, and to mix it at least with an equal quantity of unfermented bulky food, such as hay, ohopped straw, &o.

CONCLUSION. I will take the liberty of summing up the practical aide of the question by a quotation from one of my correspondents — Mr. Arthur H. Grant, of Abbotswood, Komsey, Hampshire — as it exactly expresses my views in terms that I could scarcely improve :—": — " Ensilage is good, very good indeed, as a system, But it is not an easy and universal mode of worldy salvation to the farmer; and it demands common sense, care, and attention, but it saves in money, time, and anxiety." Much criticism haa been spent against the Koyal Agricultural Society of England for not having moved earlier in the subject of ensilage ; but the faots given in ray recent report seem to show that no time has really been lost. The investigation whioh I have just finished occupied several months, and now that you know the result of it, I trust you will not think me too egotistical in applying to myself and my conclusions, as a general reply to some of my more enthusiastic friends, the following lines from our Poet Laurate's " In Memoriam " :—: — Perplex't in faith, but pure in deeds, At last he beats his musio out ; There lurks more faith in honest doubt, Believe me, than in half the creeds.