Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Crops for the Silo, Cost of Filling, and Effect of Silage on the Flavor of Milk
The digestive organs of animals that chew the cud are so formed as to require comparatively juicy and bulky food. The cow cannot, there fore, thrive on exclusively dry food so well as can the horse. The nearest an ideal food that can be Obtained for the dairy cow is good pasture; but for more than six months in the year green pasture is not available in Illinois. The best substitutes to use during this period are corn silage and such roots as mangels and turnips. Corn yields an average Of twice as much dry matter per acre as do root crops and, since the latter require much more labor, which in this country is relatively expensive, silage is far more economical. Making corn into silage is a means Of preserving the grain as well as the stalk in the best possible condition for feeding and without the expense Of shelling and grinding. In feeding whole corn, either in the ear or shelled, many Of the kernels are not digested. With silage, the grain. Being eaten With the roughage, nearly all the kernels are broken during mastication, and, since they are somewhat soft, are practically all digested. By the use of the silo the corn is removed from the field at a time when no injury is done the land by cutting it up while soft. As the corn is out before the blades are dry enough to shatter, there is no waste from weathering, and both stalk and grain being in good condition, the whole crop is consumed by the stock; while with dry shock com a large percentage of the leaves and butts of the stalk is wasted. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
