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Show FEEDING VALUE OF THE SILO Indispensable to Man Who Buys Steers to Fatten Silage Preferred to Dry Corn Fodder. Those farmers who have never studied the silo question, naturally do not know how much money they are losing every year in their feeding operations. op-erations. No man who buys steers to fatten can afford to be without a silo. It is a poor cornfield that will not yield an average of from ten to fifteen fif-teen tons of green corn per acre. If this is cut into silage, it will make a sure profit, at present prices of cattle, at from thirty to thirty-four dollars per acre. It has been demonstrated conclusively conclu-sively that silage-fed steers bring more money on the big market than those that ere fattened on whole corn. It is also a fact well known to experienced experi-enced feeders that silage saves grain and hay. It Is true that corn fodder contains, under chemical tests, more protein, carbohydrates and fattening material than silage, but the fact remains that steers do not get all of the benefit from corn fodder, while about everything every-thing that is valuable as feed is consumed con-sumed in the silage. Then silage, being quite bulky, is an excellent feed given in connection with ground grains and heavy meals, as it aids greatly in their digestion. Another thing, steers like silage. It tastes good to them, and they eat It with avidity. A steer prefers silage to dry corn fodder just as a boy prefers pie tc dry corn bread, but in the case of the steer, the silage is better food foi him than the pie is for the boy. Place silage and dry corn fodder be fore a bunch of steers, and they will not touch the latter until they have entirely disposed of the first. This is an important factor in feeding, be cause palatability adds to digestive qualities of feed, and the more a steei I digests the more fat he will put on. |