OCR Text |
Show palatable silage in each case, but . trench silos must always be in well-drained spots and enough water must be added to allow proper pro-per packing of the corn in the silo. All air must be excluded and the silage must be sealed in such manner that no air will get into it, or there will be spoilage. Green alfalfa, dirt, or wet straw make effective covers for sealing. Good corn silage contains about 25 per cent dry matter; alfalfa hay contains con-tains about 90 per cent dry matter. mat-ter. Corn silage fed with alfalfa has a nutritive value ranging from one-half to an equal value with alfalfa pound for pound. Utah can well afford to grow and ensile much more silage than is produced produc-ed in the state today. The proper pro-per use of more silage means more efficient production and fattening fatten-ing of livestock. Dean Urges More Silage Be Fed On Utah Farms By E. J. MAYNYARD Dean School of Agriculture USAC j During the past iour years the ! nimiber of trench silos in Utah have increased from 2 to well over 1000. Such a phenominal increase can only indicate universal satisfaction satis-faction and trench silos have satisfactorily sat-isfactorily stored in the state some 40,000 tons cf field corn for livestock live-stock feeding during the past winter. win-ter. It is now fast approaching the time to ensile field corn for the coming winter. For highest nutritive nutri-tive value the corn plant should be allowed to mature as much as possible without encountering a killing frost. If possible, the kernels ker-nels should be well dented ' and at that time the leaves are usually us-ually somewhat dried at the base of the plant, though there is still plenty of moisture in the plant itself. it-self. If, however, corn has been planted so late in the spring that it will not mature before a killing frost it can still be ensiled successfully. suc-cessfully. Every bit of field corn in Utah should be ensiled this fall if its greatest nutritive value! is to be realized. Corn can be ensiled whole or. chopped up and will make equally I |