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Show Silo Will Be Aid to Dairy Farmers Best Way to Save Crops Too Late in Maturing in Natural Way. Br W. A. Foster. Farm Bulidins Specialist. Special-ist. University ot Illinois. WNU Service. Serv-ice. Silos are coming into such Importance Im-portance as a result of the critical feed situation that one farmer even wanted to know how he could move a concrete silo instead of building another. Extremely dry weather and the chinch bugs have combined to reduce re-duce the amount of hay and other forage that are normally stored for , winter live stock consumption. But , on farms with silos, this loss can be overcome at least partially by putting up additional silage. Corn planted or replanted too late to mature ma-ture for grain will make good silage. si-lage. Furthermore, such chinch-bug I resistant crops as sunflowers, soy- j beans and cowpeas may be madej Into silage. Where grain sorghum j Is erown this. too. mav sprvp ns n substitute for the more commoi corn silage. If a new silo of any kind Is to b built, there are certain things thai must be kept In mind. In the flrsl place, the structure should be strong enough so that It will not bursl under great pressure. It should bt smooth on the inside so that thf ensilage will settle freely, and leak-proof leak-proof so that the Juices will nol seep away and air enter to cause spoilage. The silo should be economical, eco-nomical, of ample capacity, storm and fireproof and attractive. The latter feature may not be essential, but It will add to its value as a permanent Improvement In the farm building group. Whether or not a silo Is necessary on most farms Is, of course, debatable debat-able in some cases. However, with the Increased difficulty of earning a livelihood out of the soil because of keen competition, Insect pests, drouth and floods, late freezes and early frosts, the silo Is becoming Increasingly important In farm operations. op-erations. It Is admitted that silo filling is hard work, but It is all done In a few days. Then, after the task Is completed, the farmer has available. avail-able. In a 100-ton silo, sufficient feed to carry a herd of 25 cows through the winter feeding period with enough silage left over for four to six weeks' feed during the summer when pastures are short. |
