Show TRENCH METHOD OF COHN SILAGE PROVES SUCCESS elsinore EI farmers organize mutual company for new method during the last two years the farmers in brooklyn in the southern part of elsinore EI have been experimenting peri with corn for silage and endeavoring to find a practical method of storing it for winter use the trench silo method was discovered in some literature published by the nebraska experiment station this method was tried out by J P christensen prominent farmer and corn project leader in the elsinore EI farm bureau during 1928 he reported this to be a success through Ms his efforts together with arthur lefever president of the elsinore EI have enrolled in this project and have planted and harvested corn and are now storing it in trench silos the seven cooperators james P christensen arthur lefever lester braithwaite lester lowe roy bridges james M sorensen and J E parker have grown this year twenty eight acres of white flint corn the seed of this variety was secured by the county agent from a prominent seed com grower in in utah county the cooperators purchased their seed together and all hired the same individual to plant it for them this being done the first 4 in slay may the crops received three har three irrigations and three some of the fields were visited on august 31 by W H olin agricultural agent for the D R G railroad it was estimated that they would yield twelve tons of excellent corn com silage per acre the harvesting of the silage commenced on september 9 and will be finished about september 21 the advantages of the trench silo are as follows first small cost of construction of silo second low cost of filling third accessibility for feeding the trench silo is made by excavating a large trench near the feed yards of the cooperator several of those constructed this year are sixty feet long six and one half feet deep and eight feet wide at the bottom and eleven feet wide at the top the silos will be filled with corn silage covered with a thick layer of straw and then a layer of good soil to prevent air from causing the silage to mould the silage will be taken from the end of the pit by a one horse cart backed into the silo under the leadership of christensen Clui Chii stensen and lefever this group of farmers has cooperated in the use of farm machinery and sayed themselves considerable money by so doing they have now decided to organize between them themselves selve ns a mutual company each cooperator will turn tum in his corn crop machinery at an appraised value they will exchange their labor to insure plenty of help and to save outlay of cash during curing the corn coni planting and harvesting seasons the machinery for all of the operations will be owned by the group each man will plant his own corn one man will run the corn binder another one the tractor and silage cutter there will be four men and teams to haul the corn from the field to the cutter two men in the fields to load and one man in the pit to scatter the silage in this manner only two extra men will need to be hired to take care of the corn crop the v bikers take their dinners at the place where they happen to be ing this group is now harvesting i three acres of corn approximately thirty tons of corn silage per day the cost of filling the trench silo is estimated at seventy five or eighty cents per ton as compared to approximately per ton for filling the monolithic type of silo the silage in these trenches will be fed to cattle and lambing ewes a supplement to good alfalfa hay and a small gr grain ration the mac machinery ry used by this group would not appraise for inore more than they have solved the farm fann problem em as far as they are concerned by the cooperation in the use of farm machinery farm labor and economical methods of handling the corn crop |