ENSILAGE FOR DAIRYING PURPOSES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XL, Issue 7067, 29 July 1901, Page 4

ENSILAGE FOR DAIRYING PURPOSES.

By J. A. KiNSELLA, Dairy .Commissioner.- ■'"■•;■"

(Condensed.)

With the steady increase of winter dairying it is important that an abundant supply of fodder of some sort should be provided for use in the autumn, winter and spring; - . .' .

In most countries where winter feed ing is carried; on extensively, maize (Indian corn) is the crop chiefly, grown for making ensilage, Maize, besides yielding large quantities per acre, is a very wholesome food for cattle, and is also a good milkproducing feed owing to the large amount of sugar and starch it contains. It follows that such a fodder, giving a large tonnage of succulent food.must be an economical feed for cattle. While,it is true that in some parts of New Zealand maize is-not a reliable crop, there are many of our best dairying districts where it can be grown successfully;and "cheaply. ■ This applies practically to all pares: of the Auckland province, while I have found very good crops of maize, in" the.. Wellington' and Manawatu districts. Maize planted on high, warmland last season"was sunV ciently matured for., making ensilage without being injured by frost. Assuming that maize is a failure in the ; South,; there are ■ other '■ ensilage crops whioh can: be grown there with success, such as tares, rape, oats, barley, clover, sunflowers, horse beans soaa beans^etc.,: all of vvhioh makes excellent ensilage. Thousand-headed Jjale also makes-good silage, and Is an exeellerit-feed for milch cows during' the autumn.: A quantity of this kale was :grown: at the Momahaki State Experimental Station this season. I saw this, crop on 2nd May, and judged that i twould cut from 15 to 20 tons per acre. .Two .^large-plants were weighed, and v scaled 3 orj.e .10., and the other 111b. Together tKey^wbuld have made a fair feed for.;'a ,cpw. Kale, after,the nature '■p^^ipahb^ey^

and should thus buU the Southern districts, where the frosts come on earlier "than:-in the North; Kale is' usually planted in drills 2£ft apart, and notdoser than 9in; in the drill, so as to allbw.plenty of room' for spreading out. If planted close, like corn, they will smother and never grow large. " >In preparing the land for.maize it is important to carry out surface cultiva« tion before planting, at two intervals of, say, eight days apart. The first cultiva* tion will give the weeds a start, and the second one will destroy them just before the seed is put. in. The land should receive a good coat of manure, bone dust, or some arafical phosphates near the surface. When this cannot be done, good results may be obtained by ploughing under thick grass sod or clover, and. tilling well before planting. The variety of maize to plant can be best ascertained by trying two or three kinds to start with. In this way one soon finds tne variety beat adapted to his particular soil; Possibly'the biggest, crops are grown from the large Southern States varieties, : and Siowell's Everygreen, Horse Tooth'or Mammoth Sweet give very large yields. Some of. the harder varieties, do better on : cold soils, where the seasonal are' short.- The variety which will yield ' the largest orop per acre, and -reaoh the glazing period before the autumn fronts come on, is the best to select. The glazing stage is ju3t when the maize is I right for. boiling for table purposes, before the kernels get hard. The seed, should always be tested to-ascertain its vitality before selection : for planting. Tbis can be done in a hothouse, or evon large flower potsandoors in the spring. Tha time to plant maize is just as soon as the ground is dry and warm, but late enough to escape the spring night frosts. The importance of getting ths maizo in early so as to give.it as long a seaßbnto grow as possible should not be overlooked. If maize is planted late and receives little or no cultivation it seldom comes to maturity or amounts to much before the autumn frosts come on. Beans and sunflowers are not so liable to be injured by frost. Sunflowers should, however, be put in as early as possible so as to allow plenty of time to ripen. The maize may be planted in drills or rows 32 to 86 inches apart, and 2J-to 8 inches Seep, If planted too close the maize will be smothered and never grow large or mature well. With good sound seed 251b is about right for an acre, although less may be used. The young maize should ,be harrowed with a light harrow when about 3 inches high, this being found to be necessary especially where the ground becomes baked or hard, The maize should be kept free from.weeds and cultivated often. ... .-••'•■■•■•

The time to cut maize for ensilage is when the leaves lowest down on the Btalka begin to discolour, and when the kernels are full-grown just before they begin to harden or get ripe. At this stage the inaizo is at its greatest feeding j value for ensilage. It is always better to cut-the maize a little on the early side than to risk injury by frost, which destroys the feeding. value to a great extent. /When cut the corn should be allowed., to wilt a little before being housed, but not long enough to allow it to lose too much moisture. When the maize is allowed to wilt for say one and a half days the resulting ensilage will have. a much ■ nicer •: odour. ' When carted in, the maize Bhould be passed through an ensilage cutter and cat iato lengths of three-quarters of an inch. It can be elevated by .moans of an elevator driven from the cutter or by blower attachment/ Care should be exercised to have the cut corn spread evenly as it is put in the silo. Neglect of this point will result in most of the hard pieces of the stalks and ears rolling down to the sides and corners, and consequently not such uniform maturing. The maize should be well trampled when going in, particularly/round the sides and in the corners. If the whole mass is not made compact and thus exposed to tho air, it is sure to become mouldy and spoil. It is also best not to expose too great a surface when feeding tho ensilage during the winter. To avoid this a small portion may be cut square down with a hay kniie and covered over with straw which will minimise the loss. "Where, again, a large herd is fed from tho silo each day only uncover a portion and then replace the straw covering. When ensilage is made from euch fodder crops as green hay,, rye, oats, barley, clover, 'tares, rape, kale, etc., these' should, as with maize, bo cut with a cutter and put in the botcom of the silo, the maize crop being then plaoed on top. If this is not done, it is important to weight the finer fodders very heavily by artificial pressure to prevent the entrance of. air, which will cause mold to set in and destroy the ensilage. All the crops named above should be cut on the green side to ensure good results. Weeds and thistles are sometimes recommended for making ensilage, but I consider it bad policy to m . a"v way recommend such crops, wbich besides boing a sure indication of bad farming, are universally regarded as unprofitable. As montioned above, when tho ensilage is going in it should be well trampled. When completed the top should be levelled off and trampled evenly, after which about two feet of long dry straw or about nine inches of cut straw should be put ontop to prevent the air getting1 in. _The paper concluded with an account of a stack of ensilage made at the Momohaki station in 1899. The stack consisted of 100 ions of Italian rye cowgrass, Timothy and thistles, from a paddock of 15 acres, and gave about 54 tons of silage." The total cost of cutting and stacking amounted to JE9 8s 6d, or equal to Is lOd per ton. The highest temperature was 160deg. at the top of the stack, and the lowest 125aeg, at etn bottom.. • ■ n