AN AUSTRALIAN EXPERIMENT IN STACK ENSILAGE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1290, 19 November 1896, Page 4

AN AUSTRALIAN EXPERIMENT IN STACK ENSILAGE.

Among recent contributions to the practical literature on the subject of ensilage is an interesting description of operations at Messrs Sealy and Malcolm’s Trelawny Estate, Harrisville, written by Mr Fraser Malcolm, one of the proprietors, for Australian Farm and Home. Mr Malcolm says : Years of experience have convinced us that the stacksystem, when properly carried out, is the cheapest, quickest, and best way of making ensilage in large quantities. Our method at Trelawny is as follows:

Select a level piece of ground in close proximity to the paddock in which the crop intended for ensilage is growing. Mark off the area for the stack, and put down a layer of straw Gin deep. The best time to cut the crop is when it has reached that stage of maturity when you would consider it a little bit too much on the green side to be fit to be cut for making into hay. When the crop is ready, get to work either with a mowing machineora reaper and binder, the latter for preference. Ensffage made from a loose crop, however, will be just as good as it it had been shaved. The binder is more economical, and therefore to be preferred to a mower. Keep the drays going right behind the machine, and haul the newly cut crop direct to the stack. In order to insure successful results this must be done. The great point in making stack ensilage is to get the fodder into the stack as quickly as possible after being cut. When once the paddock is ready for cutting for ensilage, there must be no delay in having it cut and stacked. Speed at this stage is everything in an Australian climate. Delay when the crop is ready for cutting is the principal cause of many failures we hear of in making ensilage. Some people do not put on enough strength to cut and stack the crop quickly enough. Others wishing to follow the hard and fast rule of putting the fodder through a chaff-cutter and then into a silo, and not having sufficient labour to fill the silo quickly enough the fodder gets too hot, and black ensilage is the result. In my experience there is not much gained by cutting the fodder into chaff. Cows have more time than the farmer has, and during the long, cold winter nights they will be only too glad to

undertake and carry out the work at a much cheaper cost than the farmer.

Now about building the stack. Build the green fodder exactly the same as you would a stack of hay, only don’t keep the middle as full as you do when building a haystack. Carry up the walls of tliestack as perpendicularly as possible. When the last load has been put on, the stack should look nice and straight on all sides, with perfectly flat roof. Rectangular stacks are preferable to round ones, as, when the fodder begins to heat, it would be difficult to keep a round stack plumb. The stack has now to be weighted and roofed. When the last load of greenstuff has been put on and nicely levelled, we cover with a layer of about lft in depth of clean straw or bush hay (grass). This done, rough pieces of timber about Gft or Bft long, such as posts, fencing rails, &c., are laid on the straw in such a way as to project a foot or more over the edges. These pieces of timber are placed about 2ft apart all round the top edge of the stack. Bough slabs or planks are then laid transversely across these pieces of timber, the slabs covering the portions projecting over the edge of the stack, forming a sort of verandah, so to speak. The stack is now ready for weighting. For this purpose earth is used. We cover the whole of the top surface to a depth of ISin. This deptli has always been found to be sufficient, no matter what size the stack. By having the posts projecting over the edges of the stack and covered with planks the earth can also be extended well over the edges. If this were not done, the earth that the stack is weighted with would fall away from the edges, leaving them unpressed. The heavy weight being carried out over the edges makes the pressure as great at the outside as on the inside of the stack, and prevents the great amount of waste often seen in ensilage stacks. The verandah, as I have called' it, has also the advantage of throwing the drip from the roof clear away from the sides of the stack. We roof the stack with either straw or grass, finishing the same as a haystack. To make a finished job of it, we gave the roof a light coat of thatch A stack of ensilage built, weighted, and roofed in this way will last for years.

We use a lift at Trelawny for carry-

ing the fodder on to the stack, and also for hauling up the earth for weighting.

In making ensilage in Queensland speed is everything; once a beginning is made the work must be proceeded with rapidly. In colder countries the ensilage stack must not be rushed up quickly. Time has to be allowed for fermentation to begin, do its work, and sufficiently warm the fodder before proceeding to add more. In Australia there is no need to delay, as fermentation sets in very quickly, and has to be kept within control by the great weight of fodder added by each day’s carting. The last layer is secured from the air by the coveting or straw, and then the weighting with earth.

When opening the ensilage stack we cut down through the straw roof with a hay knife, so as to open a bench, the size of which shall be according to requirements, until the earth is reached. The earth is shovelled off, the layer of straw removed, and the ensilage laid bare. A heavy cleaver will be required to cut it, as a hay knife is of no use for such a solid mass. The preserved fodder will come out a beautiful pale brown colour, containing all the moisture and nutriment in the crop as when cut. It forms a splendid fodder for dairy cows. We have used milk yielded by ensilage-fed cows for years, both for the manufacture of cheese and butter, and have never found any taint either in the milk, butter, or cheese. Feeding cows with this class of fodder during milking time is not recommended. The ensilage, in fact, must be kept away from the cow-yard. On no account give a cow more than she can easily finish. Bear in mind, also, that should there be any enilage remaining in the mangers when the cows are done feeding, it should be all removed.

The kind of crop best suited for ensilage is the kind that produces the most bulk, and is yet rich in nutritive properties. The crops we use are generally either lucerne or sateria (panicum), one of the numerous millet family. In the southern parts of the continent tares or vetches mixed with either barley or pea 3 ought to do well. The scarcity of fodder in long summers and unusually cold winters is what robs dairv farmers of their profits. In order to return a profit cows must be

kept in good fettle all the y6ar round, and ensilage certainly affords the cheapest and best means os accomplishing this highly desirable result.