THE MAKING OF ENSILAGE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2913, 12 January 1910, Page 20

THE MAKING OF ENSILAGE.

The making of ensilage has never made much headway in England, but it is largely on the increase in the United States. Good hay is better than silage where there are roots to feed with it, but good silage, which can be made when bay cannot; is better than bad hay. Another advantage of the silo is that second growth, which cannot be made into hay at all, can bo made into good silage, and is readily eaten by cattle on the farm. Mentioning the silo in the course of .an address to the farmers of Warraoknabeal (Victoria), Mr Cherry said he hoped that before long, instead of there being but 20,000 tons of silage made in Victoria, the quantity would be increased to 1,000.000 tons. This would be accomplished if one farmer in three made an average of 100 tone of silage, and the gain to the cattle of the "State, ard incidentally to the cattle-owners, would be incalculable. The superiority of sweet silage over sour, measured by the difference in the quantity of albuminoids and fibre present, is shown in the following figures published by Px-imrose M‘Connell. They _ represent analyses of sweet and sour silage made from the same meadow grass:

As already explained, sweet silage is mad© under light pressure (producing a high temperature) and sour silage under heavy pressure (producing a low temperature). The following facts will be found a useful guide as to the temperature to be aimed! at: Under 120 degrees, sour silage. 120 to 130 degrees, slightly acid. 130 to 140 degrees, sweet green. 14*0 to 160 degrees, sweet brown. Over 160 degrees, burnt. Silage made at 130 deg keeps best when opened out. Th® temperature is ascertained by a thermometer passed down through the stack in. an opening provided while the stack is being built. Some farmers complain that when silage is fed by careless servants much is wasted by becoming dried, and therefore unattractive to the stock. This, of course, is preventive.

Sweet. Sour. Water 74.40 74.40 Abuminoids 2.56 1.62 Sugar & soluble carbohydrates 2.99 2.87 Fibre 17.90 19.27 Mineral matter 2.15 1.84 100.00 100.00