Green Hill Dairy Farm, Mt. Pleasant, N.C., 1948

By F.H. Jeter, Extension Editor, N.C. State College, Raleigh, as published in the Charlotte News on October 25, 1948

That Cabarrus County farmers are using silage to a good advantage in their dairy feeding program is evident from the amount that is being used annually on the Green Hill Dairy Farm of Mt. Pleasant, Route 1.

R.D. Goodman, county agent for the State College Extension Service, states that the dairy on this farm, which now consists of 150 registered Guernseys, was started in the early ‘30s. The first feeding of silage to the dairy cows on this farm was made in 1933. Today, there are three large silos on the farm having a total capacity of 340 tons. The last of the silos with a capacity of 160 tons was built in 1941, Mr. Goodman said. The present silo capacity gives the farm several months extra storage for silage as evidenced by the fact that one silo filled with 90 tons of silage last fall was not opened for use until August 28 of this year.

The Green Hill Farm has fed silage continuously the year round for the past 12 years, the county agent said, with less silage being fed when cattle were on good pasture and more being fed when summer droughts retarded pasture growth. This practice has proven very economical because it permits more cattle to be carried per acre on the farm than could be carried by the grazing system lone. In 1040, this farm carried 45 cows for a little over four months on barley silage that was harvested from 12 acres.

As part of this year’s silage crop, 14 acres of Honbarier silage corn, averaging 12 to 14 feet in height and measuring 10 feet to the ear, was harvested. The corn was planted in 3 ½-foot rows and the average weight of 45 stalks cut form 200 square feet was found to be slightly under five pounds each. One load of silage, cut from two rows measured 700 feet in length, was weighed on tested scales and the yield, calculated on a per acre basis, was 22 ¼ tons per acre.

The bottom land on which this silage was produced has been in corn two-thirds of the time for the past 17 years, Mr. Goodman said. A nearby stream sends water over the bottom land quite often and this year’s corn crop was overflowed twice during the growing season. Realizing that this trouble is likely to occur each year, the owners of the farm do not depend entirely on the bottom land for their source of silage feed. In addition to the bottom silage corn, the farm also had 14 acres of silage corn on upland fields. Approximately 200 tons of sorgro was also produced this year.

The large farm is cultivated with the idea of saving and improving the soil and producing the necessary feed for all livestock. Therefore, all the necessary hay, silage and grain is produced on the farm and only protein and miner supplements have to be bought.