Phosilage

I'll be switched

The hay ain't pitched. . . .

So git up Napoleon,

It looks like rain.

Many a farmer has had a conniption trying to get his hay from his fields to his barn before it rains. He has wished that he could put the hay away wet or dry, and that he could store it in a silo the way he does corn fodder. Last week the enterprising Monsanto Chemical Co. of St. Louis told him that he could--if he would just use a new, low-cost, scientific treatment which Monsanto has trademarked as "Phosilage."

Corn fodder can be stored in silos because it has a high content of carbohydrates. Fermentation breaks down the carbohydrates into lactic and acetic acids, which inhibit bacterial action, keep the fodder from rotting. Untreated hay, wet or not, rots in a silo because it is so low in carbohydrate content that the alkaline products of fermentation overcome the effect of the acids. Monsanto's technique is to chop up the hay, blow it into a silo and blow "Phosilage" in with it. "Phosilage," which is 75% phosphoric acid, neutralizes the alkalinity, allows the natural acids to do their preservative work.* Moreover, according to Monsanto, its phosphorus content promotes healthy bones in cattle.

*Other treatments for ensilaged hay, which Monsanto claims are not so good as "Phosilage," are sulphuric and hydrochloric acids, blackstrap molasses.

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