The Bulletin. 13 



These caLtle received about oO pounds of shredded stover per day, 

 and ate about 88 per cent of it; that is, they wasted only about 12 

 pounds out of every one hundred, which was not more than enough 

 for bedding'. 



Soule of Virginia, in Bulletin No. 2, Vol. XIV, in giving the 

 results of an experiment to test the comparative value of silage, corn 

 stover and timothy hay in beef cattle feeding, states that "Stover can 

 often be utilized as a roughness for the winter feeding of beef cattle 

 to much greater advantage than is generally believed to be the case. In 

 other words, the very expensive timothy hay which is now frequently 

 utilized and adds so much to the cost of the winter feeding of beef 

 cattle might be sold off the farm and its place taken, first, by silage, 

 or, in the event that necessary equipment for the harvesting and preser- 

 vation of the crop in that form is not available, in the form of good 

 shredded stover or corn fodder. Were this fact more generally known 

 and appreciated, it would solve many of the difficulties with which 

 some of our farmers are confronted." 



The results of those experiments which have been most unfavorable 

 to shredded stover indicate that, including waste and every other de- 

 fect, two pounds of shredded corn stover are superior to one pound of 

 the best grass hay ; while the weight of evidence shows that, pound for 

 pound, what is eaten by the cattle is only a little if any inferior to 

 the average grass hays produced in this State. In the light of this 

 evidence it is inexplicable why the bulk of our corn stover is still 

 allowed to waste in the fields while we continue to import thousands 

 of tons of hay, and to pay $6.00 a ton for cotton-seed hulls, to feed to 

 cattle. 



SILAGE. 



Silage has been little used for the feeding of beef cattle in this 

 State, but experiments in Canada, Wisconsin, Texas, Tennessee, 

 Virginia and elsewhere indicate that its judicious use produces faster 

 and cheaper gains and results in a finished animal that commands a 

 higher price on any discriminating market. 



The silo furnishes the means by which the largest percentage of 

 the feed value of a crop can be saved for the winter feeding of beef 

 cattle ; but this is not its chief value to the feeders of beef cattle. It 

 is a well known fact that succulence adds to the value of a ration, and 

 that this is especially so when the ration lacks variety. If corn stover, 

 cotton seed and cotton-seed meal are the only other feeds sufficiently 

 cheap to permit of being generally used in the feeding of beef cattle 

 in this State, then the value of silage becomes greatly enhanced be- 

 cause of the succulence it adds to this ration which is otherwise defi- 

 cient in variety. 



Soule of Virginia, in the experiments previously referred to, 

 found that "the silage-fed cattle made much larger gains, showed 



