FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 137 



FEEDING STEERS WITHOUT SILAGE. 



WM. BALL, HAMBURG. 



Whether this subject as given me, following the fattening of steers by 

 the use of silage, was for the purpose of discussing the relative values of 

 the two methods, one with and the other without silage, I am unable to 

 determine. I will say, however, that so far as I have been able to ascer- 

 tain, and I have taken considerable pains to study the methods by 

 Avhich the numberless highly finished steers have been produced, I 

 cannot find a single instance where ensilage has been used. I mean the 

 steers which have brought the highest price per pound in the Chicago 

 market, even reaching eight and one-half cents per pound during the 

 present season. The inference then is, that while ensilage may be an 

 assistant, it is not a necessity in the development of the steer or in 

 finishing the highest type of a beef animal. In the sales of high-priced 

 steers which have been noticed in the Breeders' Gazette, corn has been 

 the main factor in their production outside of pasture and water. 



So much has been written and so much has been spoken on this very 

 important subject, it seems as though nothing new can be offered. It is, 

 however, of so much importance to the farmer and stock grower that 

 attention cannot too often be called to it. I am not disposed, even were 

 I able, to discuss this important matter from a scientific standpoint. 

 I shall have nothing to say of carbohydrates, protein, balanced rations, 

 etc., which may be necessary in conducting feeding experiments, but 

 from the standpoint of the ordinary farmer who grows his own steers 

 and feeds the produce grown upon his farm. The main incentive to 

 labor is the reward expected in the form of a living or in accumulating 

 money. A large majority of the farmers in Michigan are engaged in 

 diversified or mixed farming. Whatever the farm is capable of pro- 

 ducing to the best advantage should be produced. On most farms 

 stock, when properly bred and properly fed, proves to be the most re- 

 munerative. 



To be practical, all farmers engaged in mixed farming own cows. 

 They should be of those sorts that are good for beef and for dairy pur- 

 poses. The steers should be fed especially for beef. The heifers in- 

 tended for the dairy should be fed practically for dairy purposes. The 

 other heifers for beef in like manner as the steers, either in a natural 

 or spayed condition. The demands of the market now are for well fin- 

 ished steers or heifers at from twenty to thirty months of age, weighing 

 from thirteen to sixteen hundred pounds per head. 



To prove that steers well bred and properly fed will pay well, and 

 within the ages above mentioned, I will quote from the Breeders' 

 Gazette some of the sales made in Chicago recently: October 16, two 

 carloads of steers fed by C. F. Shaffer, Iowa, sold at home for 6 cents 

 per pound, two-year-old high grade Shorthorns, weight average 1,400 

 pounds. November 29, fifteen Shorthorn grades, averaging 1,546 

 pounds, fifteen head, price |6.75 per hundred. • Same day, eighteen head, 

 averaging 1,480 pounds, price $7.00, age between two and three years. 

 December 6, twenty-nine head Galloways, averaging 1,521 pounds, price 

 18 " 



