FOURTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VI. 489 



the cow can be maintained for the year on something like $20.00. If she 

 has been maintained for this amount we will agree that she has been 

 very economically kept. I would rather place the cost of her keep at 

 $30.00 per year or slightly above, this to include all items in connection 

 with the cost of her keep. By the use of corn silage and some roughage 

 throughout the winter season the cost of maintenance of the cow may 

 be considerably reduced below the cost of keeping her under ordinary 

 conditions. By this I mean her maintenance on high priced hay and 

 other feeds. At the college farm last year the cows were maintained 

 throughout the winter time without grain on corn silage with a very 

 small amount of other roughage. Some of these cows were suckling their 

 own calves and some of them were dry. However, the cows that brought 

 calves in the spring had strong ones as the crop of last spring shows. 

 As a matter of fact all of the cows went through the winter in a very 

 good condition at a cost very much less than had silage not been avail- 

 able. The same is being done again this winter. No producer of baby 

 beef can do it entirely successful without the use of a silo or two. 



MILK AND BEEF COMBINED. 



A large number of men are selling cream from the cows and raising 

 the calves on skimmed milk. Data is to be found which shows this to 

 be a profitable operation, probably carried on at somewhat greater ex- 

 pense than the other method, but surely very profitable if carefully 

 managed. Men who have herds of cows that have been bred up so that 

 they are giving good quantities of milk can sell from these cows enough 

 cream and at the same time raise large, strong, vigorous calves and make 

 the operation very profitable. The only drawback to this is that the 

 calves can hardly be marketed at quite so early an age as the ones that 

 are permitted to nurse their own mothers. Proper substitutions of grain 

 must be made for the calf receiving only skimmed milk. He no doubt 

 will grow sufficiently rapid, but he can hardly be expected to fatten so 

 rapidly. At the outset all calves, whether they be permitted to nurse 

 their own mothers or whether they are to be grown on skimmed milk, 

 must learn to eat grain at as early a date as possible. A setback during 

 the early period of their growth means a delay in becoming ready for the 

 market and hence less profit. 



SILAGE AXD ALFALFA ARE OF IMPORTANCE. 



In the corn belt corn silage and alfalfa hay are the salvation of the 

 beef cattle business. Up to this point I have not mentioned anything 

 concerning the feeding of steers purchased from nearby markets or from 

 the range. Cattle of this sort will no doubt be fed for many years to 

 come. With this class of cattle, silage even plays a more important part 

 than in the feeding of younger cattle. We have found in feeding opera- 

 tions, particularly on short-feds, say of 90 days, that larger, roomier two- 

 year-old cattle will consume an immense amount of silage and smaller 

 amounts of grain and make gains extremely economical. However, when 

 feeding for a longer period it has been found that the amount of silage 

 must be decreased and the grain increased in order that the cattle will 

 become fjjiighed within a reaspnabje time, Silage seems to form too 



