136 IOWA DEPARTIVIENT OF AGRICULTURE 



The steer will eat too much of the bulky, watery silage at the finish of 

 the fattening period. When on hay, the steer naturally comes down from 

 twenty pounds the first month to four pounds the- last month, the grain 

 going up accordingly. In this case, the grain tastes better than the hay. 

 With silage, however, the steer, instead of. going back on the silage to 

 the extent of 80 per cent, eats about fifteen to twenty pounds at the finish, 

 as compared to fifty at the beginning, or a decrease of only 60 to 70 per 

 cent; he likes silage too well. As the capacity becomes limited, and the 

 gains more concentrated, thus requiring more dry matter per unit increase, 

 the object should be to keep the feed just a little bit better than the cat- 

 tie, which merely means that the grain should form a steadily increasing 

 proportion of the ration as the animal puts on the marketable bloom. 



The shrinkage on silage-fed cattle is not ordinarily greater than on dry- 

 fed ones. Our shrinkage trials clearly indicate that cattle receiving both 

 silage and dry roughness during the feeding period shrink less than those 

 on either dry feed or silage alone. The clover cattle in the winter of 

 1911-1912 shrank more than any of the silage lots, or 2.669 per cent, while 

 those getting both clover and silage shrank the least, or 1.617 per cent. 

 The silage lots ranged from 2.307 to 2.568 per cent. In 1910-1911, the 

 average shrink for the three silage-fed lots was less than the clover, while 

 the two lots receiving both silage and clover, shrank respectively, 1.504 and 

 1.989 per cent, as compared to 2.548 per cent for clover and 2.731 per cent 

 for silage. In shipping silage-fed steers, we make it a point to keep some 

 silage in the ration until the steers are shipped. We maintain the former 

 taste of the ration as nearly as possible, decreasing the supplement some- 

 what, however, and adding some oats and dry hay, preferably timothy, 

 together with oat straw if available. The corn feed is decreased only suf- 

 ficient to allow for the consumption of some oats, say one-fourth to one- 

 third of the ration. By following these precautions, our silage-fed cattle 

 have shipped, filled and sold v\'ell. In the spring of 1912, not a single steer 

 showed a tendency to laxativeness until the yards wxre reached. 



That a good quality of silage, efficient for beef production, be made, 

 due attention must be paid to maturity, palatability, quality and moisture. 

 The best silage is made at about the fodder cutting stage, when the ears 

 are well dented and the leaves not too dry. It is well to let the grain de- 

 velop as much as possible without losing too much of the stalk's green- 

 ness. I would rather cut corn too mature, and put water on it, than cut it 

 too green. Green corn makes dark, sour silage, while mature corn makes 

 light, uniform-colored silage. Silage, to be palatable, must be sweet and 

 free from mold. The peculiar, pungent, stimulating taste typical of good 

 silage is easily recognized. If the knives are kept sharp, the shucks will 

 be cut finely enough to avoid waste. Dull knives allow the whole shucks 

 to go through; these shucks are particularly prone to collect in chunks and 

 form a starter for mold. By quality of silage, we refer to the percentage 

 of grain as compared to stover, the grain content should be high. It seems 

 as though the higher yielding fields of corn make the better silage, possibly 

 due to the fact that such fodder furnishes more nearly optimum moisture 

 conditions. The moisture should not be over 70 per cent, better still if it 



