PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING 



that runs it. This is found in the hulls of cereals, 

 cottonseed, flaxseed, timothy, some roots and alfalfa 

 and clover hays. Corn is notoriously lacking in some 

 of these substances, and animals fed corn alone get the 

 "burned-out" appearance due to the lack of certain of 

 these essential compounds in the feeds. Except for 

 these health promoting substances however, one feed 

 in a certain class may be substituted for another, 

 according to cheapness in a given community, as bran 

 for linseed meal or cottonseed meal, and kafir for corn or 

 barley. Because of this possibility of substitution it 

 is important that the feeder should .ady feed values, 

 as only by such a system can he make a business-like 

 profit on his feeding operations. 



One of the most important feeds 

 Silage from the standpoint of health pro- 



motion is silage, which provides the 

 steer and growing animal with succulent green feed the 

 year around. While corn is pre-eminently the best silage 

 plant, kafir, sunflowers, cane, oats and peas, alfalfa, and 

 soybeans with oats make a very desirable product. 

 The principles involved in ensiling feeds are manifold: 

 in general fermentations change the sugars of the plant 

 to acids, and preserve the total food value more perfectly 

 than any other method of feed preservation. If there is a 

 shortage of starches and sugars as in alfalfa, peas and beans, 

 it must be made up by mixing corn, cane, oats, rye, or some 

 similar agent. Molasses has been used satisfactorily where 

 cheap enough, being sprinkled over the green legume as 

 it goes through the silage cutter. The two most important 

 provisions in silage making are the presence of these 

 sugars and the exclusion of air. I f too much air is present, 

 the silage putrefies, hence one must be careful to tramp 

 such crops as oats very carefully in order to drive the air 

 from the hollow stems. There are six distinct advantages 

 from ensiling crops. The relative expense is low ($2.50 



Page Thirty-one 



