FEEDS FOR BEEF CATTLE 495 



It is pointed out later that steers commonly make more rapid gains 

 when fed some dry roughage than when silage is the only roughage used. 

 (778) Consequently it is often desirable to use a combination of hulls 

 and silage, or else feed in addition to the cottonseed meal and silage 

 some cheap farm-grown dry roughage, such as corn or sorghum stover, 

 straw, or perhaps hay. 100 One can readily decide what roughages are 

 the most economical under his own conditions by determining which 

 actually furnish total digestible nutrients the cheapest, in the manner 

 discussed in Chapter VIII. (191-6) 



III. SUCCULENT FEEDS 



774. Importance of silage in beef production. The use of silage is 

 fast revolutionizing the feeding of beef cattle, just as it has the feeding 

 of milk cows in the leading dairy sections of our country. Wherever 

 either corn or the sorghums thrive, silage from these crops, cut when 

 well matured, has proved of great value in cheapening the cost of 

 beef production. (411) As is shown later (788-90), breeding cows and 

 stock cattle may be maintained in winter in good condition on silage 

 from well-matured corn or the sorghums, with a limited amount of 

 legume hay or a small allowance of such nitrogenous concentrates as 

 cottonseed or linseed meal. For growing animals this palatable suc- 

 culence can not be excelled, when fed in proper combination with legume 

 hay or concentrates rich in protein. (798-9) 



On well-balanced rations in which silage is the chief roughage fattening 

 cattle will fatten rapidly and reach a high finish on a moderate allow- 

 ance of expensive concentrates. At first it was thot that silage-fed 

 cattle shrank more in shipment than those* finished on dry roughage. 

 Trials have now abundantly demonstrated, however, that if silage is 

 withheld for the last day or two before shipment and dry roughage fed 

 instead, cattle thus fattened will not shrink any more than those receiv- 

 ing no silage. 



Trials at various stations have shown that it is commonly more eco- 

 nomical to give fattening cattle twice a day all the silage they will clean 

 up without undue waste, rather than to limit the amount of silage fed. 

 Two-year-old steers full-fed on corn, legume hay, and silage will eat 30 

 to 40 Ibs. of silage a day during the first month of fattening and 

 gradually less as feeding progresses, until during the last month they 

 will eat only 10 to 20 Ibs. a day. Commonly they will show such a 

 preference for silage compared with even choice legume hay, that they 

 will eat on the average only 3 to 6 Ibs. of hay per day during the fatten- 

 ing period. 



The question as to how much corn or other grain it is profitable to 

 feed to steers given an unlimited allowance of silage is fully discussed 

 elsewhere. (715-6) 



10 TL S. D. A. Buls. 628, 762; Tex. Buls. 198, 263. 



