528 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



of pasturage compared with hay, silage, and other feeds. In those beef 

 producing sections where there is considerable land which is too hilly 

 or rough for tillage, usually many cattle will be fattened on pasture for 

 market in the late summer or early fall. In the grazing regions of the 

 West, where grain is high in price compared with pasture, the steers 

 are commonly sold at the close of the pasture season. Then, if the grass 

 has been good, many are fat enough to be sold as killers, while most of 

 the rest will be fattened further in feed lots in the corn belt or elsewhere 

 where grain is cheaper in price. On farms where land is high-priced 

 and there is little waste land, cattle are usually fattened in the dry lot, 

 since under these conditions corn silage is cheaper than pasturage, for 

 it furnishes much more feed per acre. For example, in a trial at the 

 Nebraska Station 7 steers fed corn silage, corn grain, and a supplement in 

 a dry lot made just as large gains as others fed the same concentrates on 

 pasture, and only one-fourth as much land was needed to produce the 

 silage as was required for pasture. Fully 90 per ct. of the cattle fattened 

 in the corn belt are dry-lot fed and are marketed before July 1st. 8 



813. Summer vs. winter feeding. Fattening cattle on pasture has 

 several advantages over dry lot feeding. 9 First of all, gains on pasture 

 require less grain than winter gains. Steers on pasture can be made 

 prime on corn and grass with greater certainty, more uniformity, and 

 smaller use of expensive supplements like linseed and cottonseed meal. 

 Less labor is required, for only grain is fed, and there is no roughage 

 to handle. Furthermore, the steers are usually fed but once daily and 

 also the manure is scattered by the cattle themselves. Another advantage 

 is the fact that hogs following steers fed corn on pasture make larger 

 gains and return more profit, with a lower death rate than when follow- 

 ing steers fattened in the winter. 



Fattening cattle on pasture was compared with winter dry-lot feeding 

 in 3 summer and 5 winter trials by Waters at the Missouri Station 10 

 with the results shown in the following table: 



Summer Winter 



Number of animals 88 105 



Average length of feeding period, days 209 107 



Concentrates per 100 Ibs. of gain, Ibs 814 999 



Roughage per 100 Ibs. of gain, Ibs grass 382 



Average daily gain per steer, Ibs 2 . 37 2.13 



Because of the longer feeding period the summer-fed cattle were much 

 fatter than those fed in winter. Despite this the summer gains were 

 made on 18.5 per ct. less grain. 



Mumford and Hall of the Illinois Station, 11 from extensive corre- 

 spondence with feeders of their state, concluded that a bushel of corn 

 will produce : 



7 Bliss and Lee, Nebr. Rpt. 1913. 10 Mo. Bui. 76. 



"Black, U. S. Bept. Agr. Farmers' Bui. 1218. "III. Cirs. 79, 88. 



'Largely adapted from Waters, Mo. Bui. 76. 



