318 FEEDS AND FEEDING, ABRIDGED 



of 9 trials at 5 different stations one lot of 2-year-old steers was fed 

 corn and cottonseed or linseed meal with corn silage as the only 

 roughage, while another lot was fed clover or alfalfa hay in addition. 

 The steers fed silage as the sole roughage gained 0.12 lb. less per 

 head daily on the average, but the feed cost was 74 cents less per 

 100 lbs. of gain than with the steers fed legume hay in addition. 

 However, the steers fed legume hay were slightly better finished and 

 brought on the average 7 cents more per 100 lbs. than the others. In 

 some of the trials they sold for enough more to offset the more expen- 

 sive gains, so that they returned a greater profit. 



In later trials at the Indiana Station ^^ it was found that oat straw 

 satisfied the desire of silage-fed steers for dry roughage as well as did 

 clover hay. The gains were no larger on a ration of shelled com, 

 cottonseed meal (2.5 lbs. daily per 1,000 lbs. live weight), corn silage, 

 and clover hay than when oat straw was substituted for the clover 

 hay. It should be pointed out that these results would not have been 

 secured had not sufficient cottonseed meal been fed to balance the oat 

 straw, corn silage, and corn ration. These extensive trials teach that 

 steers will usually make larger gains and reach a higher finish when 

 fed a small amount of dry roughage in addition to silage. An im- 

 portant fact is that this dry roughage may consist of such cheap 

 material as oat straw, rather than the more expensive legume hay, 

 when a nitrogenous concentrate is fed to balance the ration. 



Silage with small concentrate allowance. — It has already been 

 pointed out that it is often profitable to feed only roughage during 

 the first part of the fattening period, or else roughage with 2 or 3 

 lbs. of some protein-rich concentrate, if this is needed to balance the 

 ration. Especially good results are secured under this system where 

 the chief roughage is silage from well-eared corn. The following 

 table, summarizing a trial at the South Dakota Station -^ with 648-lb. 

 steers fed 146 days, shows that good gains may be secured with corn 

 silage Avhen only a small amount of concentrates is fed thruout the 

 entire fattening period. 



Fattening steers on silage with a small concentrate allowance 



Feed for 100 lbs. gain Feed 

 Daily Conceu- Corn cost of 100 

 Average ration gain 



Lbs. 



/, Linseed meal, 3.0 lbs. Silage, 48.3 lbs 2.4 



//, Cottonseed meal, 3.0 lbs. Silage, 41.3 lbs 2.0 



///, Dried distillers' gr., 3.0 lbs. Silage, 44.0 lbs. .2.2 



* Linseed meal and cottonseed meal, $32.00; dried distillers' grain 

 silage, $4.00 per ton. 



19 Skinner and King, Ind. Buls. 163, 167. 



20 Wilson, S. D. Bui. 148. 



