CHAPTER V. 



THE USE OF SILAGE IN BEEF PRODUCTION. 



The day has passed to question the usefulness of the silo to 

 the cattle feeder. Further experiments will simply emphasize its 

 necessity. Millions of dollars could be added to the profits of the 

 land-owners and beef-raisers of this country by heeding the teach- 

 ings of the numerous experiments already made. 



Experiments at several stations during the past four or five 

 years have proved beyond question the value and economy of corn 

 silage in the ration for fattening steers. Silage-fed steers have re- 

 peatedly made the heaviest and cheapest gains, have attained the 

 highest finish during the feeding period, and have brought more 

 money on the market. Numerous extensive trials have shown that 

 the very best and cheapest dry rations have failed to equal a good 

 silage ration, properly balanced, either in amount or cheapness of 

 gains. 



Until recent years the dairy industry apparently held the mo- 

 nopoly on the profitable use of this succulent feed. It is refreshing 

 to note the awakening among cattle feeders to its wonderful ad- 

 vantages in beef production. The "discovery" of the use and value 

 of silage for beef making is, however, not new as many suppose. 

 It was tested out by Prof. Thomas Shaw at the Ontario Agricul- 

 tural College fully 25 years ago and the experience of many Cana- 

 dian beef growers has for 20 years backed up the facts that good 

 beef could be made from corn silage alone and meal, that it could 

 be made more cheaply than on other feeds, and that corn stover 

 was intended to be first a food and then a fertilizer, rather than 

 merely a fertilizer. 



The beef producing area of the United States will be vastly 

 increased by the use of the silo. Now that the Kansas Agricul- 

 tural College has shown that kafir and sorghum are fully equal to 

 corn for silage, even the dry land sections of the southwest are 

 put on a beef-fattening basis. This means that over one hundred 

 and fifty million acres are added to the area that can profitably 

 produce finished beef cattle. This is a significant fact when it Is 

 considered that the growing scarcity and the consequent high | 

 prices of beef in late years has been such as to admit of foreign 



118 



