124 SILAGE IN BEEF PRODUCTION. 



have finished out better than those not receiving silage. This 

 again held true in this test. The only difference in the rations of 

 Lots 2 and 4 was the addition of silage to the latter. Lot 4 not 

 only finished better and sold for 10 cents per cwt. more, but in- 

 cluding pork, made $4.22 more profit per head than the steers that 

 had no silage. Not including pork, the profit per head was $7.58 

 in favor of silage. 



Two experiments in feeding corn silage to steers were con- 

 ducted at the South Dakota Experiment Station at Brookings in 

 1912, running three and four months respectively. The results 

 showed that neither corn fodder from the field, nor fodder silage, 

 nor a one-half ration of silage and hay proved as valuable for 

 wintering steers as first class corn silage (fodders cut from same 

 field, at same time as corn for silage), as it required more pounds 

 of dry matter for a pound of gain with these than with silage lot. 



Hay with silage proved to be better than hay or silage alone 

 as a roughage. No bad results were received by feeding steers 

 all the corn silage they would eat without other grain or rough- 

 age. At the end of the experiment they were consuming an aver- 

 age of 70 pounds per head daily. 



Further tests were conducted at the same station for 146 days 

 in 1912-13 to determine the relative feeding value of oil meal, cot- 

 tonseed meal and dried distilled grains when fed with corn silage 

 as the sole roughage. The largest and most uniform gains were 

 made with oil meal and silage. The cost of producing 100 pounds 

 of gain in these tests was as follows: With corn silage and oil 

 meal, $5.86; with corn silage and cottonseed meal, $6.64; with 

 corn silage and dried distilled grains, $5.50; with corn silage and 

 oats, $6.68; with corn silage and shelled corn, $8.22. It will be 

 seen that the distilled grains ration made a cheaper gain than the 

 oil meal ration, but the cheap gain is not always the best gain 

 as the steers receiving oil meal were in better condition than the 

 other lot. The average gains per head daily for the 146 days were 

 2.45 for oil meal and 2.17 for distilled grains. Silage was valued 

 at $4.00 a ton; oil meal and cottonseed meal at $32.00 a ton, dried 

 distilled grains at $24.00 a ton, oats and shelled corn at 1 cent a 

 pound. Prof. Wilson, who conducted the test, says that the ex- 

 periment calls attention "to the value of corn silage when prop- 

 erly supplemented with high protein feed. I believe when we feed 

 our corn crop in the form of silage, we will be able to make beef 

 at a profit under almost any conditions likely to present them- 

 selves. The old custom of stocking cattle through the winter will 

 soon be a practice of the past." 



Supt. T. J. Harrison, of the Experimental Farm, Indian Head, 

 Saskatchewan, writes: "Last season (1913) we conducted feed- 

 ing experiments in which ensilage was fed in comparison with 



