32 SILAGE IN BEEP PRODUCTION. 



fed a ration of shelled corn, cotton seed meal and a full 

 ration of corn silage. A second was fed a ration of shelled 

 corn, cotton seed meal, some hay and about one-half a 

 full ration of corn silage, while a third lot was fed all the 

 corn and clover they would eat. Corn was valued at 

 60 cents a bushel, cotton seed meal at $27 per ton, clover 

 hay at $8 per ton, and corn silage at $3 per ton. At the 

 beginning of the experiment the lots did not vary more 

 than 25 pounds in total weight and all steers were pur- 

 chased at the same price per hundred-weight. There were 

 ten steers in each lot, and hogs followed each lot to con- 

 sume feed left in the droppings. 



The experiment opened Nov. 18, 1908, and closed May 

 17, 1909. During this period of six months the first lot 

 gained 4,658.3 pounds, or an average of 2.58 pounds per 

 day; the second, 4,211.6 pounds, or 2.33 pounds per day; 

 the third, 3,416.6, or 1.89 pounds per day. The lot receiving 

 the full silage ration, therefore, gained more than a half 

 pound more per day than the lot receiving no silage, while 

 that receiving half a full silage ration gained somewhat 

 less than half a pound more also than the lot receiving 

 no silage. 



The cost of a pound of gain for the full silage fed lot 

 was $9.79; for the lot having a half silage ration, $11.35, 

 and for the clover and corn fed lot, $12.99. In the same 

 order the first lot sold at $7.25 per hundredweight, or 99 

 cents higher than was necessary to sustain neither loss 

 nor gain on the proposition. The second sold at $7.15, or 64 

 cents more than was necessary to eustain no loss, and the 

 third at $6.90, or only 15 cents above the cost. The pork 

 produced behind the first lot netted $107.23, behind the 

 second $124.61, and the third, $97.68. The net profit re- 

 Bulting from feeding the ten steers receiving a full silage 

 ration, shelled corn and cotton seed meal, wai $24.04 per 

 head, including the profit from the pork produced, that of 

 the ten steers fed a half silage ration, some hay and shelled 

 corn and cotton seed meal, $19.71 per head, and those re- 

 ceiving clover and shelled corn only, $12.64 per head, both 



