i8 



The gains for the entire period are more reliable because they 

 cover a greater length of time and are also based on the average 

 of three days' weights at the beginning and end of the experiment. 

 These gains show that the addition of a limited amount of silage 

 (Lot i) to a ration of corn, cottonseed meal and clover hay (Lot 2) 

 increased the gain in 1909-10 from 2.28 to 2.58 pounds daily per 

 steer and in 1910-11 from 2.43 to 2.59 pounds or an average for 

 the two years of .23 pound daily per steer. The effect of adding 

 corn silage to the limit of the appetites of the cattle (Lot 4) was 

 to make a more rapid gain in 1909-10 than where only a limited 

 quantity of silage was fed and in 1910-11 to give the same gain as 

 when no silage was fed. The gains of 1910-11 are somewhat mis- 

 leading due to the fact that a steer in Lot 4 was troubled with bloat 

 and made only 70 pounds gain before being removed from the lot 

 at the end of 100 days. 1 Based on the records of the nine thrifty 

 steers, the gains of Lot 4 would have been 2.57 pounds daily per 

 steer. This is practically the same gain made by Lot i, which 

 shows that the full amount of silage gave as rapid gains as a limited 

 feed and that both rations containing silage produced on an average 

 more than a quarter of a pound faster gains than when no silage 

 was fed. 



The effect of using corn silage as the exclusive roughage was 

 to very slightly increase the rate of gain in 1909-10 over the clover 

 hay lot and to cause a corresponding decrease in 1910-11. The 

 average of the two years is almost identical for the rate of gain be- 

 tween the two lots, and a little more than a quarter of a pound less 

 than when both silage and hay were fed. 



COST OF GAINS. The cost of gains depends so largely on the 

 price of feeds that any thorough discussion of the subject must nec- 

 essarily he based on different prices of feeds. 



Table III shows the average amounts of feed consumed per 

 pound of gain and the cost per 100 pounds gain with feed at dif- 

 ferent prices. 



1 All records in this bulletin involving- Lot IV, 1910-11, are based on figures for 10 

 steers for 100 days r.nd on figures for nine steers for 50 days. One-ninth has been added 

 to the figures obtained during the last 50 days in order to raise the totals to a basis of 

 10 steers for 150 days 



