736 



It will be noted in Table VIII that the grain required was deter- 

 mined largely by the rate of gain. A comparison qf Lots I and 5 in 

 which corn silage was fed once daily shows an increase in feed re- 

 quired per pound gain by replacing clover hay with oat straw while 

 in Lots 4 and 6 where silage was fed twice daily, oat straw was as 

 effective for producing gains as clover hay. The lower price of 

 Oat straw made the cost of gains with this roughage much less than 

 when clover hay was fed. The cost of gain was $1.13 per cwt. less 

 in Lot 5 than in Lot i and 90 cents per cwt. less in Lot 6 than in Lot 

 4 when clover is valued at $20.00 per ton and oat straw at $8.00 per 

 ton. When the value of roughage was placed at more nearly normal 

 prices the differences in cost of gain were reduced ; but with clover 

 hay at the normal price of $10.00 per ton and oat straw $4.00 per 

 ton, the cost of gain with corn at 40 cents per bushel was 41 cents 

 per cwt. less in Lot 5 than in Lot I and 51 cents per cwt. less in Lot 

 6 than in Lot 4. The dry matter required to make a pound of gain 

 shows that the difference in cost is due, when both silage and cot- 

 tonseed meal are fed, largely to the difference in cost of the two 

 classes of dry roughage. 



FINISH. Since a small difference in selling price may overcome 

 a large difference in cost of gain, the following figures on the selling 

 value of the four lots of cattle in this trial are interesting. Table IX 

 shows the selling value of the cattle in the lots without shrink at the 

 end of the feeding trial and also after a feeding period of ninety days. 



It is noted that where silage was fed once daily and dry rough- 

 age once daily, the substitution of oat straw for clover hay reduced 

 the selling value of the cattle 15 cents per cwt. On the other hand, 

 when silage was fed twice daily, the substitution of oat straw for 

 clover hay increased the selling value of the cattle 15 cents per cwt. 

 Since the cattle of Lots I and 6 were valued at the same price and 

 since two previous trials 1 had shown that cattle fed the ration of 

 Lot 4 had finished as well as those fed the same as Lot I, it is doubt- 

 ful if succeeding trials will show that Lot 6 produces better finish 

 than Lot 4. 



1 Bulletin No. 153 



