10 Economical Rations in Beef Production. 



per ton even if we include in the profits all pork made from 

 droppings, as was done in these computations; at least we 

 can not afford to do so if corn alone makes up the grain ra- 

 tion. Keferring to the net profits per head as given in the 

 table it is of interest to know that the net advance of selling 

 over cost price for the twenty-four weeks periods was }1.30 

 per hundred on the corn and prairie hay steers in 1903 and 

 $0.78 in 1904, while the advance on the alfalfa steers was 

 |1.65 per hundred in 1903 and $1.00 in 1904. The larger ad- 

 vance received for the alfalfa steers was no doubt due to the 

 higher finish made by those steers. It is apparent that good 

 profits can be made by feeding corn and alfalfa even tho the 

 selling price of the cattle does not greatly exceed the cost 

 price. In these experiments the feeding of alfalfa at $6.00 

 per ton with corn made this grain bring, when converted into 

 beef, 51 cents per bushel in 1903, 44 cents in 1904, and 60 

 cents in 1905. It would take a larger advance than our mar- 

 kets usually afford to make corn and prairie hay profitable 

 at the prices for corn and cattle which have prevailed during 

 the past few years. 



Clover was not fed in this series of experiments, but be- 

 cause it is similar to alfalfa in composition, tho somewhat 

 lower in protein, it would not be unreasonable to expect good 

 gains on corn and clover; and experiments made in other 

 states show favorable results for this combination of foods. 

 With any other form of roughness with the exception of cow- 

 pea hay, which is also a legume, we would hardly expect sat- 

 isfactory gains unless some protein concentrate is fed with 

 corn. 



THE USE OF CORN-STOVER WITH CORN AND ALFALFA. 



From the experiments already described it is apparent that 

 a ration of corn and alfalfa is capable of producing large and 

 profitable gains, enough so to make corn bring more in the 

 form of beef than as a cash crop. But with corn there is also 



