400 



FARMER'S CYCLOPEDIA OP LIVE STOCK 



gains. The silage was eaten with the 

 greatest relish and there was absolutely 

 no loss; whereas, with stover, the loss 

 amounted to 15V 2 per cent, and with 

 timothy hay, 4 per cent. 



In Illinois, only a small proportion of 

 beef raisers use silage as a regular part 

 of the ration for steers. In fact, in sta- 

 tistics collected by Mumford, only eight 

 feeders mentioned the use of silage. The 

 men who were using silage most exten- 

 sively fed it to young steers and in 

 largest amount at the beginning of the 

 fattening period, withdrawing silage 

 from the ration several weeks before the 

 cattle are finished. It is unquestionable 

 that the liberal use of silage, especially 

 during the early part of the fattening 

 period, has a beneficial effect upon the 

 cattle and puts them in condition to 

 utilize economically the heavy grain 

 feeds which are given them in the later 

 stages of forcing. 



A thorough comparison was made be- 

 tween silage and corn stover at the Illi- 

 nois experiment station. In feeding 5 1-3 

 acres of silage to calves, 8V2 acres of 

 other crops were used at the same time; 

 while in feeding 5 1-3 acres of shock 

 corn, only 5 x /2 acres of other crops were 

 fed. The labor in feeding silage is 

 somewhat greater than in feeding shock 

 corn. Thus, Mumford found that it 

 requires one-third longer to feed an 

 acre of silage than an acre of shock corn. 

 The average amount of beef produced in 

 this set of experiments from an acre of 

 silage was 385.35 pounds, with oats and 

 hay as a supplemental feed; whereas, 

 from shock corn, the amount of beef 

 produced was 337.9 pounds, a difference 

 of about 47 1 /2 pounds an acre in favor 

 of the use of silage. With regard to 

 the economy of harvesting corn in the 

 form of silage and corn stover, Mum- 

 ford found that the cost of harvesting 

 and feeding was about twice as great 

 for silage as for shock corn. 



In the experiments under discussion 

 the steers were followed by hogs. It was 

 found that when silage was used, 97^2 

 per cent of the total meat produced was 

 beef and 2V 2 per cent pork; whereas, 

 with shock corn, only 84 per cent was 

 beef and about 16 per cent pork. It is 

 obvious, therefore, that if shock corn 

 is used, the steers should be followed by 

 hogs in order to avoid the total loss of 

 what the steers waste. 



Among various rations which were 

 tested at the Massachusetts experiment 

 station, silage with bran and gluten meal 



gave the best and cheapest gains. Ill 

 North Carolina, the most rapid gains 

 were produced on silage with cottonseed 

 meal. Reasonable gains were obtained 

 from corn silage fed in rations of 44 

 pounds for 11 days, followed by soy 

 bean silage in rations of 45 pounds for 

 46 days. In Ohio, silage has been 

 found more palatable for steers than 

 corn fodder, and likewise in Texas, 

 silage proved superior to dry fodder in 

 feeding value. In Utah, however, dry 

 corn fodder proved more effective than 

 silage. In experiments carried out in 

 Virginia, much cheaper gains were ob- 

 tained from corn silage than from hay, 

 while in Wisconsin, silage with a heavy 

 grain ration proved to be exceedingly 

 effective, 35V2 pounds of silage making 

 1 pound of gain. The silage from 1 

 acre produced 700 pounds of beef. 



Cowpea hay — In the southern and 

 western states and territories, where this 

 forage is produced on an extensive scale, 

 it has been found to be an effective feed 

 for steers. In Missouri, cowpea hay with 

 corn produced daily gains in steers of 

 2.6 pounds, as compared with 1.6 pounds 

 on timothy and 1.9 pounds on clover and 

 corn fodder. Both the cowpea hay and 

 the clover hay gave a superior market 

 finish and a finer coat than timothy or 

 corn fodder, with corn as the grain feed. 

 Cowpea hay in Arkansas is considered 

 the cheapest and best forage for cattle. 

 It was found more readily digestible 

 than clover hay in Illinois. At the 

 Tennessee experiment station, Soule fed 

 6 to 10 pounds of cowpea hay daily a 

 steer, in the place of 3 to 5 pounds of 

 cottonseed meal. This substitution wa3 

 made with excellent results. In ra- 

 tions containing a large amount of suc- 

 culence, however, cowpea hay is not 

 so satisfactory, for the reason that the 

 steers cannot then be induced to eat 

 enough of it. Together with grain, cow- 

 pea hay may be fed in rations of 20 

 pounds a day, and 2 to 3 pounds of cow- 

 pea hay may be estimated as equal to 1 

 pound of cottonseed meal. 



At the Texas experiment station, 

 Craig did not find so high feeding value 

 for cowpea hay. It appeared that in a 

 ration of rice bran and cottonseed meal, 

 cowpea hay could not be added in large 

 quantities with satisfactory results. 

 A ration, however, containing large 

 amounts of cottonseed meal and rice 

 bran is already highly nitrogenous and 

 could best be balanced with corn stover 

 or some other carbonaceous feed. 



