368 Feeds and Feediyig. 



can beef producer to undertake growing roots for cattle as does the 

 English farmer. Let him, instead, increase the corn crop and turn a 

 portion of it into succulent silage which serves all the functions of 

 roots for growing and fattening cattle, at but a fraction of the cost 

 of roots. The time is at hand when cattlemen in the great corn belt 

 of America should recognize the great possibilities, importance, and 

 economy of corn silage from heavily eared corn for growing and fat- 

 tening beef animals. While silage is highly useful in wintering beef 

 cows and growing cattle, it is also needed in the feed-lot because it 

 furnishes a most palatable, succulent roughage, greatly relished by 

 cattle subsisting for the most part on corn, which is a heavy concen- 

 trate that needs some light juicy supplement like corn silage or roots 

 to balance it up and lighten it in the digestive tract. Indian corn, 

 along with clover or alfalfa hay, and a moderate allowance of succu- 

 lent corn silage furnish a combination unequaled by any other for 

 economy of production and the quantity of flesh it will build and 

 the fat it will lay on. For growing cattle and those in the first 

 stages of fattening from 30 to 40 lbs. of silage may be profitably fed 

 to each 1,000 lbs. of steers. As fattening animals approach maturity, 

 the silage allowance should be reduced to 20 or 25 lbs. daily per 

 1,000 lbs. of animal, tho some feed it freely till the steers leave the 

 feed lot. (559-564) 



576. Hogs following steers. — The following is condensed from 

 Waters -} The number of hogs required to utilize the waste per steer 

 will vary greatly with the character of the feed, the way in which it 

 is prepared, and with the size and age of the cattle being fed. The 

 range is from 2 to 3 hogs per steer on snapped corn, 1.5 per steer on 

 husked ear corn, about 1 per steer on shelled corn, and 1 hog to 2 or 

 3 steers on crushed or ground corn. 



Whatever favors rapid and profitable gains with cattle, other than 

 the preparation of the feed, also favors the gains of the hogs follow- 

 ing. For example, hogs make better gains following corn-fed steers 

 getting clover, cowpea, or alfalfa hay than they do when the rough- 

 age is timothy, millet, or sorghum forage. Likewise feeding the steers 

 linseed meal benefits the hogs that follow. It is almost as profitable 

 to feed tankage or linseed meal to hogs following cattle as to those 

 fattening directly on grain; this is especially true with hogs follow- 

 ing cattle fed straight corn with timothy or stover for roughage in 

 winter, or with cattle fattening on corn and blue grass or timothy 

 pasture in summer. 



^ Bui. 76, Mo. Expt. Sta. 



