14 BULLETIN 628, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The actual increased " worth " or value in the spring of one lot 

 of steers over another depends on how they put on gains the follow- 

 ing summer. This will be discussed in Part III of this bulletin. 



The value of silage as a winter feed for stocker cattle in moun- 

 tainous sections is shown by these experiments. A very limited 

 portion of the land can be used for raising crops^ and as silage crops 

 make a large tonnage of good feed per acre they will be especially 

 valuable under such conditions. 



The results show most conclusively the great importance of pre- 

 pared meadows or winter pastures for wintering beef cattle. A 

 smaller acreage of pasture was required for wintering a steer than 

 for summer grazing the same steer. In all these experiments, during 

 no winter was more than 2 acres required to winter a steer, and the 

 average amount for the three years was about 1.8 acres. During the 

 summer from 2 to 3 acres were required per steer. 



The enormous areas of cut-over mountain lands and lands on 

 which there is timber of practically no value, but which are adapted 

 for cattle grazing can be made a source of a large income and profit 

 without undue or unjustifiable expenditure of money if put into 

 good, permanent pasture. These lands not only furnish excellent 

 winter grazing, but make pastures that are equaled by few in any 

 other part of the United States for fattening cattle during the sum- 

 mer months. This will be presented in Part III of this bulletin, 

 which deals with summer fattening of cattle. The farmer who 

 owns mountain land that has been cut over or is partly covered with 

 timber of little value is overlooking a good opportunity to make 

 money by not converting such lands into good permanent pastures. 



II. WINTER GRAZING OF STEERS. 



The chief problem in most of the grazing counties in the moun- 

 tainous areas is the furnishing of sufficient feed to winter stock cattle 

 in a satisfactory manner. Most stock raisers can graze more cattle 

 in summer than they can winter in good condition. One object of this 

 work, therefore, was to determine some method of wintering cattle 

 that would make possible the maintenance of a greater number dur- 

 ing the winter months. 



The winter-grazing work proved so profitable and satisfactory 

 from every viewpoint that it is given special consideration. The pos- 

 sibilities of using mountain land for winter pasture, the methods of 

 establishing the pastures, and the results obtained from them are 

 discussed below. The report of the results includes the total and 

 daily gains of all the winter-grazed cattle during the three years, the 

 cost of wintering, fall and spring values, and a summary of the 

 whole work. By grouping these facts a more significant idea can be 



