FEEDING OF BEEF COWS IN THE CORJST BELT. 11 



units less feed, their winter-feed bill was $16.53. In the nest group, 

 21 farms, silage constituted one-half of the ration, the cows receiving 

 an average of 2.75 tons each. As only one- fourth of this ration was 

 composed of the cheaper roughage, the average feed bill for these 

 cows was $17 although they received 400 feed units less than did 

 the cows in the first group. It is evident that on the farms in this 

 third group silage was replacing too largely the cheaper farm by- 

 products. 



STUDY OF RATIONS ON SELECTED FARMS. 



It is evident from the foregoing that in the corn-belt States many 

 of the farmers who are producing their own feeder cattle need to 

 give more consideration to the rations that are being fed. If farmers 

 will take more pains to find out the nutritive requirements of their 

 stock and will then plan rations that shall be as economical as possi- 

 ble and at the same time adequate, many of them can lower greatly 

 the cost of their winter feed bills. " 



To show the possibilities of cheapening some of these rations, five 

 farms have been selected, that their winter feeding system may be 

 studied in detail. The farms chosen are representative of feeding 

 practices found in vogue in different places throughout the region 

 covered by the survey. On four of these farms the cows were receiv- 

 ing more feed than they needed, and doubtless on at least three of 

 them the feed was not utilized fully. However, care has been taken 

 not to select any farms of the extreme type. There is only one that 

 was feeding in excees of 3,000 feed units per head during the winter 

 season. 



In the discussion of the rations used on these farms, no attempt is 

 made to indicate a ration that shall be fully balanced or that shall 

 be even the most economical. Nor has any study been made to 

 determine whether the rations contain enough minerals for the ani- 

 mals, though generally in the rations outlined there will be a suffi- 

 cient quantity of these. The suggested changes have been confined 

 to showing that many farm rations can be modified easily in such a 

 manner as to save expense. 



FARM NO. 1. 



The first of these five farms is in east-central Iowa. It contains 

 240 acres, of which, for the year studied, 80 acres were in corn, 35 in 

 oats, 50 in clover, and 60 in pasture. The breeding herd consisted 

 of a grade bull and 22 grade cows from which 20 calves were ob- 

 tained. The cows were given excessive amounts of high-priced 

 feed for both of the years during which records were procured. 



