14 BULLETIN 870, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



6. Steers wintered on dry roughage alone (Lot 3), which lost weight 

 during the winter, and those fed a maintenance ration only of which 

 corn silage was a part (Lot 1) made greater gains during the first two 

 months on grass than those steers (Lot 2) which had made consider- 

 able gain (60 pounds) during the winter. This would be expected if 

 the steers in the first-mentioned lots were to be finished in the same 

 condition as those in Lot 2, as they had considerably more gain to 

 make in order to catch up in weight. 



7. There was a slight tendency for the steers fed on dry roughage 

 alone (Lot 3) to make less gain during the last two months of the 

 pasture season than did the steers which had received silage in the 

 ration (Lots 1 and 2) during the preceding winter, although this dif- 

 ference was very slight. 



H. THE USE OF SILAGE AND THE COST OF RATIONS FOR WINTERING 



YEARLING STEERS. 



Shall I purchase steers (that are to be fattened from grass the 

 next summer) in the fall, and carry them through the winter largely 

 on roughage, or shall I purchase them in the spring after some one 

 else has wintered them? This is a question which the thoughtful 

 cattle grazer in the good pasture areas is likely to ask himself and 

 which it is of considerable importance to answer correctly. No 

 matter what the answer may be on any particular farm or in any 

 particular section of country, the fact remains that cattle are higher 

 in price and are worth more in the spring just before the grass season 

 opens than they were at the close of the pasture period the preced- 

 ing fall. This increase in value is due largely to the cost of winter- 

 ing, depending upon the rations and methods used. 



The data already presented in this bulletin afford an opportunity 

 to throw some light upon this important subject. In the following 

 discussion of this question it is necessary to fix the prices for feeds 

 on the farm. It is felt, however, that this is the most questionable 

 and unsatisfactory part of such experimental work, and is especially 

 true for the last few years, during which unusual fluctuations have 

 occurred in feed prices. 



PRICES OF FEEDS USED. 



During the four years that this experiment was in progress the 

 price of silage increased from $4 to $8 a ton, cottonseed meal from 

 $30 to $60, and hay and straw advanced respectively 33$ and 50 

 per cent. Thus the cost of wintering a steer in 1917-18 was nearly 

 double the cost of keeping him through the winter 1914-15. While 

 feed prices remain high, it is not certain that they will continue at 

 the present high level for any great length of time. For this reason, 

 and also for simplicity in making the various calculations, an average 

 of the feed prices for the four years is used, as follows: 



